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When I pray for revival I pray first for the most radical thing: The utter devotion and allegiance of your hearts to Christ. That you would love Him so deeply and long for Him so passionately that His coming would be your great hope, and death would be gain, and life would be for Christ and His kingdom.
~ John Piper
What do you look like when you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength?
Because THAT person, Girlfriend, is who He’s looking for in you.
So, let me ask you this: when you are teeming with love for the Lord your God, who are you right then? What is your passion? What is it that you are bursting to do? That’s probably the stream of your calling. I’m not asking you who you see in front of you when you feel the most love for Jesus because that could be your pastor or your teacher or your worship leader. I’m asking you who is INSIDE OF YOU when you are flooded with the fiery love of Christ? Right there in that passion you’ll start discovering that purpose.
You following Christ will not always look the same as someone else following Christ. Why on earth would He have bothered to form you in your mother’s womb with your own DNA and life experience ahead just to copy what someone else you’re seeing is doing?
Who are you supposed to look like in your calling here on earth and in the way you follow Christ? You’re supposed to look like the version of you that loves Jesus with everything in you.
That’s the real you.
And that’s the road down which you will find what He put you on the planet to do. You don’t have to figure out what to surrender to. Just surrender your heart to Jesus. Every single ounce of it. Ask Him to give you a love for Him that surpasses anything in your human experience. A supernatural capacity. And ask Him for it every day until He does it and then ask Him to do it some more. If you’re a writer, your exploding love for Him will bring it out. If you’re a liberator, you will not be able to keep yourself from seeing to the oppressed. If you’re a teacher, you won’t be able to quit studying except to share what you learned with somebody. If you love Him with your whole heart and that whole heart bursts to sell everything and move to China, Girl, get your passport!
Who would you be if you loved Jesus with your whole heart, soul, mind and strength?
That’s what you’re meant to look like.
by Beth Moore
*** this was just so inspirational and challenging and wonderful that i had to share! go read the whole post WHAT WOULD YOU LOOK LIKE?
*** notes from church sunday morning, peter morton preaching @ the river
Phil 1
God promises to complete the good things he has begun in us
Phil 1:3
This is my prayer
That your love may abound more and more
With understanding and insight
What is visible comes from something invisible
What enables us to do great things
What burns on the inside
Prayer life
Don’t seek to imitate the masters but seek what they sought
Its not about replicating the first church but going further. The first church weren’t trying to be the first church, they just were
That your love will abound more and more
1 The world needs revival
2 For the world to be revived the church must be revived – dead paramedics cant help dead people – dont be just theoretical pentecostal but be practicing pentecostals. The church will only get revived when we do the things we say we believe
3 the church only be revived of i am revived
4 revival needs room
The undeniable fire of revival is prayer, hearts on fire
Christianity is not meant to be heartless. Don’t do it without love.
Love – agape – love in action, has to have an action
Not our niceness would abound but that the action motivated by love would increase
agape love is "an intentional response to promote well-being when responding to that which has generated ill-being.”
Intentional
Blessing
Love
We are called to flow in supernatural love
Abound
Same word used for the leftovers in feeding the five thousand
Please say fish please say fish please say fish
When you give you will have more
God gives us impossible situations for his glory
How do we abound in love: in knowledge and all discernment
Knowledge
Col 1:9
God wants you to be filled with knowledge of God and his will
Because Gods abundance is found in his will
Eg Israelites following the cloud. No provision where the was no cloud
Follow God and run to him. Dont hold onto the old or go your own way
Gods will his bill. Hudson Taylor
Depth of insight:
Spiritual
Precise understanding of the way of God
Knowledge of his will – general
Depth – specifics of way
Do the will of God by the way of the Lord
His will, His way
Will: feed the people
Way: with five loaves and fishes
Why do we do it this way:
that you sense what is vital
Will: God will provide
Way: specific leading by God
He likes to get the glory so the way may look impossible but its in being in his will that provision happens
I think so many times we think about the capability gap in our lives when it comes to Gods call – big picture wise and in the everyday opportunities. There is that gap between what we can do and what HE can do THROUGH us. When we step out HE steps in!
"What is stopping us from getting up and moving on? Don’t let the enemy paralyze you to keep you where you are." – Beth Moore
"The Son of Man has authority over whatever has you paralyzed. Get up and walk." – Beth Moore
* ps this was one of my fav messages to preach this year
The reality is the only difference between the accepted and the rejected is whether our name is in the book. It’s not by how good we were, how many poor people we fed, or old ladies we helped cross the road, whether we don’t swear, keep to the speed limit, tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth. It’s not about how nice we are or how many times we go to church. The reality is that without Jesus – without His saving us –we deserve that wrath and punishment. We are the bad fish without God’s grace. By nature and by behaviour we are the bad fish.
It’s all about what Jesus did on the cross to pay the penalty and judgement we deserve and its all about us being born again – changing citizenship from the world to the kingdom of heaven, changing species from bad fish to good fish.
God because of the imputed righteousness of Christ to me and his wrath absorbing death on the cross and his resurrection now sees me as perfect and spotless and holy, not because i am but because HE IS ~ Matt Chandler
Galatians 6:9 says Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
Peter had a choice to believe Jesus and trust Jesus and obey Jesus and put down the net, even though in reality PETER was the expert fisherman. Fishing was in his blood. Fishing was probably ingrained into the pours of his skin! Who was Jesus? Some random stranger on the shore? A rabbai?
Do you hear what peter is saying? “though I’m tired form working all night, though I am weary, though I don’t think you know much about fishing, Jesus, though it makes no sense in human terms, because you say so, I will do it.”
How many times have we found ourselves in peters position and NOT responded in obedience the way peter did? Sometimes we ignore it because we’re tired, or busy, or because it was inconvenient or because I didn’t really believe Jesus would work a miracle or because his request made no sense in human terms.
Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
- Refocus Sometimes you need to change perspective – see life from His perspective – from His promises. “He is the God of the multitude and the God of the individual…He will not overlook your tiniest need.”
- Refuel Just as we need food to keep our bodies going, and fuel to keep a fire going, and fuel to keep a car going… we need fuel to keep our spirit going.
- Remain Often in this time of weariness – this time of discouragement – this time of refocusing and refuelling the enemy can pounce on our vunerability and make us want to not only give up but to pull back… to step back or to drop out. Don’t listen to him. REMAIN where you are, continue to press through, continue to do good.
- Resolve In the midst of the PROCESS between the promise and the fulfilment sometimes you just have to resolve to stand up, to press in and to move forward. No matter how long it takes and not matter how hard it is.
God calls us to be fishers of men. To live our lives in such a way that it demonstrates the reality and goodness of God to those around us. So that they too will come to know God and His saving power, that they too will be transformed inside out and become good fish.
The gift of salvation is not something we could ever earn, but its not something we should keep secret either.
“…think of the gospel as a stone landing in a pond. The life, death, and resurrection of Jesus are the cause of many ripples; they are the epicenter of God’s work in the world. The first ripple is our personal reconciliation to God. Matt Chandler
* and this one too! (re favourite)
crazy love compels us: The love of Christ leaves us no choice except to live our lives for Him.
2 Cor 5:14-15 For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.
crazy love constrains us: it’s as important to have a “not gonna do” list as it is to have a “to do” one. I have one good reason why you should walk away from temptation now. One reason. GOD IS BETTER.
crazy love completes us: being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. Philippians 1:6
Predestined For A Purpose (Women’s Conference Friday Night)
But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions – it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Destiny Takes Flight (Chat Show @ Women’s Conference)
Psalm 139 tells me that I am wonderfully and fearfully made, by God, and for God. For a purpose.
He intricately wove my frame, my external physical body was created and wired by God in respect that God knew how He was going to use my days. I am formed for a purpose.
God has a mission for our lives and we are created on purpose.
The reality is if we do not overcome the past it will determine our destiny. If we don’t effectively and completely deal with our history our destiny will be dictated by events in our past.
God Loves You (Children’s Church Outreach)
In the beginning God made all the amazing things in our world. He made the whole world. He made all the stars and the moon and the sky and the sea and the fish and the animals and the people.
In Evangeline’s adventure bible it says at the end of the story of creation that God’s world and everything that lived in it was ready now… ready for the adventure to begin.
The bible says that God loves you and made you for a special reason. He made you and knows all about you. He knows what your favourite tv show is and what time you go to sleep at night. He knows what your favourite ice cream flavour is and He knows what can make you scared. He knows everything. God knows how many hairs you have on your head and how many hairs you have on your toes!
One of the Pharisees tested Jesus with a question, "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" Jesus replied, " ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments" (Matthew 22:36-40 NIV).
Tonight I want to put the devo time in this context.
Our whole lives should be wrapped and framed and built upon this commandment.
We are called and created to love God, with all our heart, soul, mind – energy, time, priority, affection, intellect, emotion, will, strength.
Nothing else and no one else is to supersede this.
Its not a theological statement or a nice facebook status update or something to embroider but a real life way of living and relating to God.
And it takes verbs in our life to do it.
Think about how it really should look like in your life. What does love look like in your life? Think about a time you’ve been in love or like – or a great love story on tv, and how that looked.
Think about how love takes time, relationship, communication, affection, intention.
Now apply it to your relationship with God.
It takes time, relationship, communication, affection and intention.
We’re blest to have the Bible – God’s revelation of who He is and His will and His ways and blest to be able to supernaturally connect with Him in prayer and worship, praying in English and praying in tongues. Our devo time and our discipline in having a devo time is a reflection of love. For me it’s a reflection that I love God with all my heart and with all my soul and with all my mind. My love and the way I intentionally live my life is a response to His great love.
And the awesome thing is when I have my devo time – as I come and spend time with Him – a supernatural thing happens – whether I feel it or not – we are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. 2 Corinthians 3:18 and Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. Romans 12:2
My devo time changes me so I can love God more and live out the second part of the greatest commandement – loving others.
I don’t put the devo time on an optional extras list for life. You know, there are some optionals, like watching Lost… but having a devo time and really encountering God and knowing Him isn’t one of them. We’re designed to know Him. Adam and Eve did it, they would walk in the Garden of Eden with God. Moses and Joshua did it in the tabernacle. The Apostle Paul did it. Jesus did it. He would go away and spend time with God.
Let’s get about putting verbs on our loving God.
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