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Dare...

Dare... 

   ... to take some time to evaluate your life and ambitions by a reality bigger than the one that encompasses your daily life - by God's reality and established truth. Dare to take the time to consider what's real as established by the one who created it all... and in that process, find what your heart's "really" searching for...

What's "real" to many is commonly based on the perception of our flesh and is determined by virtue of its senses. But what lives within these decaying bodies is eternal and was created with the holy and purposeful intention to have fellowship with God on His terms. Anything beyond that purpose is meaningless. We were created with an inherent desire for relationship with our creator. Nothing else completely satisfies that ever present and nagging feeling that something is missing - nothing possibly could. We were purposely created by God with a void in our hearts that only He can fill so that we'd be drawn to relationship with Him - to fulfill our purpose.

The God who created us is spirit. Having been created in His image, what lives within our bodies is eternal spirit. Yet the flesh we temporarily inhabit tends to focus on self gratification and seeks to find it's own purpose in a multitude of other things outside of God's original and still standing purpose. As living spirits, questioning the value of those things while considering the relationship and eternity we were created for and acknowledging God's established reality we begin to find our perspective adjusted to what's "real".  

John 4:24 (NLT) "For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth."

... As spirits, the real joy and fulfillment of everything that we're seeking is found beyond those things that our temporary encasement of flesh is tempted to strive for. True reality - God's reality, is something our flesh struggles with because in that reality our flesh has no real value - it's dated and won't survive. But our spirits will live on beyond the time that we were tested and tempted by the selfish desires of our flesh. Finding what we were created for, what we were intended to have and to experience in God's reality sometimes involves defying the fears of our flesh and stepping out with faith infused courage, but those things are real and worth far more than anything flesh might consider.

We were created by God to have relationship with Him. Consider...

Near the beginning of time...

Genesis 1:26-27 (NLT)
26 "Then God said, “Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us. They will reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the wild animals on the earth,c and the small animals that scurry along the ground.” 27 So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them."

...And near the end to come...

Revelation 4:11 (KJ) "Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created."

 ...They're related.

The verse found in Revelation 4:11 is translated a little differently in newer translations, but I'm convicted in the deepest depths of my soul that the translators of the King James version got it right because I've read the book - not just the book of Revelation, but the whole book. The Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, is a love letter, a love story and a history authored by God. It's about you and it's about me - from Him to us. It's about Him calling Us to Himself - A holy courting of us - you and me - by God Himself personally.

Because I've read it, my heart convicts me with an understanding that brings both continuous joy and simultaneous anxiety...

Please hear me out...

I have immeasurable and continuous joy, having dared to surrender against the fear of the possible humiliation of my flesh, to press in to know the gracious God who both created me and also found me worthy to save at a terrible price to Himself. The unearned benefit to me is an immeasurable, eternal and precious wealth that can only be discovered by knowing Him. Knowing Him personally stands alone to be counted as a wealth beyond measure, but to be counted as a personal friend by God? - Priceless. It can only be encountered by engaging with Him in spite of whatever might rise up to hold you back, daring bravely to press in. Whether it be one's own pride or possibly a fear of something that comes to mind when you consider the possibility of exposing yourself to real relationship on a very personal level with the God of the universe, it does a person well to know and remember what's actually real. 

Beyond what's common and well known to our senses in this world, there's a battle going on - and this is where anxiety comes to visit me. It's not for myself that I'm concerned, but for people that I love and care about within my reach. It extends beyond that to every living soul that Father God has ever created or will create, because He loves them and I adore Him, so I choose to love them also. 

We currently live in a microcosm of human concerns and interests, but there's a reality that exists beyond that. It's one that preceded humanity and will exist long after the flesh of humanity comes to an end. It's the reality of the God that created us and who will judge humanity on the day that He decides that this current flesh driven microcosm all comes to an end. What we're living now is a test, a sifting of the spirits within us to determine not who will hear, but who will listen and then believing will follow after the God of the universe - walking with Him in relationship with Him - actively fulfilling His purpose and truly finding "The meaning of life".

I don't think the shouts of joy on that first new day when Christ returns will be any louder than those of the ones who struggled with the thoughts of their own worthiness, but crushed by loving grace, journeyed on faithfully to find that on that day their faith in Christ and their humbled, loving relationship with Him carried them to the dawn of eternity...

...Or that the agonized cries on that same day will be any louder than those of the ones who chose to merely say a few words and then laid selfishly idle or practiced a hollow religion - neglecting an actual relationship with their creator, failing to meet His purpose for their life. When they're forced to acknowledge that they knew of Him, but did not know Him. It may well be a day when Christ truthfully acknowledges that He does not know them either.

If you're not in an active, living, continuing relationship with Christ, it doesn't matter who you are, what you've done or even how many times you may have failed Him - He's waiting and His mercies are new every day. You'll find forgiveness and relationship with Him - as personal and passionate as you'll allow - walking daily with the omnipotent King that loves you more than you can imagine. But if you're not willing to go there, you're cheating yourself more than you could possibly know.

There is NO comparable human experience that can begin to measure up to being in the presence of the spirit and power of The Living God. He's the most addictive personality in the entire universe. And you can only know this by knowing Him and you can only know Him by daring have the courage and faith in God Himself, to move beyond whatever might hold you back.

Dare.

1 Corinthians 16:13-14 (NLT) 13"Be on guard. Stand firm in the faith. Be courageous. Be strong. 14 And do everything with love."


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