My Twelve “Rs” of the Great Pursuit – Part 2 of 2

My Twelve “Rs” of the Great Pursuit – Part 2 of 2

Again, I ask: What is your great pursuit—that quest that grips you?

You think about it every day. Visions of what it could look like live continuously in the crevices of your mind.

If you’re an exceptional soccer player, maybe it’s your dream to be offered a full-ride college scholarship. If you’re an ROTC college student, perhaps your goal is to become a general someday. If you’re a parent, possibly your greatest desire is that your children walk in the truth of God’s Word (3 John 1:4).

If you’re a serious follower of Jesus—a Christian—maybe your deep desire is to grow more like Him every day and show others the way of Salvation. In The Fire That Never Sleeps, Dr. Michael Brown encourages us to let God Himself be our “great pursuit.”  

Here are the last six of My “Twelve “Rs” of the Great Pursuit.” (The first six were listed in my previous blog post.)

7- Reflect. Consider the two-fold definitions of reflect. It means to deeply think on something—to ponder. As well, it means to be a reflection of or mirror something. Let’s do both.

Ponder the attributes of God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. God’s three main attributes are omnipotence (all-powerful), omniscience (all-knowing), and omnipresence (ever-present everywhere). My goodness, we could spend a lifetime contemplating these traits.

God’s Word, Paul gives wonderful instruction on what we should reflect on in our thought life. He told the Philippian , “Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these thing” (Philippians 4:8 NASV).

The 1980s Christian rock band, Petra, recorded a song focusing on this passage. If you wish, you may check it out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&v=VxdGfO1ZYKk

Now consider reflecting Jesus in the sense of mirroring Him. Paul suggested that we, “Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1 NASV).

Let’s learn Jesus by reading the Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. When was the last time you read through all these books in the Bible? As we get into this new year, it’s the perfect time to reflect on the attributes of Jesus Christ so we can reflect Him better. Then go ahead and read the Book of Acts, which follows, and reflect on the amazing attributes of God’s Holy Spirit. 

As we sincerely reflect on our mighty God, in both senses of the word, lets earnestly move forward in our great pursuit of Him.

8- Respond. If we wholeheartedly endeavor to do the previous seven “Rs” we will surely respond in some way. That is to give a reply or a reaction. We must do something.

If you’ve never responded to God’s invitation to receive salvation, now is the time. If you believe that Jesus is the Son of God and what the Bible says about Him, then pray, (talk to God), and profess your belief to Him and receive Jesus into your heart.

If you’ve already become a follower of Jesus, now how will you respond?

Jesus said, “Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock. Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell—and great was its fall” (Matthew 7:24-27 NASV).

Our Lord also said, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free” (John 8:32 NASV).

O, hallelujah! When God is our great pursuit and we respond to Him as He intends, then we will have the security like to man who built his house on the rock and we’ll be free like Jesus spoke of, “So if the Son sets you free’ you will be free indeed” (John 8:36 NIV).   

9- Relationship. When we received Christ Jesus as our Savior and Lord, we came into relationship with Him. That means we are interconnected with Him. Not only that—because He and Father God are one, we are in relationship—that is, in fellowship—with God, our Heavenly Father—our Creator.

Our sin separated had us from God and we were on our way to eternal Hell, with no hope. But when Jesus paid our penalty on the cross, He stepped up and took our place. He took the punishment for the sin of each of us. When we accept Jesus, we receive this amazing free gift.

“For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His loving devotion for those who fear Him. As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions (sins) from us. As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear Him…” (Psalm 103:11-13 ESV).

As we continue our great pursuit of God, we will bond closer to Him and go deeper in relationship with Him.

10- Responsibility. Yes, Jesus paid it all to redeem us from our sin debt. But we needn’t think that’s the end all. Our born-again experience is just the beginning. It is then our responsibility to do something with this amazing grace and salvation we’ve been given.

God has created each of us with a plan and purpose in mind—His mind. The psalmist says, “For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother’s womb. I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; … Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; and in Your book were all written the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there was not one of them” (Psalm 139: 13-16 NASB). *

God has done so much for us and as our great pursuit for Him expands, our desire to take on, following His lead, the responsibilities He wants us to endeavor will also expand and we will accomplish much for the Kingdom of God, in Jesus name.

Jesus said, “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5 ESV).

11- Rise up. I’ve heard it said, “You can’t rise up if you don’t bow down.”

Saul was knocked off his feet by the glory of Jesus. Then the Lord told him to rise up and go … (Acts 9). Ezekiel fell before the Spirit of God and the Spirit lifted him up and gave him his prophetic assignment (Ezekiel 3).

We’ve established that we each have an assignment from God. In order to know why we are to rise up, we need to search God through prayer and praise. When we bow before, acknowledging who He is and our desperate need for Him we put ourselves in a place to hear from Him. Acknowledge what we just read in John 15:5—without Him, we can do nothing.

When we spend quality time with our Creator we set ourselves up for this: “Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you” (Isaiah 60:1 NASV).

In our great pursuit let us do as the psalmist, “I rise before dawn and cry for help; I wait for Your words (Psalm 119:147 NASV).

12- Revival. When God is our great pursuit and we wholeheartedly do all we know to do, revival will come into our spirit and soul. And it is contagious. Others around us will sense the presence of God on us and in us. Some will want it and some will resist and run away form it.

When temptation to sin comes our way, we’ll see it for what it is and have the power to resist, not because we’re so spiritual, but because we give the Holy Spirit free reign in us. Some people will not understand and even ridicule us for not wanting to go to such and such movie or participate in such and such event.

“When He becomes our great pursuit, by default, anything that does not reflect Him or honor Him will be stripped out of our lives; we simply will not tolerate it.” –Dr. Michael Brown *

We’ll realize that the Spirit of God is the very oxygen we breathe. Here is Michael W. Smith, singing “This is the Air I Breathe.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEDcKZB7r2A

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So, here are the final six of My Twelve “Rs” of the Great Pursuit. Thank you for reading my posts. I know they’ve been rather lengthy and I appreciate you for bearing with me. I pray you have benefited in some way by reading this. Let’s put God in the forefront of our minds, hearts, and souls and make Him our great pursuit. We’ll never regret it.

Your comments are welcome.

*The Fire That Never Sleeps: Keys to sustaining personal revival; by, Dr. Michael L. Brown and John Kilpatrick, with Larry Sparks; Destiny Image Publishers, Inc.; 2015; page 58.

©Copyright 2019 Connie Wohlford

The Stones Are Alive <> 1 Peter 2:4-5

The Stones Are Alive                          

1 Peter 2:4-5

One by one they placed a stone onto the grave of Oskar Schindler. Who were these people and why were they doing this? It was a solemn moment and there were few dry eyes as we watched this take place on the big screen in movie theaters across the globe. 

Those small rocks were released from the hands of Jews who were rescued or descendants of those rescued from the torment or death of Hitler’s Third Reich. Those small rocks were saying to the departed Gentile hero, “My memory of you is solid as rock. You will never be forgotten.”

If you saw the movie, Schindler’s List, I’m sure you remember the scene.

A rock or stone can symbolize many things. It can be used destructively in a riot or as a means of execution as with Steven, an early follow of Jesus (Acts 7:54-60). In Peter’s letter to some First Century followers of Jesus he sees stones as building materials.

Rejected, but chosen … and precious. Who is Peter describing? 

He had just affirmed the recipients of his letter, saying they have “tasted that the Lord is gracious” (1 Peter 2:3b), professing that these people have partaken of the kindness of Jesus. Now he wants them, and us, to understand more deeply what it means to follow Christ. 

“Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 2:4-5 NKJV).

From being like a new born babe and then maturing into having the ability to put away the traits of a dark heart—that is a sinful past—(v.2), now the Christ follower becomes like a stone—a living stone—like Jesus.

Peter knew about stones. When Jesus called him out to be His disciple, He said, “You are Simon the son of Jonah. You shall be called Cephas,” which is translated, a stone (John 1:42 NKJV).  

Later, when Jesus asked of His disciples, “Who do you say that I am?” Peter spoke up and answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:15-16). 

Jesus affirmed Peter in that moment and confirmed Peter’s revelation statement. The Lord said, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah (meaning son of Jonah), for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:17-18 NKJV).

 Peter is translated, Petros - Petra (Greek), meaning rock.

Jesus is not saying that Peter is the rock on which the church is built, but that his faith, which Peter resolutely expressed, is the foundation stone of the church Jesus is building. Jesus himself is the chief cornerstone and He is the very foundation of His church, the body of Christ. 

 

Peter declares Jesus the living stone on which God’s spiritual house is being built and that as we continuously come to Jesus we recognize Him as the stone that was rejected and crucified by men (Psalm 118:22). He also points out that Jesus was chosen by God and is precious to the Father.  

The imagery of a stone or rock is significant in the Bible as well as in Jewish traditions. In Matthew 7:24-29, we’re instructed to build on rock, not sand, and Jesus is referred to as the Rock of our Salvation in Psalm 89:26.

Jesus is the solid foundation stone and, like Peter, our solid rock belief in Him makes us useful as His living building blocks.

Paul wrote a beautiful metaphor of God building His church: “Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit” (Ephesians 2:14 NKJV).    

Stone upon stone, we are living, breathing members of God’s eternal construction project. It is our honor and blessing, as Christ followers, to be living stones. We are building materials in the the spiritual house which Jesus is raising up. And not only that, we are a holy priesthood offering up spiritual sacrifices which are acceptable to God (v.4). Let’s take a look at that in my next post. 

“And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.  And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven” (Matthew 16:18-19 NKJV).

Your comments are welcome. 

©Copyright 2018 Connie Wohlford