Contending for the Faith, Part 2
What is God calling us to? Is it too frightening to consider? Are the changes He's calling us to make too radical? Maybe we should be going after those things full-fledged, desiring to be a church (Bride) with a mighty spirit and with a fierce determination to follow God instead of pleasing man. Let's not be hindered by fear of man but instead seek Him at all costs. Are we willing to be abandoned to His will, or are we too afraid to throw away our flesh-bound sophistication that turns others on? Do our words unlock hearts because they flow from the Holy Spirit or are they beautifully and eloquently empty, spoken only for the praise of men?
God seems to be speaking this to me, not in an angry judgemental way, but rather in an exhortation to continue to contend. He's saying, "Come! Come after Me! This way! Don't slow down, don't stop, just keep coming!" The excuses I sometimes make for not spending time contemplating His love, learning about His character, practicing His presence seem quite rediculous considering THIS IS GOD! Is there something in my life that is more important? If I am serious about my committment, I can trust Him to get around all of the legalism that's built into quiet time, and come before Him because I truly AM hungry for more. I can be purposeful about the way I set up my days so as to make sure I am feeding my spirit, I am fanning the flame. One of the scriptures that has so stuck out to me this past week is Matthew 5:6
"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be completely satisfied."
I have always known in my head the words, "nothing else can satisfy like Christ." My heart is now beginning to experience that satisfaction as I purposefully set my own mind as flint in His direction, towards His gaze, pressing on for the prize that is surely greater than what this world offers. It is really true - even in those times when I've felt like I've failed, when I'm so distracted, it seems like my time with God was really about doing the dishes...He changes something inside me...He is really working in there! This time is what is fueling my spirit, and strengthening my inner man.
Mike Bickle (fotb) does a series on cultivating a fiery spirit, and when he talks about how to do this, he says it is by setting our cold hearts before the hot fire of God's love. He describes how this strengthens our spirits. Here are some of my notes from that series.
Eph 6:10 describes the weapons of our warfare as being mighty in God. But, we have to be strong in the power of his might before we can we mighty in battle. It's more than intellectual knowledge about the right words or scriptures to use. Weak passive spirits cannot take on the powers of darkness. Many people go right to Eph 6 for the weapons of warfare, but might skip the first part of Ephesians 3 that tells us how to get strong in His might, how the Lord builds might on our inner man. Here (Eph 3) Paul prays that we would be rooted and grounded in His love, that we would know it experientially - this comes from sitting in His presence, from contemplating this God-Man Jesus, from intimacy with Him. THEN we can put on the armor with some authority in our words. The time spent with our hearts before God effects the way we respond, it opens our spirit to the Holy Spirit, it builds might in our spirits.
MB shares the story in Acts about the men trying to cast out demons using "this Jesus whom Paul preaches." The evil spirit replied to them, "Jesus I know, and Paul I know, but who are you? Then the man in whom the evil spirit dwelt leaped upon them, mastering two of them, and was so violent against them that they dashed out of the house naked."
Acts 19 11-16
Paul was known in hell - what kind of men scare demons? What kind of men are known in the spirit, not so much in the natural...a weak man in the natural, but a mighty man of the spirit!
Let us be a people who seek Him fiercely, who hunger for this type of strength in our own inner man, which comes from knowing His love experientially. Let us not dwell constantly on pleasing man, but on knowing God.
God seems to be speaking this to me, not in an angry judgemental way, but rather in an exhortation to continue to contend. He's saying, "Come! Come after Me! This way! Don't slow down, don't stop, just keep coming!" The excuses I sometimes make for not spending time contemplating His love, learning about His character, practicing His presence seem quite rediculous considering THIS IS GOD! Is there something in my life that is more important? If I am serious about my committment, I can trust Him to get around all of the legalism that's built into quiet time, and come before Him because I truly AM hungry for more. I can be purposeful about the way I set up my days so as to make sure I am feeding my spirit, I am fanning the flame. One of the scriptures that has so stuck out to me this past week is Matthew 5:6
"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be completely satisfied."
I have always known in my head the words, "nothing else can satisfy like Christ." My heart is now beginning to experience that satisfaction as I purposefully set my own mind as flint in His direction, towards His gaze, pressing on for the prize that is surely greater than what this world offers. It is really true - even in those times when I've felt like I've failed, when I'm so distracted, it seems like my time with God was really about doing the dishes...He changes something inside me...He is really working in there! This time is what is fueling my spirit, and strengthening my inner man.
Mike Bickle (fotb) does a series on cultivating a fiery spirit, and when he talks about how to do this, he says it is by setting our cold hearts before the hot fire of God's love. He describes how this strengthens our spirits. Here are some of my notes from that series.
Eph 6:10 describes the weapons of our warfare as being mighty in God. But, we have to be strong in the power of his might before we can we mighty in battle. It's more than intellectual knowledge about the right words or scriptures to use. Weak passive spirits cannot take on the powers of darkness. Many people go right to Eph 6 for the weapons of warfare, but might skip the first part of Ephesians 3 that tells us how to get strong in His might, how the Lord builds might on our inner man. Here (Eph 3) Paul prays that we would be rooted and grounded in His love, that we would know it experientially - this comes from sitting in His presence, from contemplating this God-Man Jesus, from intimacy with Him. THEN we can put on the armor with some authority in our words. The time spent with our hearts before God effects the way we respond, it opens our spirit to the Holy Spirit, it builds might in our spirits.
MB shares the story in Acts about the men trying to cast out demons using "this Jesus whom Paul preaches." The evil spirit replied to them, "Jesus I know, and Paul I know, but who are you? Then the man in whom the evil spirit dwelt leaped upon them, mastering two of them, and was so violent against them that they dashed out of the house naked."
Acts 19 11-16
Paul was known in hell - what kind of men scare demons? What kind of men are known in the spirit, not so much in the natural...a weak man in the natural, but a mighty man of the spirit!
Let us be a people who seek Him fiercely, who hunger for this type of strength in our own inner man, which comes from knowing His love experientially. Let us not dwell constantly on pleasing man, but on knowing God.
posted by KariBryant @ 7:29 PM
1 Comments:
At 3:49 PM,
Anonymous said…
This article on contending for the faith has blessed me so much and I will be sharing with the women of my church to inspire and provoke them to a hunger for God as never before..Thank you so much.
Linda
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