Sincere
Song of Songs 5:2The Shulamite
I sleep, but my heart is awake;
It is the voice of my beloved!
He knocks, saying,
“Open for me, my sister, my love,
My dove, my perfect one;
For my head is covered with dew,
My locks with the drops of the night.”
Sincere love for Jesus is different than wholehearted love for Jesus. Sincerely loving Jesus means you "mean it"...you aren't phoning in your concern to be in agreement with Him. You want to know " what can I do to please you?" Sincere love for Jesus wants to make sure that what the sincere one does will not violate the relationship with God.
The sincere lover of God says things to God like "is it OK if I watch this?", "is it ok if I go to this place, or drink that, or listen to this?" The sincere lover of Jesus wants to be all His... Any action they consider, they want to make sure it won't violate fidelity to Jesus.
Sincere is better than a casual approach of presumption, but it is not God's best for you...it is not freedom. Relating to Jesus Christ this way makes love for Jesus a lot like a leash. This mode of relating to Jesus is continually pulling the sincere one's heart, while His flesh...His mind, will, emotion, and appetites...pull Him toward the world. I know this because I lived it out for decades.
The simply sincere loves obedience to Jesus, and regrets that mostly his thoughts are about the world. Sincere lovers of Jesus are mostly "guilty feeling" Christians...they find ways to cover up the guilt, but when it's just them and Jesus, the conversation is mostly about being sorry for where their life is lacking His leadership.
Wholehearted is different. It's all about direction and freedom. Wholehearted is moving toward God to get more, not trying to get more out of the world and still have God.
A wholehearted lover of Jesus is not totally obedient, but wants to be. They are searching areas of their life that can be changed to be more like Jesus...not out of obligation...they actually like it!
A wholehearted lover of Jesus mostly wants that tingling feeling of connection to God. A wholehearted lover of Jesus isn't content to be " OK" with God...which is not bad...but wants to go past being on good terms with God....the wholehearted lover of God wants to see Him, hear Him, feel His presence....be used by Him in exhilarating ways. The world is mostly boring to the wholehearted lover of God.
The wholehearted lover of God isn't trying to find out how far into the world they can go and still be pleasing to God...the wholehearted lover of God is trying to find ways to get out of the world as much as possible and still be used by the Lord to change it. There is one thing the wholehearted lover of God wants: To experience as much of God as possible, no matter the cost in the way of time, money, life dreams, family relationship, reputation ... The wholehearted lover of God is trying to clear out every other love so God will occupy that space.
This is an incredibly risky, yet an incredibly wise, way to live.
Because God loves me more than I love Him, throwing myself at Him...giving Him reign over more and more of my time, money, dreams, family relationships, and reputation....giving Him more of these... actually increases all of these things in my life in right measure and right timing! I get God AND a good measure of all these things... He protects me from excess...he protects me from trying to manipulate and control things I shouldn't, and opens my hands and mind to grab onto things I should...things that will last forever.
Making God the object of my desire fills me with more and more tangible experience of His realness, yes...but so much more....it addresses my pride, and strengthens my love for my wife and kids...it helps me lay down trying to fix the people around me and sets my "fixing" energy on my own heart...how do I get free of anxiety, greed, lust, depression, anger?...instead of hoping God will magically address these someday, God actually, step by step, gives me a hunger to fix them now...because my goal is different...the goal of the wholehearted is to get more clarity to see Him better, feel Him more, and experience the fruit of His presence.
You will always go where you are looking. No matter how sincere your love for God is, if you are looking at the world, you are heading in that direction. That literally pulls Christians in two...they say the right Bible verses and go to the right places sometimes, but inside they are divided...mostly not confident that God loves them...but He does.
A lack of confidence in God's love is not OK with God...many simply declare His love for them over and over, which is good, but until the direction changes, that pull will be there. Convincing myself with Bible verses of how much God loves me, while my love for the world...even the good things of the world like family, and honor, and job performance... pull me away from Him being my sole desire, will always tear at my soul....the Bible verses will always just be a band-aid until I change direction.
Changing direction is risky, but simple. This is all you have to do: tell God you are not OK with the amount of Him you have. Tell Him, at least as often as you think of the other things you want, that you are not OK with How much of God you are wanting and/or experiencing. Tell Him that you want to hear Him. Stop making excuses for your direction with Bible verses and simply be honest with Him about it. He isn't surprised. He is willing and ready to set your heart on fire. It doesn't take long, but it does take agreement on your part.
Wholehearted love has never happened accidentally to anyone ever, but it HAS happened to millions that simply said "give me a hunger and thirst for you God. I'm not OK that you are not all I'm thinking about, but you really aren't. I want you to change me"... Until it actually began to happen...and the they just never quit wanting the better part.
This prayer is what will literally change the world in one generation...
Song of Songs 5:2The Shulamite
I sleep, but my heart is awake;
It is the voice of my beloved!
He knocks, saying,
“Open for me, my sister, my love,
My dove, my perfect one;
For my head is covered with dew,
My locks with the drops of the night.”
3I have taken off my robe;
How can I put it on again?
I have washed my feet;
How can I defile them?
4My beloved put his hand
By the latch of the door,
And my heart yearned for him.
5I arose to open for my beloved,
And my hands dripped with myrrh,
My fingers with liquid myrrh,
On the handles of the lock.
6I opened for my beloved,
But my beloved had turned away and was gone.
My heart leaped up when he spoke.
I sought him, but I could not find him;
I called him, but he gave me no answer.
7The watchmen who went about the city found me.
They struck me, they wounded me;
The keepers of the walls
Took my veil away from me.
8I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem,
If you find my beloved,
That you tell him I am lovesick!
Psalm 27:3Though an army may encamp against me,
My heart shall not fear;
Though war may rise against me,
In this I will be confident.
4One thing I have desired of the LORD,
That will I seek:
That I may dwell in the house of the LORD
All the days of my life,
To behold the beauty of the LORD,
And to inquire in His temple.
5For in the time of trouble
He shall hide me in His pavilion;
In the secret place of His tabernacle
He shall hide me;
He shall set me high upon a rock.
6And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me;
Therefore I will offer sacrifices of joy in His tabernacle;
I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to the LORD.
7Hear, O LORD, when I cry with my voice!
Have mercy also upon me, and answer me.
8When You said, “Seek My face,”
My heart said to You, “Your face, LORD, I will seek.”
I sleep, but my heart is awake;
It is the voice of my beloved!
He knocks, saying,
“Open for me, my sister, my love,
My dove, my perfect one;
For my head is covered with dew,
My locks with the drops of the night.”
Sincere love for Jesus is different than wholehearted love for Jesus. Sincerely loving Jesus means you "mean it"...you aren't phoning in your concern to be in agreement with Him. You want to know " what can I do to please you?" Sincere love for Jesus wants to make sure that what the sincere one does will not violate the relationship with God.
The sincere lover of God says things to God like "is it OK if I watch this?", "is it ok if I go to this place, or drink that, or listen to this?" The sincere lover of Jesus wants to be all His... Any action they consider, they want to make sure it won't violate fidelity to Jesus.
Sincere is better than a casual approach of presumption, but it is not God's best for you...it is not freedom. Relating to Jesus Christ this way makes love for Jesus a lot like a leash. This mode of relating to Jesus is continually pulling the sincere one's heart, while His flesh...His mind, will, emotion, and appetites...pull Him toward the world. I know this because I lived it out for decades.
The simply sincere loves obedience to Jesus, and regrets that mostly his thoughts are about the world. Sincere lovers of Jesus are mostly "guilty feeling" Christians...they find ways to cover up the guilt, but when it's just them and Jesus, the conversation is mostly about being sorry for where their life is lacking His leadership.
Wholehearted is different. It's all about direction and freedom. Wholehearted is moving toward God to get more, not trying to get more out of the world and still have God.
A wholehearted lover of Jesus is not totally obedient, but wants to be. They are searching areas of their life that can be changed to be more like Jesus...not out of obligation...they actually like it!
A wholehearted lover of Jesus mostly wants that tingling feeling of connection to God. A wholehearted lover of Jesus isn't content to be " OK" with God...which is not bad...but wants to go past being on good terms with God....the wholehearted lover of God wants to see Him, hear Him, feel His presence....be used by Him in exhilarating ways. The world is mostly boring to the wholehearted lover of God.
The wholehearted lover of God isn't trying to find out how far into the world they can go and still be pleasing to God...the wholehearted lover of God is trying to find ways to get out of the world as much as possible and still be used by the Lord to change it. There is one thing the wholehearted lover of God wants: To experience as much of God as possible, no matter the cost in the way of time, money, life dreams, family relationship, reputation ... The wholehearted lover of God is trying to clear out every other love so God will occupy that space.
This is an incredibly risky, yet an incredibly wise, way to live.
Because God loves me more than I love Him, throwing myself at Him...giving Him reign over more and more of my time, money, dreams, family relationships, and reputation....giving Him more of these... actually increases all of these things in my life in right measure and right timing! I get God AND a good measure of all these things... He protects me from excess...he protects me from trying to manipulate and control things I shouldn't, and opens my hands and mind to grab onto things I should...things that will last forever.
Making God the object of my desire fills me with more and more tangible experience of His realness, yes...but so much more....it addresses my pride, and strengthens my love for my wife and kids...it helps me lay down trying to fix the people around me and sets my "fixing" energy on my own heart...how do I get free of anxiety, greed, lust, depression, anger?...instead of hoping God will magically address these someday, God actually, step by step, gives me a hunger to fix them now...because my goal is different...the goal of the wholehearted is to get more clarity to see Him better, feel Him more, and experience the fruit of His presence.
You will always go where you are looking. No matter how sincere your love for God is, if you are looking at the world, you are heading in that direction. That literally pulls Christians in two...they say the right Bible verses and go to the right places sometimes, but inside they are divided...mostly not confident that God loves them...but He does.
A lack of confidence in God's love is not OK with God...many simply declare His love for them over and over, which is good, but until the direction changes, that pull will be there. Convincing myself with Bible verses of how much God loves me, while my love for the world...even the good things of the world like family, and honor, and job performance... pull me away from Him being my sole desire, will always tear at my soul....the Bible verses will always just be a band-aid until I change direction.
Changing direction is risky, but simple. This is all you have to do: tell God you are not OK with the amount of Him you have. Tell Him, at least as often as you think of the other things you want, that you are not OK with How much of God you are wanting and/or experiencing. Tell Him that you want to hear Him. Stop making excuses for your direction with Bible verses and simply be honest with Him about it. He isn't surprised. He is willing and ready to set your heart on fire. It doesn't take long, but it does take agreement on your part.
Wholehearted love has never happened accidentally to anyone ever, but it HAS happened to millions that simply said "give me a hunger and thirst for you God. I'm not OK that you are not all I'm thinking about, but you really aren't. I want you to change me"... Until it actually began to happen...and the they just never quit wanting the better part.
This prayer is what will literally change the world in one generation...
Song of Songs 5:2The Shulamite
I sleep, but my heart is awake;
It is the voice of my beloved!
He knocks, saying,
“Open for me, my sister, my love,
My dove, my perfect one;
For my head is covered with dew,
My locks with the drops of the night.”
3I have taken off my robe;
How can I put it on again?
I have washed my feet;
How can I defile them?
4My beloved put his hand
By the latch of the door,
And my heart yearned for him.
5I arose to open for my beloved,
And my hands dripped with myrrh,
My fingers with liquid myrrh,
On the handles of the lock.
6I opened for my beloved,
But my beloved had turned away and was gone.
My heart leaped up when he spoke.
I sought him, but I could not find him;
I called him, but he gave me no answer.
7The watchmen who went about the city found me.
They struck me, they wounded me;
The keepers of the walls
Took my veil away from me.
8I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem,
If you find my beloved,
That you tell him I am lovesick!
Psalm 27:3Though an army may encamp against me,
My heart shall not fear;
Though war may rise against me,
In this I will be confident.
4One thing I have desired of the LORD,
That will I seek:
That I may dwell in the house of the LORD
All the days of my life,
To behold the beauty of the LORD,
And to inquire in His temple.
5For in the time of trouble
He shall hide me in His pavilion;
In the secret place of His tabernacle
He shall hide me;
He shall set me high upon a rock.
6And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me;
Therefore I will offer sacrifices of joy in His tabernacle;
I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to the LORD.
7Hear, O LORD, when I cry with my voice!
Have mercy also upon me, and answer me.
8When You said, “Seek My face,”
My heart said to You, “Your face, LORD, I will seek.”
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