I have been in the Philippines one week now and things in my
life have radically changed, my mindset about what is important, my day to day
prayers, my focus, and what I hope will be the new direction that I will
continue to walk out the rest of my days…all this in one week through a lesson
I have heard tons of times but I think I finally understand it better then I
ever have before.
Desiring intimacy with God, loving God, is the most
important thing, above ALL else, and it’s the one thing we should strive for a
deeper understanding of each and every day. I am doing a 24 sermon series with
my teammate Alison and in the last sermon the pastor said, “How often do you
really ask for more intimacy with the Lord and a deeper understanding of His
love?” Understanding God’s love and loving God more should be what I wake up
each day praying for, but even as I am traveling the world as a missionary,
those words are not always in my daily prayers. Some days it is because I
honestly just don’t think to ask for more of God and some days I feel content
in where my relationship is with the Lord. I feel happy, I feel satisfied, I
feel content…which leads to complacency I have realized and doesn’t set the
tone for your relationship with God to go deeper.
Many times while out on the world race people pray, “Lord
what is my spiritual gift, where do you want me to serve, what can I do, what
am I good at?” I am noticing that many people on the world race get really
caught up in trying to figure out their spiritual gifts or wondering why month
8 they have not spoken in tongues or prophesied over anyone…they wonder if they
just don’t have enough faith.
What the Lord has shown me this week is the most important
thing I should be praying for and wanting is more of Him. Through more intimacy
with Him He will show you where you are to go, what you should do, and gifts he
has given you…
…1 Corinthians 13:1-3 says that if you can speak in tongues,
have the gift of prophecy, can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, you have
a faith that can move mountains, give all you have to the poor, and even
surrender your entire body, but have not love, you have nothing and you gain
nothing.
WOW. That just hit me in a whole new way this week.
Literally you can have all the spiritual gifts in the world, attend church a
million times, build many houses for the poor, give away all you have to the
poor, serve in tons of ministries in college and in your church, go on mission
trips, feed orphans, clothe the needy, pray for people that are sick….the list
goes on and on…but if you don’t have LOVE, it means nothing and you gain
absolutely nothing. If you don’t love the Lord deeply and do all these things
out of your love for Him, that draws you to love people, then its meaningless.
So many times I think as Christians we get so caught up in the doing, because
you just think you should, or because somewhere deep down you want people to
think wow they are such a good person. Then we wonder why at the end of the day
we are still empty, not completely filled, desiring more but we cant always
figure out what.
The Lord showed me something else this week…he said imagine
a cup and you have to fill 100% of the space up to bring you satisfaction and
happiness. So I will just do my life over here with what fills my days,
watching children, going to the prison ministry, painting murals for the
orphanage, time with my team, church, etc, and then Jesus time. So think about
your life and all the things you do throughout the day or week, assign
percentages to them, then think of what is left over for your time with the
Lord. What percentage are you at? This is the way we typically hear people
describe your “cup” and what you are filling it with, you are not giving God
enough of your time because when you look at your days and see most of your
time is spent at school or at work and the actual time you spend reading your
bible adds up to maybe 2% of your day.
This is what God showed me this week though, switch the way
you view the cup…the cup is your heart, the cup is where you find your
strength, the cup is love… the cup is your love, devotion, and intimacy with
the Lord. And when your cup is filled with 100% God and seeking Him first above
EVERYTHING else that what God does is He continues to pour more love into your
cup. When a cup fills up to the brim what naturally happens is it overflows.
Your love for others, forgiveness, grace, understanding, compassion…everything
will naturally flow out and it wont be from your own flesh which will struggle
hard with these things but out of the love God himself is giving you. I have
encountered so many times on the world race where people have said things or
done things that have hurt me or angered me…days when I feel like I cant
possibly lay down next to this person and then wake up tomorrow and see them at
breakfast…because here is an interesting fact about the world race, its not
like in a family, not like in a marriage even where you go to school or you go
to work and get 8 hours away from each other during the day, nope not even
close, you see that person at ALL meals, all hours of the day, and at every
turn, there is absolutely no escaping and seriously hardly any alone time ever
on the race…
So over these last couple months God has been teaching me
about loving others deeply and what that looks like. And it has been amazing
because the days or nights where I have nothing left to give and everything in
me wants to run away from that person, I run to Jesus. And so it is NOT by my
own strength, don’t for a second think I am talking about myself being good at
any of this on my own, but by GOD’S strength and love I can turn around and
love the one who is putting me down or hurting me. Fill your cup with 100% of
seeking Jesus and desiring above all else intimacy with Him and you will find
everything in life will flow naturally. Days will flow, things wont bother you
when they go differently then planned, and your love for people will overflow.
God never said you need to accomplish big things in life and
get big degrees or make a ton of money, but the one thing throughout the bible
that is so clear is God first and foremost desires you love Him and love
others.
If you struggle today with loving someone or forgiving
someone or have been talking things over and over with this one person and the
two of you just cant seem to come to any conclusions about things or resolve
issues, take a break, and go to God. Let your cup be filled with 100% of Jesus
and tell Him everyday you desire more intimacy, more understanding of the word,
and a deeper relationship with Him. Ask Him everyday for this and watch your
life be radically changed!
So it may sound simple but that it literally what I have
been doing each day multiple times throughout the day is literally just saying,
“I want more of you today Jesus, I want to grow closer to you today, more
intimacy, understand your love more, and love you more, I just want to spend
time with you in all things today.” This is what has changed my days and my
heart, and you know what I have found, God has given me more divine
appointments with people, more love, more visions and prophecy for people, and
more direction then when I am actually seeking THOSE things.
So bottom line, its all about love. Love God first, give him
your whole heart each day, and all those things you wonder about and desire
will fall into place. Try it, try praying a prayer something like this each day
and let me know how it changes your days!! Love you all so much!!
