I was listening to a Jason Upton compilation tonight... He was ministering to a group of worship leaders and expressing the heart of the Father...The Lord had asked him a question that he relays in one of his songs--One day he had been praying/worshipping/crying out to him in his room the Lord spoke this to him...Jason sang: "God I want to be so holy! I used to say... and he'd say tell me why........Is it so you can fly in front of your friends and tell them how bad they are?.......... And then he said to me Jason, if you'd just make your life a little more risky.......You wouldn't have to strive so hard following me...... following me.......But your life is so safe.... your life is so safe.... your life is so safe...."I heard this and it struck me... The Lord gets the glory only when it's birthed out of something that is impossible for us to accomplish...Or maybe better said... only out of something that has been resurrected by Him after being surrendered unto death. I heard Tommy Tenney put it this way...As Lazarus was growing sicker Jesus waited for the perfect timing... For the Glory of His Father... If he had come any sooner somebody possibly could have taken credit saying... "See, I got him here just in the nick-of-time!!!"He illustrated it this way:\tOne day no Jesus... Two days no Jesus... Three days no Jesus...\tGramatically...\tJesus I'm sick... No Jesus.\tJesus I'm sicker... No Jesus.\tJesus I'm sickest... No Jesus.\tJesus I'm dead... No Jesus.\tJesus I'm deader... No Jesus.\tJesus I'm deadest... I stink!!!The Lord will wait until our dreams, our hopes, our ministries are so dead and stinking... so beyond our hope and our help, that when he "ressurects" them, the only one who can claim any Glory is Our King!!!My life is so safe... so without the faith spelled R...I...S...K... Father, shake everything that can be shaken in me so that I'm not clutching onto things that will keep me from understanding and knowing you intimately... I love you and am desperate for you! Judgement begins with your house and I personally desire to know you as the Judge of my heart... I believe that God is returning for a purified, sanctified, set-apart, beautiful Bride... And that, once again, there are those being raised up to be "crazy-men" in the desert, crazy friends of the bridegroom, crazy in love with Jesus, crying out--repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand... prepare the way of the Lord and make His paths straight... and... behold the Lamb of God... behold Him!!!... behold the precious Lamb of God... the One who takes away the sin of the world. This Bride of His... this remnant that the Lord has called will be completely surrendered and transfixed on Him and their only interest will be seeing His heart's desires fulfilled... His desire to bring the lost and broken into His banquet and into His bedchamber. But increasing pressure [thelipsis] is going to come upon those in the church and the love of many will grow cold because they were not looking for this kind of Jesus, just as in the first time He came to the children of Israel, they'll be looking for another Christ that will be interested in fulfilling their desires... their hopes... their dreams... their blessings... their ministries... their "christ"...Where are we going to set the desires of our hearts?I am my Beloved's and He is mine,BrianYourlighthascome
