Agreement
There is a "pleasant land" promised to me, if I will enter it. There is a hidden joy in agreeing with God about what my life should look like. But the joy is certainly hidden. Even though MANY have entered in, tasted unspeakable joy, and tried to report back, I had heard their words, but the joy was still hidden from me until I chose to walk into the place myself.
Everything in the world is set against me really discovering the joy in the place prepared for me. The same enemy that said to Eve "did God really say?" Said to me "you can have it your way!" Once satan realized he couldn't keep me from wanting God, he set about convincing me I could experience God on my terms. The enemy of God began convincing me Jesus was an important part of a balanced diet.
For years, I have wanted a lot of God in my life. By most accounts, I was quite fond of God, and I knew He loved me. I felt as though I was "all in." Honestly, Jesus was the most valuable addition to my life!
One day a few years ago, God brought a new friendship into my life. The only thing we really had in common was our love for God. We had a business relationship and didn't see each other very often, but every time I ran into this guy I had the same experience: I would get excited to see my friend's excitement for God, but by the end of the conversation I felt empty. This man was completely about Jesus. He was everything I had always thought I didn't want to be: one- dimensional. Like the churchy people I avoided when I was a kid. So excited about Jesus, politically incorrect about Jesus. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus...I loved Jesus, but when I finished a conversation with my friend, I felt like I hardly knew Jesus! I really enjoyed hearing about Chris' encounters with God, and how excited He was about His one-dimensional life, but I couldn't figure out what sustained him...
Then one day I found out! Chris gave me a book as a gift, and it was about David, and his DESIRE for God. David actually asked God to help him be one-dimensional! This book told the story of what the implications were of being one-dimensional for God: when David directed all his desire toward God, it allowed God to unlock all of the real dimensions he had planned for David's life. David was one of the greatest warriors, worshipers, kings...by all accounts, David had one of the best lives ever!
Because of free will, God doesn't force us into his plans, but when God is our only plan, our will lines up with His. God's will for us is a future we would hope for. David became one dimensional for God, putting all his desire on God, simply by continually asking God to be his one and only desire (Psalm 27:4). The day I learned that, I started to ask God to make me one dimensional like David...like Chris.
A few weeks after that became my daily request...my several times daily 20 -second prayer...the most remarkable thing happened: it started to work! I found out that God honors what we desire. Until that point God let me have as much of Him as I desired...I just hadn't desired that much. Step by step He is making me more and more one-dimensional, and in the process, He is making my life so much more rich and full than it ever was under the Tom Stolz plan. I no longer want Jesus to be the most important thing in my life, I want Him to be the One Thing I desire. Trusting that every desire that grows out of that is in agreement with the "future I would hope for!" Experience is showing me that my trust is well placed :)
Mark 8:34 Then, calling the crowd to join his disciples, he said, "If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow me. 35 If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will save it.
Romans 12:2 Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God's will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.
Everything in the world is set against me really discovering the joy in the place prepared for me. The same enemy that said to Eve "did God really say?" Said to me "you can have it your way!" Once satan realized he couldn't keep me from wanting God, he set about convincing me I could experience God on my terms. The enemy of God began convincing me Jesus was an important part of a balanced diet.
For years, I have wanted a lot of God in my life. By most accounts, I was quite fond of God, and I knew He loved me. I felt as though I was "all in." Honestly, Jesus was the most valuable addition to my life!
One day a few years ago, God brought a new friendship into my life. The only thing we really had in common was our love for God. We had a business relationship and didn't see each other very often, but every time I ran into this guy I had the same experience: I would get excited to see my friend's excitement for God, but by the end of the conversation I felt empty. This man was completely about Jesus. He was everything I had always thought I didn't want to be: one- dimensional. Like the churchy people I avoided when I was a kid. So excited about Jesus, politically incorrect about Jesus. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus...I loved Jesus, but when I finished a conversation with my friend, I felt like I hardly knew Jesus! I really enjoyed hearing about Chris' encounters with God, and how excited He was about His one-dimensional life, but I couldn't figure out what sustained him...
Then one day I found out! Chris gave me a book as a gift, and it was about David, and his DESIRE for God. David actually asked God to help him be one-dimensional! This book told the story of what the implications were of being one-dimensional for God: when David directed all his desire toward God, it allowed God to unlock all of the real dimensions he had planned for David's life. David was one of the greatest warriors, worshipers, kings...by all accounts, David had one of the best lives ever!
Because of free will, God doesn't force us into his plans, but when God is our only plan, our will lines up with His. God's will for us is a future we would hope for. David became one dimensional for God, putting all his desire on God, simply by continually asking God to be his one and only desire (Psalm 27:4). The day I learned that, I started to ask God to make me one dimensional like David...like Chris.
A few weeks after that became my daily request...my several times daily 20 -second prayer...the most remarkable thing happened: it started to work! I found out that God honors what we desire. Until that point God let me have as much of Him as I desired...I just hadn't desired that much. Step by step He is making me more and more one-dimensional, and in the process, He is making my life so much more rich and full than it ever was under the Tom Stolz plan. I no longer want Jesus to be the most important thing in my life, I want Him to be the One Thing I desire. Trusting that every desire that grows out of that is in agreement with the "future I would hope for!" Experience is showing me that my trust is well placed :)
Mark 8:34 Then, calling the crowd to join his disciples, he said, "If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow me. 35 If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will save it.
Romans 12:2 Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God's will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.
Comments
Post a Comment
I appreciate your comments.