ETERNAL OR TEMPORAL?

The Revelation of Jesus Christ. This is the single most important thing to ever happen in my life. When my view became eternal as opposed to temporal. When i began to see it like Jesus saw it and do it like Jesus did it. When my heart was broken and i wept with compassion. For the lost, for my family, for the children. For each soul who is headed on a path to eternity in the Lake of Fire. For all those who claim they know Christ, but do not "know" Him. When Jesus began to reveal Himself to me from glory to glory.

There came a time when, knowing Jesus is my Saviour, my redeemer, my healer, my husband, my friend, my God, my all in all, became knowing Jesus. When having an intimate relationship with Him every day became first in my life. When i realized i cannot move a step without His presence in my life. Not one step. Literally. Like Moses. When all my life's focus changed and it flowed from inward to outward. When all my life began to flow from the holy temple in me, to the world. When i began to meet with God in prayer and he began to give me His presence and cleanse (sanctify) me, the tabernacle of His dwelling place, so He could reside in me consistently and eternally and reveal His glory to me.

This is the dying to self, the sacrifice of my-self and of ALL things worldly. The being in the world but not of it. It is the single greatest, most terrifying, life shattering event to happen in a follower of Jesus. And it is the most exciting, purifying, joyful and peaceful event as well. i will never go back, i will never be the same.

This is why i feel God gave us the first and second commandments (Deuteronomy 5), to love God and make no idols before him, before Jesus gave us the Greatest Commandment (Matthew 22:36-40), to love God with all you are and to love your neighbor. Because, until you really love God, put Him first, at the center of everything you think you are, your heart, body, soul, mind, until every thought, every move you make comes from the presence of God in you, then you cannot love your neighbor, because you do not love God first. Until we knock down and burn every idol in our lives, everything we put before God, we cannot love God. Until you get the Greatest Commandment, you are still under the Law of the First and Second Commandments. Do you see?

Think of it like this. What do you love? Family, friends, a TV show, shopping, travel, drinking, smoking, that daily Starbucks, sleeping in? What gives you that "i love that" feeling? Whatever it is, give it up. Really, family vacations, movies, eating out, your family? Summer is on the way, could it be beaches, boating, suntanning? Give it up. If the "i love that feeling" is not for God then God is not first. Think about it. Just give God some time to show up in a powerful way in your life and you will be forever changed. Give Him the chance to tell you what he wants you to pick up in your life, which hearts desires he wants to give you. We need to quit telling God which ones we want to hold on to and lay them all down for as long as it takes for God to let us pick them back up, if ever. Its easy to lay down the harmful things, but what about the things you love? Are we willing to let God strip us to nothing and build His character in us?

i enjoy my family, the seas and oceans, Italy, San Francisco, turtles, birdsong, all the little things Myles and Madison have made me, yo-yo's, puzzles, games that bring families to the table together. These are things i enjoy now, that God allowed me to pick up after laying them down at His cross, at his feet, after giving them all to him. With God's presence in my life my perspective of these things is different because i have no hold on any of it, they belong fully to God. There are places in our hearts that harbor the things of our lives. Some of these things will forever keep the presence of the Lord from dwelling in us. Some are the hearts desires that God allows us to have. We need to recognize them for what they are.

"The Gospels and Epistles largely reveal the hand of the Lord and how it serves to assist us in this life. The Revelation of Jesus reveals the face of the Lord and how we will assist Him in eternal life." Amen