Keeping it simple
On this past sunday, Daniel Yang, a pastor from Sao Paulo was here preaching. (He & his family have been with us a week, and left for Minnesota and Ned’s church) Daniel brings a similiar emphasis as Tom Padley does when he comes. Simple, clear truth. Daniel spoke of Phillip’s encounter with an Ethopian eunuch (He had a unique way of pronouncing eunuch, more like e-nac, which I did tease him about). Anyway, there was something in his message, something very basic and something easy to let pass over your head. He kept emphasizing it, coming back to it again and again. In other forms I have heard it from Tom Padley many, many times. Listen, hear and do what the Spirit says. It was the message that Daniel preached on Sunday. Phillip was available, he listened and he obeyed.
Next thought - Wednesday morning (5.30.07) a group of pastor’s come together to pray each week. We gather at West Essex Baptist. The theme was, in a sense, very much like what Daniel preached on Sunday; learning to listen, learning to recognize the voice of the Spirit and then obeying. One of the things that has been hitting me hard is this “can we who pray for revival receive an answer if we do not do what we already know He wants us to do?” For example - when David lead the processional back to Jerusalem with the Ark of the Covenant, he worshipped with all his might. His worship was so enthusiastic and unihibited that his wife was embarrassed by his behavior and mocked him for it. To this David replied: Yes, and I am willing to look even more foolish than this, even to be humiliated in my own eyes! I am immediately struck by my own self-imposed limitations on what I will express in worship. Could I abandon my self-consciousness and worship without reserve in the house of God? Have I ever felt so grateful, so joyful, so full that I could simply lose myself in worship? Can I be trustworthy to handle a great outpouring of the Holy Spirit if I don’t yield myself now? Romans 12:1 exhorts me to offer myself a living sacrifice. Can it be less that what David offered? It could certainly be more, but can it be less?
Next thought; let me continue to ramble a bit. I was reading a exerpt from Andrew Murray’s book - The Ministry of Intercession (given to me by the ever kind Noelle Rhodes). In this particular reading was a reference to a passage of scripture - Mark 11: 24 Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them. Murray then begins to break this verse down into the various elements which comprise the thought. First, he camps on the issue of desire. “What things soever ye desire” suggests that actually wanting what you pray for really matters. Murray suggests that much failed prayer is the result of not really wanting what we pray for. In my case this has to do with really desiring the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, really desiring to see God move in a mighty way, and really desiring to see many saved and delived. I can certainly identify my desires when I want say some new electronic gadget, or seeing some new film that is just out. I think about it, I try and figure when I might own it or see it as the case may be. I can definitely occupy brain space with thoughts of a particular thing I desire.
Do I have that zeal for the kingdom? When I’m not praying for it does it occupy my desires? I have been struck with these things today, and actually the past few days. Do I really hunger for God to do the things for which I have been praying? Is it my heart’s desire? Shouldn’t that be giving rise to more risk taking, more dropping my inhibitions to worship God wholeheartedly? Pray for me, and I will pray for you. There is something out there… There is a threshold that must be crossed. It is the fear of what other will think, it is the need to always be incontrol, it is the desire for lessor things elevated to the first place. Oh Jesus, please set us (me) free.