Thirst

Wow everyone-- please know that as I read and hear what's going on from you guys, my heart really is touched, i love you guys-- it's not just something i'm saying...

Today was kind of a weird day spiritually-- but totally a God thing. This morning in our team meeting we talked about the difference between gifts and fruit. Seems like we're always all fired up about what are our gifts, but we never examine what is the fruit in our lives or through our lives? We love saying "I've got the gift of ______", but we never stop to think, Am I using it? And if I'm not, do I really have it??

It started to remind me of this "thing" that has been building in me for some time, from God i believe, where in these revival prayer meetings and meetings like that, I just get frustrated because it's not my vision really. I don't really care to see people falling down or getting healed or even people raised from the dead, yaknow?? Not that that's bad, but THERE'S SO MUCH MORE!!! You could raise a guy from the dead, and he's still going to die again anyhow. What's going to really count for anything?? Signs of power?? Or a "revival" marked by true Christlikeness in character, lifestyle, and spirit??

Think about this-- This woman came asking for Jesus to heal her son or something, and Jesus says, No one gives to dogs what is sacred. Think about that statement-- it was an obvious racial reference, that you don't give such things to Gentiles. HE CALLED HER A DOG!! Does this sound like the Jesus you know and read about? Not my Jesus. She says back, yeah, but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from the table. And he says, oh woman of great faith! It shall be done for you as you asked. How do you explain the sudden turnaround in how he's speaking to her??

Imagine a man so filled with love he'd go out of his way to reach out to those people no one cared about. Imagine a guy whose love compelled him to break cultural laws and speak to a woman, and a Samaritan, no less! Imagine a guy who weeps over Jerusalem... this is our Jesus, the Son of God who is love. Imagine this man of love now saying those words, No one gives to dogs what is sacred. Imagine the playful glint in his eye which says, come on, it's ok! And emboldened by that love that accepts her despite her race or social status, she says, yes, i am a dog, but don't i still get to eat the crumbs? And it's like the laughter Jesus has been holding back suddenly bursts out, "Woman! Of great faith! I'll do it!" The ministry wasn't, i don't think, that he healed her son or whatever-- it was simply that he loved her.

Jesus didn't operate the way he should have, at least not in the way we would have. He raised someone from the dead, then slipped out to pray. News spread about what he did, and this huge crowd gathered at the person's house. Peter went looking for him, because this was what they had been looking for, you know? Finally, crowds of people coming together! A perfect opportunity to show the power and start the revolution, everything we've been waiting for has happened!! Jesus, come, let's go back, you need to speak to these people!! And Jesus turns to Genassaret, and he says basically, no, i have to move on to where i'm needed. The crowd gathered, and he left them there!!

Wouldn't we be like Peter in that situation?? That we'd been hoping and praying for a revival to happen (at Wheaton maybe), and then something spectacular happens! And we're thrilled! And loads and loads of people start coming to us! But where's Jesus? He's left a long time ago, moved on to do the next thing God told him to do. We'd probably start having revival meetings every night, you know?? Launch a big-time ministry, gain fame and recognition for God and ourselves. But Jesus was out to start a REAL revival, a revival not marked by power necessarily, but one marked by fierce love.

This is what God's been stirring in my heart in these meetings for however long it's been. God's dream for us is not that we live lives marked by supernatural power, that we perform signs and wonders in his name-- remember those guys Jesus talked about?? Did we not cast out demons and heal the sick?? What did Jesus say? Depart from me, I NEVER KNEW YOU. God's grand dream, His high and lofty master plan, is "Christ in you, the hope of glory." He wants us to look like His Son. He wants to KNOW us. He wants us to know Him.

True revival is not people being raised from the dead; it's not crooked legs being straightened; it's not victims of abuse being emotionally healed. True revival is when God's children start to act like it, when a royal priesthood of believers start to look like Jesus, when a holy nation of Spirit-filled lovers begin to demonstrate to the world not just the gifts of the Spirit, but the fruit as well. THAT'S what I'm hungry for.

Remember the story of the spies that went into Canaan? Joshua and Caleb came back and said, it's a wonderful land, and CHECK OUT THIS FRUIT!!! They had these HUGE grapes or whatever, physical evidence that such a land existed, was there for the taking! The people of our generation, of this age, are crying out for something real. Let's not just feed them another philosophy of life, or power without love-- Let's take them the FRUIT, and say with our lives, HEY! Check out this fruit!! Such a land really DOES exist, and I'll show you how to get there!