A Brother Coming Home/The First and Second Great Commandments

I got a phone call yesterday from a friend who I had not talked to in a long time. He has had many hard struggles with God, but knows that Jesus is his heart's true desire. And he's fighting hard now to come home to God. I cheered him on, prayed over him even though he is far away from me, and told him God's grace is always sufficient if we are willing. He's been the kind of Godly man who, after falling a long time ago, made me sit there in awe as if, If he can fall, who couldn't? But years later, I've lost that awe and discovered that true love with God isn't based on "strength," "knowledge," or really anything else. It's based on Jesus and his heart and love and grace. The fruits of the Spirit, the ones about love, grace, patience, joy, and everything else good, those are the fruits of life and little joys of relationships, with God, with my wife, with our daughter, and with just about everyone else I've every came into contact with. The pop terms today like "anointed" as if, he's so anointed, is just so out of context. There's only us and the Holy Spirit. Honestly, if Paul said he was the least of sinners (and remember it was the Holy Spirit who wrote the letters, not Paul but only through him), and frankly if anyone would be considered anointed it would be him, then what's the point of calling worship leaders, church leaders, or any one else "anointed" in a way that elevates someone in God above others?

Now it is God who makes both us and you firm in Christ. He anointed us. 1 Corinthians 1:21 (NIV)

That was actually our message today by a very wise man who has a family of 7 children and lives in Thailand running a house of prayer for the Thai people (Chiang Mai House of Prayer). He said don't go running to someone or some ministry, even though you will be blessed by it, go get your heart's desire. Which should be Jesus. And get him through worship and prayer. And that's following the first commandment. And through that, we let everything flow which we need to follow the second great commandment, to love our neighbors as ourselves. This man told us today that even though there are more missionaries in a city in Thailand than anywhere else in the world, only less than 0.5% of the people are believes in Jesus. And that's because all the missionaries focused on their ministry as their main project in life. The waiting list for counseling for pastors in Thailand (ie those pastors who are burned out and need Christian counseling) is 2 months long! The pastors' families are falling apart, their marriages are gone, they are broken and depressed. Why? They made their entire life about the second commandment. He said when they changed their ministry to prayer and worship, everything took off. People started falling in love with Jesus, not with some ministry project.

Now loving our neighbors, bring healing, loving on the neglected, hurt, and rejected is extremely important. So important, that it's the second great commandment from God. The only thing above it by God's commandments is to passionately love Jesus as our heart's desire.

We need to practice prayer together, worship together. Real worship and prayer from our hearts. I've always struggled with this one. It's hard for me to feel like it's not contrived when I pray with others. Today, my wife and I prayed together, out loud, at the same time. And for the first time, I felt like I was praying with someone else. As close as I've been to Jesus inside me, and as many prayers as I've been apart of in church and hymns sung, I've never felt as close and bare to God as I did today praying with my wife. It was like he was here and we were all one talking together, worshiping Jesus together. It was a taste of life with God in Heaven. I love my friend who is coming back to God, but I love him because of my love with God. And when we share that mutual love we both have for God in conversation over coffee, we became great and close friends. I invite you to learn to pray with others as you would pray to Jesus alone in your heart. If you already do, then I guess I'm finally catching up! And if not, try it! It's a taste of life with God in Heaven :)

God bless you and be near to you