Fire
There is a very real danger in reverse engineering a wholehearted pursuit of Jesus: condemnation and frustration.
Wholeheartedlness is like a fire burning in my inner man. That fire produces smoke and heat...it warms me up...
I can prepare food on a fire, it will give me light in the darkness, it is a joy to fellowship around a fire. But, without that fire burning, none of these things are sustainable.
It is easy for me to remember the seasons when my fire was burning hot and try to recreate all those things the fire of God made possible. When I feel colder and more distant from God, it's easy to think "I'll read my Bible some more" (prepare some food), or I'll go to more church meetings (fellowship around the fire), or turn off worldly entertainment and only focus on God (warm myself by the fire) to fix the lack of fire. These things don't produce the fire, they are made possible BY the fire. The truth is, if the fire isn't burning yet, none of these things are sustainable...the food won't cook right, fellowship will be mostly carnal, and my heart won't really get warm with no fire.
This is religion: Going through the motions to mimick a life in relationship with a living, burning, consuming fire of a God.
Religion will always lead to condemnation, because religion is trying to start a fire backwards, which simply does not work. Religion has lots of faces, even in the charismatic, "on fire" worshipping church. I can fake myself out for a little while by mimicking fire or even the people near me... with the right playlist, memes, and quotes...with some self denial and a new plan to get in the word...i can psych myself up with the anticipation of being on fire...but I can't fake out God. If there is no fire inside, then there simply is no fire. None of these things start fires. This would be like me trying to start a campfire with a bag of marshmallows, graham crackers, and a Hersey bar. These are great in the presence of a fire, but these by themselves can't start a fire.
Fellowship, the Bible, time spent sitting in a quiet room or even listening to worship music won't start that fire.
There is only one way. It takes God to love God.
The Word is clear, there is only one way to get that fire burning: asking and receiving without a double mind. Asking seeking and knocking on the faith that it works. This is the only way. Turning off the distractions will only work long term if that fire is being stoked and burning hotter and hotter. 🔥
I resist condemnation. I resist religious substitution. I open my mouth like a baby bird, and I cry out for more. "Don't let my love grow cold. Set me on fire."
Luke 11:“And so I tell you, keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you.
10For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.
11“You fathers—if your children ask for a fish, do you give them a snake instead?
12Or if they ask for an egg, do you give them a scorpion? Of course not!
13So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him.”
James 4:1What is causing the quarrels and fights among you? Don’t they come from the evil desires at war within you?
2You want what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous of what others have, but you can’t get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them. Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it.
3And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure.
4You adulterers! Don’t you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? I say it again: If you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God.
5What do you think the Scriptures mean when they say that the spirit God has placed within us is filled with envy?
6But he gives us even more grace to stand against such evil desires. As the Scriptures say,
“God opposes the proud
but favors the humble.”
7So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
8Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world.
James 1:6But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind.
7Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord.
8Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they are unstable in everything they do.
Blessed are the poor in Spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God!
Wholeheartedlness is like a fire burning in my inner man. That fire produces smoke and heat...it warms me up...
I can prepare food on a fire, it will give me light in the darkness, it is a joy to fellowship around a fire. But, without that fire burning, none of these things are sustainable.
It is easy for me to remember the seasons when my fire was burning hot and try to recreate all those things the fire of God made possible. When I feel colder and more distant from God, it's easy to think "I'll read my Bible some more" (prepare some food), or I'll go to more church meetings (fellowship around the fire), or turn off worldly entertainment and only focus on God (warm myself by the fire) to fix the lack of fire. These things don't produce the fire, they are made possible BY the fire. The truth is, if the fire isn't burning yet, none of these things are sustainable...the food won't cook right, fellowship will be mostly carnal, and my heart won't really get warm with no fire.
This is religion: Going through the motions to mimick a life in relationship with a living, burning, consuming fire of a God.
Religion will always lead to condemnation, because religion is trying to start a fire backwards, which simply does not work. Religion has lots of faces, even in the charismatic, "on fire" worshipping church. I can fake myself out for a little while by mimicking fire or even the people near me... with the right playlist, memes, and quotes...with some self denial and a new plan to get in the word...i can psych myself up with the anticipation of being on fire...but I can't fake out God. If there is no fire inside, then there simply is no fire. None of these things start fires. This would be like me trying to start a campfire with a bag of marshmallows, graham crackers, and a Hersey bar. These are great in the presence of a fire, but these by themselves can't start a fire.
Fellowship, the Bible, time spent sitting in a quiet room or even listening to worship music won't start that fire.
There is only one way. It takes God to love God.
The Word is clear, there is only one way to get that fire burning: asking and receiving without a double mind. Asking seeking and knocking on the faith that it works. This is the only way. Turning off the distractions will only work long term if that fire is being stoked and burning hotter and hotter. 🔥
I resist condemnation. I resist religious substitution. I open my mouth like a baby bird, and I cry out for more. "Don't let my love grow cold. Set me on fire."
Luke 11:“And so I tell you, keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you.
10For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.
11“You fathers—if your children ask for a fish, do you give them a snake instead?
12Or if they ask for an egg, do you give them a scorpion? Of course not!
13So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him.”
James 4:1What is causing the quarrels and fights among you? Don’t they come from the evil desires at war within you?
2You want what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous of what others have, but you can’t get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them. Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it.
3And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure.
4You adulterers! Don’t you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? I say it again: If you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God.
5What do you think the Scriptures mean when they say that the spirit God has placed within us is filled with envy?
6But he gives us even more grace to stand against such evil desires. As the Scriptures say,
“God opposes the proud
but favors the humble.”
7So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
8Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world.
James 1:6But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind.
7Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord.
8Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they are unstable in everything they do.
Blessed are the poor in Spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God!
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