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From
"Man" to Infant...
So we keep on praying for you, asking our God to enable you to live a life worthy of his call. May he give you the power to accomplish all the good things your faith prompts you to do. Then the name of our Lord Jesus will be honored because of the way you live, and you will be honored along with him. This is all made possible because of the grace of our God and Lord, Jesus Christ. God, you are so amazingly incredibly awesome! There is no better time in the life of a believer in the Most High God than when we get to experience and participate in some small way --- the rebirth of a man. It is the one thing that never gets old. To watch God work --- through His saints here on this earth --- to deliver a man from the depths of his humanity into the loving arms of an Almighty and all Powerful God is simply breathtaking! I wish I could do it every day... I have just returned from another Great Banquet weekend and I am both tired and gloriously awake! I had an opportunity to again share my own testimony this weekend for these 41 guests and 35 team members and as always, it was an honor to be counted as worthy to speak on behalf of God and His Kingdom. As I have often said, I did all the stupid parts and God Himself did the cleanup and the restoration of that junk into something perhaps useful for His Kingdom. And I am eternally grateful for that. I also spent the weekend in the role of one of the spiritual directors. This means simply that it was our role to cover the weekend in prayer from inside the room (there were hundreds more covering us from outside the room). We prayed speakers up before they stepped into the room to deliver their message as God called them to it. We prayed for them and those receiving the message as they were delivering it. We prayed for our guests. We prayed with both team members and guests as the need arose. It was an awesome experience. Amazing. It is especially amazing when I consider the material God was working with here. But that is another story. The fact that He counts me as worthy and has called me to be His hands and feet here on this earth is good enough for me. My role is obedience to that call. Now, on to the point of my writing... What is it about watching a man break down before an Almighty Heavenly Father that is so exhilarating? Why is it that I am brought to tears myself almost every time I watch a genuine "bringing to the knees" of a man? This very weekend, we were in the very presence of God. His work among us was both evident --- visually evident --- and it was powerful! There were at least six (6) men that came to know Jesus Christ for the very first time. They came in all shapes and sizes. They were at many places on the spectrum of faith. Some were in their early 20s and others were in their 40s. But God is God and this weekend was the time for these men. And while their stories are as unique as they are --- as all of our stories are unique to us --- the similarity in the work of the Holy Spirit was beautiful. From the unique perspective of the edges of the group we got to watch many reluctant men come together on a Thursday night in Kokomo Indiana. We got to watch them as they were transformed from "men" --- sizing each other up (yes you can see it!), wondering what they have in common with each other, reluctance to let go of our "macho tendency, you know, all the things we men are so good at. And all the things this world encourages us to be. And then as the God of the universe worked in that room and in that building and in the homes of those praying for us, we watched the men become the MEN that God had created them to be. REAL men! We got to watch as these men were transformed into men that had a genuine Godly love for each other. We got to watch as these men began to genuinely care about the guys sitting next to them that they didn't even know yesterday, or the day before. We got to watch as these men began praying for each other and with each other. We got to watch as these men loved each other as God broke the hearts of many. Broke those hearts so that He could put them back together as He intended them to be in the first place. We watched as reluctance was replaced by safety. We watched as anxiety was transformed into living in the moment. We watched as "manliness" was transformed into Godly love as He intended men to love --- fiercely! No namby-pamby men here. We watched as a stiff and anxious hand-shake was replaced by an uninhibited hug and declaration of genuine love and concern. And most significantly, we watched as bondage was replaced by FREEDOM! For those six men that shared their journey to the Kingdom of God with us, we watched them take their very own first step into eternity to join themselves with God the Father, bought with the very body and blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, and ushered into the presence of God by the work of the Holy Spirit. And the testimony of His greatness by mere men. Men empowered and made powerful by the strengthening of the Holy Spirit! What an amazing privilege it is to observe the rebirth --- from "man" to infant in Christ --- of even one man. But six? It was a slice of heaven itself! So let me wrap this up with the answer to my question about why it is so exhilarating to, "watch a man break down before an Almighty Heavenly Father." It almost sounds voyeuristic in nature. But believe me it is not. In fact I am going to make sure that those men get an opportunity to read this. You see the reason is because I spent 40 years wandering in the "wilderness" of my own making. Trying with all I am to make this thing called life work. And watching as so many steps were so wrong. Then trying to clean all that up and trying to move on and trying to mend broken relationships and worrying about my own "image" all at the same time. I know that the pressure of doing so is extraordinary and that the older we get the more it all piles up. It is so easy to grow bitter and angry as we let that all pile up. Ultimately I also KNOW the unbelievable freedom available to us in Jesus Christ. I know the exhilaration of letting go and knowing that there is a God that loves me so madly! I know the feeling of letting go all of those old burdens and sins and to crawl out of the hole we have dug for so long. I know what it is like to crawl into the lap of an Almighty and Heavenly daddy and rest in His lap. It is glorious and beautiful! It is in knowing that and knowing that these men have just done the same in their very own lives that I am reduced to rubble when I see it. It is the most incredible thing we can ever witness. To know that these men have just come to the understanding that God does in fact love them. That the creator of this universe is actually a very personal God that wants nothing more than to love THEM. And to reach out and take the Hand of that Creator God. That is the reason I love it so. These men are now free... Amen. Who
are we Like
hinges straining from the weight Lyrics © 2007 MercyMe, God With Us |
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