Needing Him

Jesus said I have come that you may have life and have it to the full (John 10:10). 'We can't live without him' is what he is basically saying. But what images does that verse put in your mind? Is it something along the lines of a song that woos your heart, a lovely and exciting kiss, sitting on the beach and letting the scenery romance you, or is it a more mundane generalization like being happy, perhaps making the effort to smile more, or relaxing into a zone-out time watching your favorite TV show while you get a break from life? I think the latter view is the prevalent one; even if we have been told otherwise (it's difficult to think the former when we read God's words).

Jesus says over and over how he loves us, how he longs to romance us. How he put in our hearts a unique wooing that beckons us to his embrace. He wants us to be his lovers. He desires us. And that can be a difficult thing to understand. And not just understand, but embrace. God, the one who is seated forever in majesty and power and glory and gave his one and only Son to die for us so that we may be ransomed, the one who is worshipped by countless angels and is all-powerful, all-knowing, this God, he is madly in love with us. And not with a distant, reverent love. Yes, he does have the love of a parent for his children. But, he loves us with an even deeper love than that. And Scripture is very clear on that point. He makes his intentions known. He loves us. He wants us. He desires us. He wants to married to us. We image him as male and female; is it really any wonder God wants to be pursued? He is the source, the original Beauty that Eve and her daughters bear. So should it be a shocker that he hides (Isaiah 45:15) in order to be pursued; he wants to be desired. Even more so, he wants to be worshipped. Where worship isn't reading songs off the flatscreen at church on sunday with the singer and band profile acting as the background for the words. Worship is raw; it's naked desire. And it's what God desires from us. It's an closeness that the only picture we have for is the intimacy between a husband and a wife. God so loved us, so much that his love was so real that he wanted us forever as his spouse, that he gave up his only son to die for us.

So...the tough part is making this real in our lives. To do this, you have to get alone with him. You have to be with him. Be yourself with him. Tell him you want to draw near to him, you want to let him romance you. And then worship him. Tell him you love him, over and over. Tell him how you need him. Tell him how you want to be with him. Jesus loves you and his love will embrace you and never let you go. You will never truly be lonely in a deep love relationship with God. He wants to marry you.

Here are 3 things I think can help put you on a great path to being closer and more intimate with Jesus

1) Make it a priority. Jesus said when you pray, go alone into your room, close the door and pray (Matthew 6:6). Let your spouse, your children, your dog and your friends know that when you are alone with your God, it's sacred time for only you two :) Leave the phone and the ipad and just be with him. Don't let the opportunity to have your attention stolen away present itself

2) Be honest. Tell him how you really feel! If you are feeling distant from him, tell him! If you are feeling head over heels in love with him, tell him! Just don't say nothing. Say something! And say something from your heart. Tell him you want him to woo you, but you don't know how. He will do the rest. It's a two-way relationship with him btw - he knows that ;)

3) Be a fool for him! 1 Corinthians 4:10, we are fools for Christ. Take this one to heart, please!! Remember when you are alone with Jesus, the door is closed and its just you two, loosen up! Sing to him! Talk out loud to him. Light some candles and snuggle with him. If you want to dance for him, by all means get up on the bed and starting jumping and dancing for/with him to some music! Let go of any and all inhibitions with God; Jesus knows you inside and out. But you are the one who has to invite him in to share every thing about you. And that includes things like dancing around your bedroom for him (just as an example). He is madly in love with you. Let him explore and enjoy you; it's worship. We're his temple, our bodies are his temple (1 Corinthians :19) which is why there is no temple now and there won't be any temple in heaven (Revelation 21:22). Enjoy a movie and chocolates snuggling with him during your worship time, or going for a walk (or to Starbucks), or __________[fill in the blank], you name it! He wants a romance with you. And he wants you and your heart to help write the best love story you will ever have. Go for it and go fall in love with God!!

Taking a Soul's Vacation

I've noticed lately it's been much harder it is to get intimate with Jesus. I think I've let my self-centeredness slowly creep up on me, to the point where now I feel like a million miles away from my Love.

Kayla is reading this book by Joyce Meyer, Eat the Cookie, Buy the Shoes, and she told me how Meyer suggests we take a soul's vacation every now and then. And then I was reading my Bible and I read Hebrews chapter 4 about our sabbath-rest. I realized I needed a rest. My soul needed a break from my selfish posts on Facebook designed to draw attention to myself, a break from my thoughts and daydreams and instead a rest with my Beloved. I need God. I need him. I need to be cuddled up with him in a hammock on a hot beach somewhere. He's my Lover. He's the Love of my Life and I can't live without him.

It's too easy to daydream about being with him and too difficult to enjoy intimacy with him when he's already inside me. How much more close can you get than that? But I'm lazy and so I take the route of least resistance. Selfishness is difficult to get away from in your relationship with God. We want gratification from him and he wants intimacy and worship. You have to work at intimacy though for it to grow. So to work at it, I decided to get back to one of the things that helps me focus on him, blogging.

I need a vacation for my soul. I need to be close to my Lover. I can't wait for the day when he comes home and I'm with him. And I can hold him. And I can kiss him and walk along a beach with him. And be married to him. And tell him,

How beautiful you are, my darling!
    Oh, how beautiful!
    Your eyes are doves.

Who looks for me?

Jeremiah 29:14 - I will be found by you, says Yahweh.

I feel really broken lately about this. I feel that people are "in it for themselves." His people. And it makes me sad. I have no idea why he is not pursued more than how many pursue him; except for this idea...

He hides

This is the reason why I have come to think that no one is looking for him. Isaiah 45:15 - Truly, you are a God who hides himself. He hides because, like women whom he has bestowed his image of his gorgeousness upon, he wants to be desired and sought after.

How few people take this seriously!! When was the last time you set apart time to just sit down and enjoy him? To have a conversation with him without being concerned that you were going crazy because you think you might be having a conversation with yourself? To enjoy his beauty and drink it in (and I'm not talking about looking at nature or a sunset; that's not what images him - guess what does image him?? Cf Gen 1:27-28)

To want to desire God means you have to be willing to thirst. You have to need something. And if you have anaesthetised yourself to where you relegate intimacy with God to "prayer" and reading your Bible, dutifully, to just a Father or Master level, how intimately of a level do you think you will find him at? Ask and it will be given to you - but if you are unwilling to desire for what you really want (Ecclesiastes 3:11), how can you ask?

He waits to be found - he waits to be found by you. Because he has a crush on you ;)

A BIG one!

Thanksgiving with God and Family

Be cheerful no matter what; pray all the time; thank God no matter what happens. This is the way God wants you who belong to Christ Jesus to live. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, The Message.




Thanksgiving is 2 1/2 weeks away. It is quickly getting cooler and cooler. The nights longer and longer. Fall...it's my favorite time of year. For me, it's my time to reflect with God on all that we've done, to snuggle with him indoors with my family, and to enjoy the memories we make every day as Thanksgiving and Christmas approach ever so fast.

My family's heart is to bring those on the outside to the inside. This concept is especially important to me. I've always had the internal stigma that I'm the outcast; that I'm always the one on the outside looking in. I've always had very few friends, close friends who truly know me. And our culture and society is so geared towards "love" and "friendship" and "good times" that it is very difficult to struggle with having few to no friends and see "everyone" (Facebook, texts, email, etc) enjoying great community. Perhaps most of the friendship and love seen in community online is a facade or not genuine; however, it doesn't take away from the reality that we all were meant for deep, rich community with one another. A community that is a family. A family of God.

My family is working to solve this problem. We have such a heart for the outsiders. For those left out in the cold. From babies to puppies, we desire for all to be in the warm living room, sitting around the fire, in our God's house. This is what was meant to be. Ecclesiastes 3:11 says God put eternity in our hearts. He put what we could have with him in heaven in our hearts now to draw us to him. This is why we desire family and friendship as much as we do. Because it's the way we are meant to live forever in the house of our God.

And this is the 2nd great commandment. To love your neighbor as your self. Take a look at CNN's Freedom Project, which was developed to help end modern day sex slavery at http://thecnnfreedomproject.blogs.cnn.com/ There is darkness. There are many out in the cold, suffering horribly there. Sex slavery is just one of millions of areas of terrifying evils in this world. How can we respond?

1) Pray. It's true for the saying there is nothing more powerful than prayer. It's true because God is God and all things are his. How can we expect to overturn such darkness we enconter without God's intervention?

2) Get involved. Do something to end evil, to end the cold for one heart. Whether its donating to something like http://www.ijm.org/ or taking that phone call in the middle of the night from a friend who is desperate to talk, or giving up an hour of your time and serving in children's ministry each week to play with some kiddos, do something that your heart responds to. From doing that you will exercise out your faith and fulfill the Jesus' commandment to love your neighbor as yourself. (We just adopted a rescued puppy from Central OK Humane Society; http://www.okhumane.org/ They still need lots of adoptions and lots of foster parents; and those dogs and cats are God's as well. Plus, there are a lot of children in our society who have no family. Ever thought of that?)

3) Be thankful for what you have. God died for us. Through his pain and sacrifice and love, he got something great. He got us forever. He got a love worth fighting for. And we are so thankful for that. What else has he given you in your world that had to be fought for with him?

4) Find your heart's desires in God. Perhaps the biggest one for everyone is love, romance, marriage. While there is much more I'd love to write about this one, the simplest way to say it is: God desires to be your Lover. Think back to Ecclesiastes 3:11 and your heart's own desires. It's why the desire for a Love above all is so strong. It is a desire for God's love, embrace, hand in marriage. It's why he says in the day that he returns he will rejoice over you as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride (Isaiah 62:5) and that Adam becoming Eve's was actually a reference to us and Jesus (Ephesians 5:32). If this idea is a little uneasy to you, it was to me at first as well. But it's true. Jesus desires us to be his beloved. It's why earthly romance parallels worship as its number one rival - because it imitates it so well. Worship is meant to be a romance between us and God, not just singing during Sunday services. And from love with Jesus, will flow an unending well of love to save the lost here.

We hope the most wonderful of times of Thanksgiving for you and yours during this time of Fall. Go bring someone out of the darkness and into God's family during this time. They will never forget it, and neither will you or God.

In God's family.