A seed
well I guess I need to change my whole "aspiring to be an M.D." some day profile because thats not gonna happen. I guess some explanation is in order here.
A long time ago in a galaxy far.. oh wait differet story. (just a little humor) Anyway, A while back God planted this seed in me a mustard seed I guess you could call it ( cause it started out small ) and I have tried to ignore it and ignore it but it will not loosen its grip on me. So I finally could not do it anymore I have given In. What I am talking about here is the direction the God is taking me now. It is really hard to explain but very exiting none the less. I was talking to one of my good friends about this (who often comments on my blog.... starts with a D) any way I just ask him how did you know you where suppose to be in ministry? and he told me a lot of things but the one that stuck out was "I cant imagine doing anything else" I wanted to just scream. I was so excited to here someone say this.. someone else who had this feeling that I was and am experiencing . It was such a relief. As we talked I told him that it was like God said the past 6 years of school (and i know.thats a long while) you where persuing your ambitions and you where tring to fit what I have for you into what you want for you and now its time for you to stop standing ankle deep in the water with me and let my power and direction and my goals take the number 1 seat ( basically jump into the deep end with me) and I fought this urge for a good while. but all the time I was tring to build up my kingdom or castle if you will I was laboring in vain on a foundation of sand. The final decision day for me was the other day. I was praying and it was like a heaviness fell on me and I could not get small enough. It was like all the things that I had thought I had been working toward where gone. I had never really ever experienced humbleness before in this way and it has turely changed me. All the times before that I had been running from what it was he had purposed me to do came to mind and then he brought back to me everything that I had ever ask him for in prayers( and he still reminds me of this ) I ask him for the heart of David and for him to put an unquenchable fire for him in my heart. and I then realized that he had given me everything that I had ever ask for. This is still very new to me this sudden and urgent desire to ministry. I mean I have considered myself for a long time to be a christian, but God has totally taken me out of my confort zone and into his light and I can not ever remember being this excited in my entire life.
posted by Travis @ 12:54 PM
4 Comments:
Mark this day, remember it, make a memorial in your mind for the future. Let nothing shake you. Hold onto the call of God; do not let this moment go.
Hebrews 12:28-29 says, "Therefore,since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worhsip God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our 'God is a consuming fire.'"
"God is consuming fire" quotes Deut. 4:24 in which Moses is warning God's people against idolatry. In that verse, the phrase is attached to the end that God is not only a consuming fire but "a jealous God." I think the idea may be that the kind of relationship that God seeks to have with us overwhelms us; it asks/requires everything from us. God opens Himself to partake of His divine life, but it will cost us everything. God is a jealous God, and we cannot share our passions with any other. But not only could it be that God wants us to be consumed with Him but that in it all God "consumes" us.
Romans 12 talks about us being a "living sacrifice." Sacrifices in the OT were part of the covenant that God established with Abraham. The phrase refering to "making a covenant" is more literally "to cut covenant." You see, Abraham cut this animal into many pieces and then made a "walk-way" through the middle of the pieces. And, the idea was, "May I be like this animal if I break my covenant with You."
Well, the practice of sacrificing animals was the practice of repentence and worship in the OT community. It was the way that the covenant was remembered and by which the people recommitted themselves to God as His people of the covenant. They were God's and God was their God. I'm not sure but I don't know that this practice of walking between the pieces of cut up animal was perpetuated but what WAS done was that the animal would ultimately be consumed in the fire, on the alter, as a sacrifice to God.
So, this is a little summary background of OT sacrifices. They were consumed by fire as an offering to God--it was an offering of animals, but it was most importantly an offering of the people to God (in some instances, like with Elijah, God sent fire from heaven and consumed the sacrifice).
What I am trying to get at is that when we give ourselves to God, offer our bodies as living sacrifices (wholly-dedicated to Him), then God sets a fire in us. A fire that consumes our heart, mind, body and soul. We are compelled, gripped by God. We want God; we want to know God. Our passion and purpose is for Him. God doesn't just ask us to lay our lives on the line for Him and then leave us hanging out there, but rather, He ignites us, fills us with Himself. He pours Himself into us. He overwhelms us with His glory, His Presence, and we cannot help but overflow with the word of the Spirit of God.
In this section of Hebrews, the writer is talking about setting our eyes on Jesus and about our response to the glorious revelation of God to us. I like Third Day's song on this "Yes, our God, He is a consuming fire...burning down deep in my soul...He reaches inside and He melts down this cold heart of stone...Did you realize that inside of you there is a flame? Did you ever try to let it burn, let it burn, let it burn"
I think that God is (so-to-speak) consuming you. You have sold-out to Him, you are letting His fire inside of you burn, and He, in response, is igniting your life with passion for Him, for His Word and for His Kingdom. Passion is staying connected to the heart of God; passion for the Kingdom of God to come begins and ends with being excited about Jesus Christ.
Let God's consuming fire burn in you, let it burn, let it burn.
After talking to you guys last thursday i have really been thinking about how todays "youth", myself included, looks at today's adults.How it seems like they (adults) have given up on the idea of completly living there life for God and letting go of there own ambitions. After reading this blog i have to tell you travis that you have started to sink the boat and i am right here with you. lets jump into the deep, lets go to the unknown, most of all lets seek after the one true God no matter where it leads us.
I cant begin to tell you guys how great it is to be surrounded by individuals with the same goals and like Derek said united for a cause so "to speak" I know it will not always be this way for me but its good to know that this group of individuals that I am surrounded by now are not out to please anyone but God, becauselike CS. Lewis kinda said at the end of the day when this Fog that we call reality melts away we will be standing in the presence of him who has been there all along. and that to me speaks that my life should be pleasing to Him at the End of the day.
Pastorstan The Bible says, "Many are called, but few are chosen." Looks you have been chosen for something great! We all have a free will, but once the Christian prays to the effect of, "Lord, I give my life to you, do with me whatever you will," you're done. He takes us at our word, and our lives no longer belong to us. We still have a free will, but nothing of this world satisfies anymore; we know we are destined for something bigger than ourselves.
What an adventure it is to be totally sold out to Him! The mountaintop experiences are awesome, but then comes the walking out of it in the demon possessed valleys. One step at a time! Knock 'em dead, I believe in you 100%!
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