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| PurposeThis a comment I left on a friend's site. I thought it was pretty good.
My Dear, this is life; I pray you don't let it pass you by. What it sounds like you want is what I've got, so let me tell you about it. I'll tell it to you straight and for once and avoid my favoured celestial prose, since what you seek is so easy to find. Here it is:
You may have heard it said, "live like there's no tomorrow," but I tell you to live your life today, and enjoy it; for every moment is given to you by God and is meant to allow you to grow closer and glorify Him.
You may be thinking, "I've only got so long to live," but I'm telling you that if you think you can live your life in eighty years, you're nuts. God made you so that you life is meant to be lived across eternity, so don't fret about what you can fit into eighty years. Heck, take it slow and enjoy the ride, laugh about it, learn to love the pace. You sound as if heaven were a never-ending reward of sleep and rest for a life well lived, but that's not how it works. No wonder you get burned out. Earth is just a stepping stone, a preparation for the real life of what's to come.
I used to think that hell must suck, but heaven isn't much better. I was scared that even though we could do what we wanted, we must stare at God's radiance for all eternity because "He is heaven's greatest adventure." And He is. But God didn't set you up for a dynamic, experiential life here on Earth only to stare Him and sing worship songs. Jesus spent plenty of time on Earth doing things, but he also love to just live. He went to parties, listened to music, loved, and laughed, and daydreamed. Heaven's going to be an adventure, and God is going to be it's greatest part, but He is going to join us on the rest of the adventure as well. Just like He does here on Earth.
As Creation, we have a role here on Earth, a part to play. But you don't need to spend time trying to figure out what it is, because what it is is in the here and now. We have a future, but the future is designed to become the present. Slow down and stop trying to figure it all out; as Jesus said, tomorrow has enough worries on its own.
Learn to stop. Slow down. Listen to the Beatles. Take a walk without planing to be back by a certain time or knowing where you're going. Just ...stroll. Talk to God. Enjoy His intimacy. And if you're having trouble doing that then ask Him to help you, ask Him to meet you where you are. He'll do it. He do anything just to spend time with you.
If you don't slow down, you won't ever get to feel His peace, even if you have it. And don't try to get comfortable and find completion here, you weren't made for imperfection. You'll find that you're supposed to find peace here in God, but you're never supposed to get comfortable. You don't belong to the ordinary. You're a bondservant to One who is extraordinary. So don't ask for anything less.
One last thing: remember that when you asked Jesus to save you, He did. That determined your destiny, that determined your fate. You are destined to be intimate with Him and with all those who trust in Him the same. Your life here is an unfolding story, like the turning pages in an unwritten book. I find that people who get caught up in finding, or determining, or deciding upon their destiny often think that it is already decided and they have to find it. God gives you authority over your life here on Earth. So take your own words to heart. "determine" your destiny. Be creative. Enjoy the decisions and the moments in-between.
Jesus said, "come and I will give you rest." It might be time you take Him up on His offer.
Much Love,
Justin | | |
| You have no idea what it's like to be me. Terrible and glorious. Praise God: this is just life I needed.
My story is my own. I encourage you to find out yours.
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| A generational blessing... Who would have thought?
He is worthy to be praised. | | |
| A most desperate prayer:
Attacking when I am weakest...
Over the past few weeks I have realized the power of Christ's authority in me and the presence and deceptiveness of our enemy. With God's power I have been sucessfully fighting them on many fronts, finding that they have strongholds nearly everywhere in our city. I am probably attacked several hundred times a week, and probably more considering the attacks I do not recognize and fight. This is probably true for most of you, though many of you do not realize it or think about it as I did not. Because of an understanding of this fight provided by scriptures such as Gal 2:20 and Luke 10:19,20, I can fight more effectivly on a spiritual level than I could in my comforatble blindness. Ignorance is bliss, but it is also bondage, and I know I would rather have to fight so many deamons than live in bondage again. I will be bound ot nothing save Christ. I am His and He is mine, and I am His temple. Because of His power and the authority He has given me to exercise such power, I will triumph by His grace, mercy, and sacrifice. But the enemy is reacting more quickly, fighting with more cunning, and forcing me to fight with all He has given me. Thank God it is not mine.
I have to understand this power and authority on a deeper level in order to use it effectively. <b>Pray that He will give me the wisdom and understanding to do so.</b>
Deamons are also attacking me in force when I am at my weakest: <b>when I am partially asleep and fully asleep</b>. When I am so tired I can barely think, it is difficult to understand when they are attacking, and when I am asleep <b>they are sending dreams that are unsettling, ungodly, and even horific.</b> <b>Pray for my protection at these time (and all times for that matter).</b> God showed me that I am going to have to start pray for His protection and the protection of His angels throughout the night and morning before I go to sleep. This is a nasty war, and I need my Father and my fellow members of creation to aid me when I cannot fight for myself.
The following types of deamons are the ones that I recognize the most:
>Deamons of Lust (tenfold)
>Deamons of Deception
>Deamons of Jealousy
>Deamons of Depression
>Deamons of Hopelessness
>Deamons of Pride
>Deamons of Depravity
>Deamons of Faithlessness
>Deamons of Envy
>Deamons of Perversion
>Deamons of Lies
>Deamons of Anger (I have only recently recognized these powers)
>Deamons of Accusination
>Deamons of Guilt (recent revelation)
>Deamons of Arrogance (again only recently have I found them against me)
>Deamons of Distorted Reality (similar to deamons of deception, seem to be more specialized)
>Deamons of Distorted Truth (I cannot recal encountering them, but I bet I have ad not know it; I believe God is warning me that I will encounter more and more of them in the time to come)
>Deamons of Falsehood and Falseness (like a middle man between deamons of distorted truth and deamons of lies)
>Deamons of Greed (these ones are very sneaky)
>Deamons of the False Voice (the bible tells us to "test spirits," it would be wise to question the biblical confirmation behind the "voices" you hear and the "impulses" you have... they may not be yours or God's or an angel's.)
>Deamons of Division (not so agressive in my territory, but they are fierce in the Church, as a whole and at Crossroads)
>Deamons of Gossip (also prevelant in the Church)
>Deamons of Selfishness (I need to be more watchful of them)
>Deamons of Vanity (they cannot go unheeded in my life. I will pursue His holiness, not my pride/pain in my looks) what is vanity other than a pride in and pain of one's physical body?
there are more, may we see them.
God protect me in my sleep, in my rest, and let it be a rest. Guard my mind and dreams with Your HOLY SPIRIT, and in my waking hours. Send Your angels to protect me, the are also creatures of Your creation, though they are already eternal and need no rest (or perhaps sleep). May YOUR KINGDOM COME, and YOUR WILL BE DONE, on Earth AS IT IS IN HEAVEN.
Amen. | | |
| Here is an interesting email I wrote to Doug Walton... I liked it.
I got your earlier email, and would have love to come but I had school around two to three thirty, so I would have not been able to make it. However, around the time from one to one thirty before I left for school was far from unfruitful. I had a revelation concerning the ideas applied in the two scriptures: Isaiah 60:1 and Colossians 3:4.
As of late, I have been thinking and praying about humility, worship, praise, glory, and edification; all concerning God, the Church, and Man. I have realized that in order for me to live the way I desire to live, as a man of humility, prayer, servanthood, and worship, I cannot and do not wish to place my confidence in myself or my gifts and abilities. God has blessed me greatly, and He has given me many gifts with which to reach this desperate generation. But what I have is nothing without His spark of live. Without His fire, consuming and almighty, without His holy desperation for the souls of men and women of His creation, without His burning passion for truth, mercy, grace and love, without all of Him that I cherish so greatly: I am nothing of value to myself. And such a value is what I desire. If I shined like the brightest star in the heavens, my glory would cease to be so where I viewed in the midst of God's radiance. My only Joy is in God. Bring Him glory brings me happiness and fulfillment. Edifying Him is my overarching purpose. When my flesh was given up and died upon the altar of His blood and sacrifice, I ceased to be that man born of this world, and I became a being born of the Spirit, indwelled by the Spirit, and capable again of being a creature made in the image of the Creator. His Spirit that dwells within me is all that I am an all whom I hope to be. I seek to live gloriously, for in glory I have found my home, In Him I have found my being, but I am coming to understand what I have always known, and will understand if more as the days pass me by until they pass me no more: in glory I have found my home, but it is not my glory that such a joyous homecoming is found, but in God's glory, which is my purpose. This is what I strive to and pray for, and I pray you will do likewise, both for yourself, your family in your charge, and me. I pray certainly that God would do this for you. That He would bring you closer to Him, and that your esteem would be found in Him, and that you would have no esteem in yourself. May such a blessing spread to you and your household, and to the far reaches of His Kingdom, which is here, and now, and coming. Praise be to the God of the Heavens and this Earth, which we now dwell, and may His glory never cease, even until the gates of time and death fall away. May our King, whom we love and serve, be glorified, as surely He must.
One thing I love about these two scriptures is how they speak of our impending glory. I have long sought glory, having recognized that in glory lies my home, but only have begun to appreciate how important that God be glorified first. I used to think, "God may you bring me glorify You," and then later I thought, "May You bring me glory, but do not bring me more glory than I can bear to bring to You." This was to say that I recognized the need for glory in my life, and I recognized that this glory must be given to the Father, but on some level I thought this glory was first to be given to me and then to be given back to God. What these two pieces of scripture have taught me, along with the revelation of the Holy Spirit, is that in order to find my Joy, to find happiness, to find fulfillment, I must give all the glory to God, and let that be my glory. My glory is the LORD’s. When God becomes the pursued of desire, the pinnacle of all glory, then I enjoy my glory as a part of Creation. Then it is not so much a conflict about or a resolution to give God glory. Me being me, a part of Creation, I am glorious, and I glorify the Father, because all things created glorify the LORD. Those who reject Him and His Name do not edify Him, but they cannot not give Him glory. That is in part the beauty and wonder of his glory, is that God being himself, cannot not be glorified by everything, by both Himself and His Creation. It is who He is. And I am a part of that. So I do not need to worry whether I glorify the King, I do this just by breathing, just by existing. My aim in a life of worship and praise is to edify this One, this Saviour, this Jesus, and speak and sing praises and thanksgiving to Him and His name. He is holy, and He is glorious, and I cannot, no matter what, get in the way of His glory. But Lord, may I truly edify You. May I praise You and thank You, beyond when I last draw breath in this mortal world. And I thank You that I may Worship, Glorify, Praise, and Edify You for all eternity. Certainly brother, His glory is my Joy. God bless brother Walton. May His PEACE be with you unto the end of your days and beyond.
"He must become greater; I must become less."
Justin
Isaiah 60:1
"Arise, shine; for your light has come,
And the glory of the LORD has risen upon you."
Colossians 3:4
"When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory." | | |
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