The Guest

 I've been writing these devotionals for nearly twenty years now, and today, for the first time, I'm presenting one that doesn't come from my heart. There's a young lady in our fellowship named Dee Jones who truly has His hand and Spirit upon her life. Today, she wrote this on her FB page, and I thought it so anointed that I needed to share it with you. Be blessed and challenged by her words.

One of my biggest ministry cheerleaders and mentors shared his books with me. It takes me a while to get through them mostly because there is so much to marinate and chew on. It’s taken me 4 days to get past the first 5 pages of this one.

Tozer wrote these thoughts years ago, but I am watching it unfold in real time. Factions of The Church have become very sick and diseased and are collapsing on itself. My heart breaks and aches over what seems so very obvious to me and the collateral damage that will ensue... for generations.

How did we get here?? We not only stopped looking at the world and every aspect of our lives and the things that touch it through the lense of Jesus, but we took our eyes off Him completely. We have traded the truth for feelings, so much so that in many ways The Church has become so intertwined with the world, that to look at the two side by side one cannot tell the difference between them. This is not how it was or is supposed to be. We were and are called to change the culture, not the other way around. To negotiate or compromise the truth leads to spiritual lethargy which leads to spiritual garbage.

My prayer over these past few days and into the coming days is that the Church and the people of God would wake up and become plagued with holy desire and "hearts hungry for something only God could provide," (Tozer).

“Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you. For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world. And this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever.”

‭‭1 John‬ ‭2‬:‭15‬-‭17‬ ‭NLT‬‬

It's been my prayer and deep desire that more and more within the church would have their hearts inflamed with a hunger for all of His fullness and life. I believe that is happening. May our tribe grow.

Blessings,

Pastor O