“I Love You, Lord…”

~Psalm 18.1

It’s a Friday night and five burning Gospel preachers are downtown to communicate and demonstrate the love of God to the lovers of this world. The smell of cigarettes, alcohol and perfumes mixed with the night air combined with the unique scent of cooling asphalt and car exhaust; this is the aroma of the city nightlife of downtown Orlando. Nearly every time we engage men with the Gospel we are met with that confused man leaning back on a concrete wall, lusting after passing dresses, smoking a cigarette with his friends, who says, “Jesus? I love Jesus.” He honestly believes that he loves Jesus. According to him, loving Jesus is the same as knowing who He is, and having nothing negative to speak about Him. Or due to the lack of looking into the Scriptures himself, there is a real disconnect between loving Jesus and obeying Jesus. Though he says he has nothing against Jesus, he must realize that Jesus has something against him, namely, the fact that he has rejected the rule of God in his life by ruling his own life. For the rule of God is received in our lives in exact proportion to our love for Him.

For most of us reading this article, this detailed scene has nothing to do with the way we are living. Let me describe another situation, with a vastly different backdrop, that can be–and in many cases is–just as corrupt.

I can hear the upbeat rock band skillfully playing the newest mainstream worship single. I can smell the new carpet and the electronic equipment heating up in the “life center” of the local successful church. I can smell the lingering of coffee from the foyer, very much like the local Barnes and Noble with a Starbucks on the inside. I can see the young adults smiling at each other as they socialize, wearing their modern outfits and holding their designer Bibles. As I indirectly eavesdrop on their conversations before the service starts, I hear passionate talk football and celebrities, the newest blockbusters and favorite stores or video games, only to then watch as hands are lifted high to sing, “Jesus, I love you. You are everything to me.”

In many hearts there exists an honest belief in God and a convinced mind that they are genuine lovers of Jesus. Not all of these believers, but many profess with their lives that loving Jesus is the same as knowing about Him and attending meetings in His name. Or due to the lack of looking into the Scriptures themselves, there is a real disconnect with the daily experience with the person of God in the midst of a form about Him.

Let me ask you a question; what does it mean to “love Jesus”? I intended to write to you concerning this question. Really…what does it mean to love Jesus?

I submit to you that a professed love for Jesus that lacks affection, desire, commitment, time and preoccupation is sadly lacking and is more likely than not, a product of having been misled into a shallow or even feigned connection with God. The first of these indispensable qualities of love that we will look into is affection. Affection by definition is inseparable from feeling. Desire is the next point; so let me make a distinction between affection and desire just to clarify how I will be using them to express my thoughts. Affection is a genuine feeling that rests deep inside of the emotions. It is so deep that the same word actually has a connection to physical results and actions.

How could anyone ever separate affections and love? Can two possess burning affection for each other and not feel deep inside of them the fire of such an internal emotion? It is an emotional connection. Exodus 20.5 and Deuteronomy 5.9 undeniably show us that God jealously wants our affections to be only His. Affection is very important to God. He wants you to have an emotional connection to Him. I tell you that He has an emotional connection to you (Philippians 1.8). Brothers, it is imperative that our God’s affection for us is met with an exclusive affection for Him. Love without affection is a farce.

The second point is desire. The difference between affection and desire as I want to present it is this; a man may have a desire for a donut and yet have no affection for that donut. He may have a real craving for a certain thing, yet if that thing was taken from him he has no emotional connection to it. Though desire can be had without affection, affection cannot be had with out desire. Everyone knows what desire feels like. From infancy we felt its yearnings; the convincing that we in fact need or extremely want something that we do not have. We must posses a desire for the Lord if we are to ever claim a love for Him. Love is the combination of emotional affection and our desire for something. Our God wants our affections to be His and our desire to be for Him.

The third point is commitment. If there exists no commitment to the Lord, how can a man actually claim to love the Lord? If a man says that he loves a certain woman, yet has no loyalty to her he is a liar. To not dedicate our lives to the Master and still profess a love for him is to live a lie. It is in our dedication, commitment and loyalty to the Lord that our love is made manifest. In marriage, part of the culmination of love, we give our lives to each other and each other only. “Only yours forever,” I am committed to you and no one else for the rest of my life. Love without commitment is incomplete if not a farce.

The fourth point is time. Time is the most valuable thing in the world, for once it is lost it cannot be recovered. Money cannot buy time. Gifts and favor are feeble next to the value of time. Time is the most precious thing to us frail human beings. In the giving of it, we give ourselves. To say that we are giving our lives to Jesus and spend no time with Him is absurd. To say that we love Him and yet give Him no time is just as absurd. You can tell me how much you love Jesus, but your time will tell me your values more than your mouth. When a man loves a woman, he has no greater desire in the world than to be alone with her. When I love Jesus, I have no greater desire in the world than to be with Him. Though He is with us all the time, the unbroken and intense attention of solitude is the craving of the soul for a lover of Jesus.

Loving Jesus is not a matter of profession, but of genuine affection given to Him and desire for Him. Loving Jesus has to do with the commitment of your life and where your time is given. We must have a clear understanding of what it really means to love Jesus or we will fall into a delusion that stems from a cheapening of the word love and all that it means. Jesus wants our love. He doesn’t desire love according to our understanding of what love is, but what love actually is. To give Him our love is to give Him our hearts. It is to give Him our lives. It is to set our affection upon Him. It is to desire Him. It is to be committed to Him. It is to spend our lives with Him. In the church today we have made it comical, acceptable and assumed that men will have an affection connection to something other than God. We laugh at how much of a man’s emotions are moved by sport scores or stats. We assume a man is knowledgeable about some sport or entertainment, because all consuming love for Jesus in the church is foreign. We accept that people spend more time before a TV than before the Lord. This is a problem. This is not love for Jesus but the product and outcome of having assumed that people understand what is meant in the words “loving Jesus”. They don’t understand. They make up their own definition, but it is time to get back to God’s definition – all our affection, all our desire, all our commitment and all our time. It was A.W. Tozer who said, “Our lives should be an endless preoccupation with God Himself.”

We can throw out all hopes of ever being the Jesus People, if we are not in love with Jesus. As St. Victor said, “We look like God to the degree that we love Him.” Such a statement I believe is true and the state of the church today is an exposing of the fact that we have failed to love Jesus. Though every mouth will say it, how many hearts are it? Though there is a profession, where is the obsession?

Check out this stirring message on intimacy with Christ, Mystical Union:

Eric Gilmour is an Associate Editor for Voice of Revolution, overseeing Revival & Evangelism. Visit his website at agonypress.podbean.com

God asked me that question last week. I went up north to get away from everything and just spend time with God in nature. I was reading the book “The Art of Learning” by Josh Waitzkin. It’s a fantastic book; he was the 6 time national chess champion of America and I think he tied for the world champion of his age group one year. Then he got frustrated and to relax he took Tai Chi and learned about the martial art of push hands through that. He studied intensely and within a few years became the world champion. It is a humorous and encouraging book.1 God used the book to ask me the question “How bad do you want it?”

The second morning of my trip God took me through all the areas in my life where I stopped just short of greatness. I made the junior national ultimate frizbee team in high school but I stopped in the summer before the national tournament because I wanted to work at camp. In Bible quizzing I made it to nationals my last two years but I was always right at the edge of not making it–I was too afraid of greatness.

In high school I signed up for the track team but never showed up for any races because I was too scared of getting last. At Millar College of the Bible there were things I knew to be true like praying for healing, evangelism, speaking in tongues, and prophesying but I never did them often because it was a more conservative school and I didn’t want to be too different. Then at FIRE school of ministry I tried to fit in a mold more often than just being OK with who I am and living out of my identity. I love to laugh more than almost anything in life and in a culture of repentance that’s not as often the norm. I tried to fit in the radical evangelist mold and it just didn’t fit. I love evangelism! But I didn’t know at that time how to be more natural and I tried to follow the form of others and it didn’t work at all. On the World Race–an 11 month missions trip to 11 countries that I recommend everybody should do if they can,2 I started out with so much passion and willingness to step out and see miracles and I did, but as the year went on I grew more comfortable and often cared more about my reputation than God’s reputation.

Even in terms of knowing and following God I have seen amazing things, but I know there is so much more. There are so many times I have chosen mediocrity instead of greatness. God taught me on that trip up north to embrace the struggle, to seek him for the humility and the fearlessness required to be great. I think honestly all it takes is the ability to be really good at saying “no” to the right things and “yes” to the right things. Here are a couple stories that inspired me and maybe will inspire you too.

Paul said in Philippians 3

But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ. One thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Being able to forget the mistakes of our past and say yes to the goal of knowing Christ is worth everything.

The first story I want to share is about this guy http://rayzahab.com3 He is a crazy canadian, that doesn’t seem to have any limits. Went from being a chain-smoking aimless young man to saving thousands of lives and living his dreams.

Here are a few excerpts of the article

Ray Zahab ran 7,500 kilometres across the Sahara Desert, raced  through Antarctica to the South Pole and at the end of the month he’ll make his way from Chelsea Que. to Kelowna. “I am a normal person who stumbled upon an ability, and I realized that this ability is in everyone of us,” said Zahab, who ran across the Sahara in 111 days and walked 1,100 km across the South Pole. “We all have the capacity and ability to do anything, but human beings underestimate themselves.”

Recalling his own call to action, Zahab explained that he once bore no resemblance to the man whose desire to break past his own limitations one step at a time, inspired a documentary narrated by Matt Damon.

“I was not an athlete growing up — I was definitely on the way on the other end of the spectrum,” he said. “I was a former pack-a-day smoker with a sedentary lifestyle.”

In 1998, Zahab was on the cusp of his 30s, and like many reaching that milestone, he found himself picking apart the person he had become.

“That was a wake-up call,” he said. “I realized I’m 30, I don’t have a college degree, what the hell am I going to do?”
At that time, he was working as a horse trainer, but when making a general survey of his life, Zahab decided that there was nothing overwhelmingly positive happening.

“When you get into that kind of funk, you really can’t see anything else around you. All I knew is that I didn’t want to feel that way anymore.”

On New Year’s Eve of 1999, he made a commitment to change his life.

“Because I am a great procrastinator, I decided that I was going to quit this pack-a-day smoking habit by January 2000,” he said. “For all intents and purposes, I was going to leave the negative baggage at the door and in the new millennium, live my life differently.”

He made “corny” and “cliche” resolutions, but was determined to stick to them and when he woke up on January 1, 2000, something had changed.

“First thing I realized was that feeling sorry for myself was the most unproductive things I could do— there are a billion people in the world who have it worse than I do. So, I wanted to celebrate life,” he said.

“It had nothing to do with adventure or wanting to be a great athlete or anything. It had to do with wanting to do something in my life that I would feel really good about.”

Starting that day, Zahab joined his younger brother in all sorts of activities. The cigarettes he relied on became a thing of the past when he started getting outdoors, feeling healthier and most importantly, happier about himself.

“From 2000 to 2003, I did every sport I could do; the only sport I didn’t do was running because I couldn’t understand why anyone would run anywhere when they could drive there,” he said. “Then I read about the Yukon Arctic ultra-marathon, and I was so taken with the idea that people could run 160 km without stopping — I thought what are these people made of?”

He saw a photo of one of the ultra-marathon runners and realized those who took part in the race were just regular people who have realized there are no physical, mental or emotional limits to themselves. So he entered the race and two months later, he showed up at the start line with a cheap plastic sled he was going to drag his gear in.

“Here I was, realizing I probably bit off more than I could chew. But I committed to myself that I was going to bring myself to my absolute limits and discover what I could about myself,” he said. “What I discovered at the halfway point was that I was having a helluva a bad time, I was so ready to throw in the towel.”

That’s when he found the resolve to push on.

“I said to myself, ‘look you’re out here, dude, and you made this commitment to do the best that you can, and the last three years have been so amazing, but now push has come to shove and this is the moment that defines all other moments. So what are you going to do about it?’”

Deciding to do the best he could, he realized he would just walk until he couldn’t walk anymore. One kilometer turned to five, then 10 and then he saw the finish line.

“I realized ‘I am running now, I am not walking’,” he said. “Ten hours before I was in pain and I was cold, and then I was running across the finish line and it dawned me, I am a runner.”

He finished his race and the organizer came up to him and said “dude, you finished the race, in fact you’ve won the race” For the first time in his life he felt empowered.

“I tell people a story that I hope they really dig and they walk away with a strong notion that there’s a whole world of life ahead of them and we have one life to live and we have to live it to the max, celebrate life and reach for things that seem impossible.”

I just love that line “This is the moment that defines all other moments”. Just like when we wholeheartedly give our lives to God, when we encounter the Holy Spirit for the first time. When we decide we are going to follow God no matter the cost. Amazing things start happening. When he decided that no matter what he was going to go forward even if it was crawling on his knees he wasn’t going to give up. I think that relentless attitude is the key to phenomenal breakthrough in our lives, not as a formula but just a really important attitude to keep in our hearts. How much opposition does it take to make you give up?

1 Cor 15:58 Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.

Gal 6: 9-10 And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.

1. You can find more about him here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joshua_Waitzkin.
2. http://www.theworldrace.org
3. you can read the entire article here and I really recommend it http://www.kelowna.com/2009/09/25/learn-about-ray-zahabs-journey-from-average-joe-to-elite-athlete

Have you backslidden? Has your heart grown cold? Do you burn for the fire of God’s presence less than you used to? We’re privileged to have Eric Gilmour on the show, and he talks with undeniable passion about these very things. Eric has been working for a number of years with Christ For All Nations, the ministry of evangelist Reinhard Bonnke. He’s a graduate of the Brownsville Revival School of ministry, and if you’ve ever visited www.fireonthealtar.com, you’ve probably heard mp3 compilations he’s made of various revival preachers.

Listen in as we discuss these things and learn more about what God’s been putting on Eric’s heart lately.

This week’s intro: Fire On The Inside by Pillar.

Download this episode (right click and save)

Don’t forget to visit his new podcast at agonypress.podbean.com.

Related Articles by Steve Bremner:

You Are The Fire of The World,

How to Catch The Foxes That Spoil The Vineyard,

Finney On Intimacy With God

If you’d like to subscribe to the Fire On Your Head Podcast, visit our directory in iTunes,  or visit FireOnYourHead.com for more subscription options.

I’ve noticed, in general, after talking to some Christians over the years of my Christian walk a general attitude that can really discourage me if I let it, and the more I burn for Jesus and read the Word of God, the more this general trend in the Body of Christ annoys me and I refuse to succumb to it like the myriads of other ‘balanced’ Christians out there.

I’m talking about apathy.

Now, I am NOT taking the time here to say that you’re not saved unless you’re marching the streets in front of abortion clinics, or getting involved in political activism or anything of the sort, although I lean closer towards doing those kinds of things than not doing anything at all. I’m not saying Christians should be standing on every street corner preaching hellfire and brimstone; nor am I saying to boycott every single thing that upsets us, or picketing and protesting every time something or someone does something anti-Christian—although massive and widespread actions like that amongst the believers of the land have–and can–effectively make statements that alter the course of our nations or society. There’s all sorts of things we can accomplish when something ignites our hearts, however, I honestly think it’s easier to cool down a fanatic than it is to warm up a corpse. That’s to say, better to be “too extreme” than to be lukewarm.

Do you really think on Judgment Day Jesus will ever rebuke anybody for being “too on fire” for Him? Do you think when we all stand before the Judge on that day, He’s going to say “Well done, good and faithful servant, however, you could have calmed down a little bit. You didn’t need to be so extreme—I could have touched those peoples’ lives myself without your extreme passion for being a witness for Me.”

Do you really think Father God will rebuke anybody for going for it, and maybe they had some issues to work out, or lacked maturity or depth of character, but at least they were doing something? If you are waiting until you are perfect enough or knowledgeable enough or whatever enough, then friend, you’ll never do anything because you never will be any of those things in this lifetime!

By listening to the way some people I’ve met pat themselves on the back for their lack of activity for Christ, you’d think that there’s going to be some big fat reward in heaven for the lazier we are! I can’t find the verse in the Bible that states passivity is a virtue.  Maybe the editors removed it from the Beatitudes: “Blessed are the quiet who don’t ruffle any feathers, for they shall be no threat!”

“Better not share the Gospel with too many people, or people will think I’m a Bible thumper! Better not speak up too loudly (or at all) when someone mocks my Savior, or else they’ll label me intolerant, or a bigot. I don’t want to lose that possible promotion at my job—I know my boss is an atheist. Better not take too many stands against things that undermine the Bible or marriage or the family–or else people will think I’m a typical Bible thumping intolerant bigot.”

Friends, I’m not impressed with people who are so “balanced” they don’t do anything to ruffle any feathers or rock any boats. Then again, I’m also not impressed with persecution-seekers–the people so obnoxious they make trouble for themselves and then pat themselves on the back for the backlash they receive–when it’s backlash for their pathetic attitudes, not for righteousness’ sake at all!

Saints, lack of resistance in your life is not necessarily a good thing. If you aren’t facing spiritual opposition, it might be because you’re not a threat to any spiritual forces. I’m not saying that if you’re obnoxious, and you stand on street corners with a 20 pound King James Bible condemning everyone you see to hell, then you should be proud that everyone thinks you’re a moron! What I am saying, is if you start taking stands for righteousness, to not be surprised if you start experiencing demonic or spiritual opposition for no other reason than that you are a threat to the kingdom of darkness and are encroaching on its territory. Going the way of least resistance in your life is just a cop-out, and takes no guts.

And don’t be surprised if other Christians whose status quo you are challenging are the ones trying to stop you from making too much fuss, either.

I originally wrote this in 2006 after attending a prayer meeting outside a stadium in Amsterdam, when I was living in the Netherlands.  Madonna was doing a mock crucifixion in her act during that tour, and we gathered to witness at the event knowing full well we’d be interpreted and presented in the media as ‘protesting it.’  I stated in the original version of this post on my personal blog that  this is not a defense about any backlash concerning the Madonna concert and my involvement in what has been called by others a “protest”–since we didn’t “protest” anything—we handed out flyers , sang hymns, prayed around the building–and totally had nothing to do with a 63 year old priest who phoned in a false bomb threat to try to prevent the concert from taking place.  I personally never got any nasty feedback about it. Rather, these things were and have been burning in my heart, and a few conversations have really motivated me to put my thoughts on paper–er, a computer screen.

I’ve noticed, too many Christians pat themselves on the back for being “balanced”. When I listen to people talk about how balanced they are, I always ask them “yes, you are balanced, but according to whose scale, yours or God’s?” Friends, what God calls normal, we call extreme. What we call normal, God calls lukewarm, and in some cases, even an abomination.

Friends, there’s only one temperature for a Christian, and it’s on fire. If you burn for Jesus, then there’s nothing extreme about that, you’re on the right path. And get ready to stick out like a sore thumb in the midst of a lukewarm and backslidden Church. The ones who stick their necks out for Jesus are the ones who are going to have their heads chopped off. I promise you that.

On a closing note, I remember when I first moved to Pensacola, home of the world-renown “Pensacola Outpouring [of the Holy Spirit]” or “Brownsville Revival.” When I first met people there and saw their lifestyles–the people who’d lived through the years of revival, and how their lifestyles were ones of holiness and prayer, I thought they were all insane and legalistic and even weird. But it gradually dawned on me that carnal Christians and apathetic lukewarm believers are NOT the ones seeking God night and day crying out for revival–and certainly not the ones seeing it happen either!  The Jesus Revolution comes at a cost, and when revival breaks out, it will require extreme radicalism on the part of the ones who it lives through.

You will seem extreme and radical to others, but it will just barely be normal by the Kingdom of heaven’s standards. 

Steve Bremner is a missionary to Peru, called to raise up disciples who flow in the power of the Holy Spirit. He is general editor of Fire Press, and also produces & co-hosts its podcast called Fire On Your Head. Visit his personal site at http://stevebremner.com 

“For I will pour out water on the thirsty land
And streams on the dry ground;
I will pour out My Spirit on your offspring
And My blessing on your descendants.” -Is. 44.3

Of this verse, the “good pastor” Robert Murray McCheyne once remarked:

There are no other words in the whole Bible that have been oftener in my heart and oftener on my tongue than these.

The passage applies directly to Israel, but the principle of the promise can be applied to all contexts where the Creator is active amongst men. Where the land thirsts for righteousness and mercy, and where men thirst for God in recognition of the dryness of their own hearts, the word stands true that He will “pour out water” from heaven, and His own interpretation of the image is that He will pour out His Spirit on our offspring, and his blessing on our descendants.

I would rather be found in the tension of spiritual thirst, without having yet seen the water to come, than to be drunk and satisfied with the wine of this age. I would rather be as a cracked desert ground, and aware of my dryness, than to be full of the delusion of self-satisfied living. To be able to thirst after God is a great gift from heaven. To yearn for Him in the barren wastelands is better than to be satisfied without Him in the man-made reservoirs of the city.

To be at ease and full without the outpouring of His Spirit is to live in a delusion. I may whittle away a lifetime without really thirsting, taking sips from fashion, swigs from sport, gulps from Hollywood, and guzzles from religion, and my life will end in deception. My children will have been robbed of a glory and knowledge of God that could have been theirs, had I been a man of thirst.

But I may live a life of thirst, and in my weakness, yearn for Him in the quiet places of the desert, and the promise will one day be answered. I know not when. I know not the hour of visitation. But the certitude cannot be shaken, for He Himself has declared it. He will “pour out water upon the thirsty land,” and my children will see something of His glory that they would have missed if I had settled for something less than God Himself.

If only the world knew of the glory of thirsting for Him! If only the Church weren’t so distracted and filled from the “buffet” that the world offers us and the busy mentality that modern “ministry” puts before us.

Though I have heard of His great love, and experienced it on many glorious occasions, it still staggers me that He longs to pour out His own Spirit upon us, and our children. It matters not that I’m a dry and cracked soul. In fact, that is the ground upon which He copiously pours out His holy rain. Oh, to live a life of anticipatory thirst. To ache for God Himself, until He comes and makes all things new. This is blessedness indeed.

Oh then wish more for God, burn more with desire,
Covet more the dear sight of his marvellous Face;
Pray louder, pray longer, for the sweet gift of fire
To come down on thy heart with its whirlwinds of grace.

Yes pine for thy God, fainting soul! ever pine;
Oh languish mid all that life brings thee of mirth;
Famished, thirsty, and restless, -let such life be thine,-
For what sight is to heaven, desire is to earth.

(Frederick Faber, as quoted in The Christian Book of Mystical Verse, compiled by A.W. Tozer; Christian Publications, 1963; pp. 56-57)

He will pour out water, dear soul. Thirst then! Thirst after Him…