Some Excerpts about Passion and Violence
(in our search for Jesus and His Life in Us)
Jesus encouraged everyone who wanted to be saved to "make every effort." If you're content with being lukewarm or half-hearted-then you won't make it. You've got to shake yourself awake! Jesus also said that the kind of people who would be a part of His Kingdom were people who decided to be "violent" or "forceful" about it. Without a passionate pursuit of Jesus and His Kingdom, you won't make it through the narrow door. According to Jesus, You must Ask, Seek, and Knock in order to find Him. That's the kind of full-hearted pursuit that Jesus honors. Jesus promised that if you seek after Him with all of your heart, YOU WILL FIND HIM! Please, don't settle for less.
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(Luke 18:39-43) The crowds ahead of Jesus tried to hush the blind beggar, but he only shouted louder, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!" Jesus asked the man, "What do you want me to do for you?" "Lord," he pleaded, "I want to see!" Jesus said, "All right, you can see! Your faith has healed you." Instantly the man could see, and he followed Jesus, praising God. And all who saw it praised God, too…
Is that the greatest cry of your heart? "I want to SEE!!" Our blindness to His Love, to the tragedy of selfishness and sin, and to our need for union with God's People leads to so many unnecessary falls and wounds. "Lord, I want to SEE!! I want to SEE everything just as YOU do. I don't want to be blind to Life and Love and Truth anymore. I don't CARE what the crowds think. I'm going to shout at the top of my lungs to You until You hear my cry. I WANT TO SEE! Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me, I beg you. And Your MIRACLE in my life will capture my heart and demonstrate Your Love and wonders to all who know me!"
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Oh God, I really want this! I want to be violent but I don't even know how or what that looks like. Without a vision I'll cast it off. My flesh is strong and I wander off. I don't want to be numbered among those that CAN'T SEE! How can one be violent when "we can do nothing." How can I be strong when I am so weak and I don't even see what I'm so weak with. I need to see! I need your vision! I need my enemy defined so I know who and what I'm fighting! What are the things that drag me away from you? Why do I find myself empty? I know you are there because I feel the burning in my heart "closer, closer, more, more." I long for more but I'm blind and have no vision.
"Remember the small armies of Israel, I defeated their enemies and they were scattered. YOU MUST be violent. You will get NO WHERE if you are not! You say you are not violent... you don't even know what that looks like! Well... I do! That's who I AM! Have faith in ME your KING! Every battle I fight, I WIN! I went to Hell and back! There is no one else more violent than Me! Believe Me? LOOK TO ME! I AM in you! Only just BELIEVE!"
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Our struggles with sin and issues in life can be very difficult, can't they? They can even seem "overwhelming," right? But now we have a MESSIAH - A DELIVERER! Jesus did refer to satan, our enemy, as a "strong man." But it's all relative!! (Luke 11:20-22) "But if I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the Kingdom of God has come to you. When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own house, his possessions are safe. But when SOMEONE STRONGER ATTACKS AND OVERPOWERS HIM, He takes away the armor in which the man trusted and divided up the spoils! Our Jesus, if we'll let Him in, IS "STRONGER!" He ATTACKS AND OVERPOWERS our enemy, releases us from bondage to sin, and even gives us GIFTS as He "divides up the spoils" in celebration of the enemy's destruction. It's GOOD to be His people, eh?
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"Do you realize how fortunate you are? Angels long to look into what we've been given! So roll up your sleeves, put your mind in gear, be totally ready to receive the gift that's coming when Jesus arrives. Don't lazily slip back into those old grooves of evil, doing just what you feel like doing. You didn't know any better then; YOU DO NOW. As obedient children, let yourselves be pulled into a way of life shaped by God's life, a life energetic and blazing with holiness...You call out to God for help and He helps - He's a good Father that way. But don't forget, He's also a responsible Father, and won't let you get by with sloppy living. Your life is a journey. You MUST travel with deep consciousness of God. It cost God plenty to get you out of that dead-end, empty headed life you grew up in. So clean house! Crave spiritual milk, drink deep of God. Then you'll grow up mature and whole in God." -excerpt from the Message
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You have got to deal militantly, energetically, even passionately and definitely, with sin! Emotions of "depression" or "loneliness" or "passionate ambition" or "wander lust" or "discouragement" or "bitterness" any such thing must be taken captive! You can't just think in your mind, "This isn't right, that thought is not very good." You have to deal with it severely and say to God, "THIS IS SIN. IT IS UTTER SIN. I don't know what I'm going to do about it exactly, but I do declare it is wickedness, and there is NO place for it in my life!" That doesn't mean you have all the answers on how to totally eradicate the temptations, BUT it does mean you call it what God calls it. You don't just make a mental note of it, saying, "I shouldn't be this way." You deal with it ruthlessly. You take the seed and you fling it away from you on purpose. You don't just say, "Well that was a bad seed wasn't it" and then allow it to sit there anyway. You've got to ruthlessly deal with it OR it will eventually reap a harvest that is bigger and bigger and reproduces itself. In your own mind there has to be the clarity to say, "NO!!! I REJECT IT!!!" There can't be just an acknowledgement of "this is bad." RATHER there must be a rejection. There must be the clarity and militancy and violence of "I WILL NOT TOLERATE THESE THOUGHTS!! I confess to you, O God, that this has no place in my heart and life. It is wicked and your Son died for things just like this, and I am sorry about this specific sin." This requires mental energy. You must stop and call it what God calls it. Confess it. If you don't deal with those "thimblefuls" this way, that sin will just sit there, and you'll think that you confessed it because you kinda believed it wasn't very good. You'll substitute THAT watered-down and ineffective response... for a rejection of sin in the way God would have it, because of the Cross of His Son, His murdered and risen baby boy.
You need to know that real, clear, energetic REJECTION of sin is a very necessary element in ridding your life of that kind of junk. Talk to Jesus about it, right now, and every time it comes up. Okay? He is, most definitely, a mighty Redeemer AND Deliverer! Jesus of Nazareth, Son of God, son of man.
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"Who is this uncircumcised philistine that he should defy the armies of the Living God?!" In other words, "This enemy has no right to be here in our midst, mocking God and defying us, His Chosen People!! How dare this godless man open his dirty mouth against our God! This must not be allowed to continue!" This seems to be a glimpse of a Warrior's heart: calling the enemy what God calls him and fiercely protecting what belongs to God. I was thinking that must be our heart toward all of satan's lies, the way he tries to sneak in and destroy our hearts and minds and lives. "No way, you liar. How dare you try to steal, kill and destroy in the midst of God's People!! This heart and this mind belong to God Almighty. You will be defeated - Jesus reigns here!"
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In the battle to thrill Jesus by overcoming sin in your life... DID YOU KNOW... If you give into your sin by dabbling it, or justifying it, or blaming others for your weaknesses - the sin will entangle itself deeper into your heart and mind and body. If instead, you:
1.) Refuse to give in to the desire to indulge your flesh with what it's screaming for, and
2.) Hold out, for however long it takes, against your flesh (without attitudes, rationalizing, blaming or using others, and without giving in to the sins of the mouth or eyes or belly or other parts of the body or mind)...
3.) Turn to Jesus and talk to Him about it, no matter how bad the temptation are, THE POWER OF SIN WILL BE BROKEN in your life.
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Your bout with sin and satan is not a weekend sport; it is the final conflict. Strive to put off the old man - that corruption David called his own iniquity. Observe what it is and mortify it daily; it is a favorite handhold of satan's. He will beat a shameful retreat when he finds no iniquity in you to catch hold of - and he dare not touch that in you which is holy. Is your flesh mortified? Now anoint your soul with the frequent meditation of Christ's love. It will help you disdain the offer of sin and, like oil, will make your spirit supple and your will agile to evade the enemy. Satan will find little welcome where Christ's love dwells. Love will kindle love, and flame as a wall of fire to keep him away.
Perhaps you are discouraged, not only by the strength of the enemy, but by your own apparent weakness and the constant contention with sin and self. Be encouraged! There is strong consolation for the Christian who struggles with the truth of God's grace and his own inner conflicts with sin (1 Peter 4:1). Why do I find such struggling in me, provoking me to sin, pulling me back from that which is good? Too often we mistake the state of a Christian in this life. You are a wrestler. You are not handed immediate triumph over your enemies, but rather are carried into battle to fight them, so that in the process you can understand WHO IS THIS GREAT I AM who is your victory. Wrap your soul in this promise: there is a place of rest reserved for the people of God. You do not beat the air, but wrestle to win heaven and a permanent crown. Here on earth we overcome to fight again. One temptation may be conquered, but the war remains. When death comes, however, God strikes the final blow. We know peace is sweet after war, pleasure after pain. But what tongue can express the joy that will flood the creature at the first sight of God and his eternal home?!! (thoughts from 1655)
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"If we wish to be free - if we mean not basely to abandon the noble struggle in which we have been so long engaged, and which we have pledged ourselves never to abandon, until the glorious object of our contest shall be obtained - we must fight! - I repeat it, sir, we must fight!! An appeal to arms and to the God of hosts, is all that is left us! They tell us, sir, that we are weak - unable to cope with so formidable an adversary. But when shall we be stronger. Will it be the next week or the next year? Will it be when we are totally disarmed, and when [an enemy] shall be stationed in every house? Shall we gather strength by irresolution and inaction? Shall we acquire the means of effectual resistance by lying supinely (sluggishly) on our backs, and hugging the delusive phantom of hope, until our enemies shall have bound us hand and foot? Sir, we are not weak, if we make a proper use of those means which God has placed in our power. [P]eople armed in the cause of liberty, and in such a kingdom as that which we possess, are invincible by any force which our enemy can send against us. Besides, sir, we shall not fight our battles alone. There is a just God who presides over the destinies of nations, and who will raise up friends to fight our battles with us. The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave. Besides, sir, we have no election (choice). If we were base enough to desire it, it is now too late to retire from the contest. There is no retreat but in submission and slavery! Our chains are forged. Their clanking may be heard on the plains! The war is inevitable - and let it come!! I repeat it, sir, let it come!!!
"It is vain, sir, to extenuate (to make it seem less important) the matter. Gentlemen may cry, peace, peace - but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our bretheren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! - I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death!" (lightly paraphrased P. Henry, US Revolution times)
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Let's all be pro-active, militant, kick satan right in the face, take the gates of hell by storm RIGHT NOW. I mean it. YOU! RIGHT THIS SECOND deal satan a blow that will make the armies of hell tremble and change the universe forever, right this second. Go ahead! Oh, yea - here's how you do that: Just this - Tell Father you love Him, from the heart, RIGHT THIS MINUTE! You can kick the devil in the teeth by REALLY telling the Father and His Son that you love them, and want to love them more. THAT is probably the most powerful thing that any mortal can do in the seen and unseen realms. :)