Knowing God: Learning the Ways of Patient Endurance PII

Abiding in hope is the natural state of the Kingdom coming and opposition and conflict should not dislodge us from the presence of the Lord and a deep abiding heart. 

Road to Emmaus by Eikonik

Endurance
en·dur·ance[ in dóorənss ]
1.ability to bear prolonged hardship: the ability or power to bear prolonged exertion, pain, or hardship
2.toleration of hardship: toleration of prolonged suffering or hardship
3.persistence over time: the survival or persistence of something despite the ravages of time.
Imagine a heart filled with freedom, love, and joy.   A childlike heart at rest in the Masters presence.    Now imagine that heart sitting down for lunch at a table with endurance?   What would be the common ground?  What would they talk about?  Would they naturally be close and feel a kindred spirit and "easy fellowship"? 

Endurance has been abiding in long suffering with hope for a while.   Endurance has been kneeling so long over prayers deposited by God they have physical issues.   Endurance can be gruff and resolute and present a hard exterior.   This is not the fullness or the true expression.  Love is the ultimate witness of anything originated in the Father's heart. 

My favorite apostle is John.  He was part of the inner circle with Jesus and he was there to see with his own eyes people rising from the dead.  He saw Jesus on the mount of transfiguration.  He was at the cross.  He was at the tomb with Peter.   He described his life in the Lord this way.....

I, John, 

your brother and companion in the suffering and kingdom 

and patient endurance that are ours in Jesus, 

was on the island of Patmos 

because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. Rev 1:9

Our Brother.  Our brother of the heart after Jesus.  The one who rested on the breast of Jesus at the Last Supper.   The one who received the revelation of Jesus and the encouragement of the book we love, Revelation. 

John is the childlike heart and the endurance of the Kingdom in one person.  And so would all the apostles of Christ be as this is the normal way of following Jesus.  Jesus was completely one with the Father's heart and will and moved about the world in love.  Certainly Jesus was one with the Father in his heart and worshiped in all that he did freely and with the very childlike freedom.  He called the disciples to it.  Yet, we marvel at the work of the Cross.  Jesus patiently endured the suffering that brought down the sins of the whole world.  Jesus paid for our shortcomings with his own blood.  He opened the new and living way to the presence of God forever.   He felt what a forsaken heart can feel.  But he remained with the Father, walked through hope and fulfilled his mission in love. 


John "sees" prophetically and he sees Jesus in so many circumstances and revealed ways throughout his life.   John sits down in the Kingdom with a childlike heart and patient endurance.   He knows the deepest abiding love of the Lord Jesus in a wide vision and revelation and he has linked this with hope and patience.  He saw the rule and reign of Jesus coming into the earth through his life. 

John, the apostle, sits down at a table with a childlike heart that sees and patient endurance that abides in hope.  

• This world's fallen reality did not ruin him or his heart.   Why does it take our so easily?  (Our modern mindset is that all troubles are somehow direct results of the Lord. So we take offense at God and our hearts cannot abide in his presence.) 

• His life reality did not take away his ability to see the Kingdom of the King.  From Jesus' words we know that that requires a child like heart....to see the kingdom.   John the Apostle saw some of the most amazing things in the Kingdom of God.  He also suffered persecution and boiling in oil as well as banishment.
  And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.  Mat 18:3

• John has something squared away that modern Christ followers have all but lost.   
• Abiding in hope is the natural state of the Kingdom coming and opposition and conflict should not dislodge us from the presence of the Lord and a deep abiding heart. 

The Kingdom Jesus is bringing is kind to the childlike heart.  In fact it calls out love for God and experiencing the Love of God as the core focus.   We love with the heart.  We love first as we are first loved.   Loving God with all our heart is a permanent abide for believers. 

Endurance is a key quality in those who would accomplish great things with the Father.  Yet our understanding of how life works has clouded our ability to love God with all our hearts, to run free in the vast resources of his presence.  We are called to patient endurance in hope for all that we are assigned in the Kingdom to accomplish, while abiding in perfect grace and love with the Lord Jesus.

Hope is the fuel for patient endurance.    

So why do we stumble?  Why do our hearts loose confidence in his presence?
Here are a couple ideas.

1. We fellowship with the mind of the flesh  (Rom 8:1-11)  We sit down with a dead man or woman and seek life.   Not gonna happen.

• The mind of the flesh is death 
• The mind of the flesh cannot please God
• The mind of the flesh cannot fulfill the law of God
• The mind of the flesh is by nature at war with God
• The mind of the flesh is equal to all the plans, ideas and pathways we conceive of to advance us in this life that do not originate in Christ Jesus.  

2. We translate opposition as personal punishment - We are presence carriers - empowered ambassadors of a heavenly Kingdom.  We carry life change all over the world everywhere we go.   It is not always or possibly even mainly about us and our personal world.  

• We have the Mind of Christ (1 Cor 2:16)
• Christ Dwells in us  (Col 1:27)
• We are Temples of the living God (I Cor 3:17)
• We are living stones (I Peter 2:5)

Opposition is natural as the Kingdom of God comes into a life, a household, a city, a region.  It takes patience and endurance to wait on the Lord with a living hope.  

3. We know we are in Him if we walk as Jesus walked.  Jesus walked in a heart of Love with the Father.  We can also.  Jesus fulfilled the calling on his life in perfect worship while confronted with immense opposition and struggle.   He overcame the world.  We can as well.

Overcoming is what Jesus calls us into.  Revelation 1-3.  Each city church was called to overcome in a particular way.  Reward awaited them for each type of overcoming grace.  


Patient Endurance is not a pathway to a wounded heart.  No in the Kingdom of God.
We can love God forever with all our hearts and be tough overcoming Saints who see the world change through his power everyday.


Thoughts?  Comments?  I love hearing from you.

Brother Jeff
Jeff Reynolds. Sr. Leader
Capstone Christian Fellowship
www.mycapstone.org
jeffreynoldsministries.com
jeff@jeffreynoldsministries.com

Never be lacking in zeal. Need Some Revival? To Hear God? Dial Into A New Frequency and Remember the Lord's Character

Sometimes we get into a spiritual rut.  Bumping along the bottom basically on drift, low passion, not soaring or ascending.  

This Kingdom of God is about ZEAL and PASSION and DEVOTION. 
 

Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, 

serving the Lord.  Rom 12:11

and 

Jhn 2:17

His disciples remembered that it is written: 

“Zeal for your house will consume me.”

Day and Night the heavens are awake and alive with the Lord's purpose and the advance of his Kingdom (Isa 9:7).    Heaven never sleeps and the sun is always rising in some part of the world.  The heart of the Father is always working.  When we see into heaven in the scripture (Rev 5) there are wild creatures and amazing things going on.  These are momentary glimpses.   Imagine a day in our time.   I'm sure few of us could handle the overwhelming volume of love being poured out.

So why do we slide out of passion, devotion, and zeal so often?  

There are as many reasons and answers for this question as there are cultures, families and people reflecting his image.  But getting a basic understanding of things always helps us move out of lukewarm and into his presence.  Jesus is seen by John the Apostle as "his eyes were like blazing fire.  His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace." Rev 1:14

Passion and zeal die when sin takes hold of us. 
 1) Sin.  Definitely puts a damper on zeal.  But it is easily dealt with.  What you say?  Christ Jesus our Lord accomplished "condemning sin in the flesh" (Romans 8:3).  It is dead along with our flesh.  "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (I John 1:9-10) The power that conquered sin in our lives yesterday is the same power that will conquer it today.   Repent.  Confess.  Agree with heaven and the mercy of God.   Receive in faith the perfect work of Christ over sin and death and walk in the Spirit. (Rom 8) Remember how it all worked at first.  Leave sin behind and move out in the new life in the Spirit.  Childlike faith overcomes the darkness. 

2) Religion and self-righteousness have a way of cooling the fires of love and zeal.  Religion is basically "I can do this" "I got this" spirituality.   It is soul power.  Soul power is not to be confused with Kingdom power and the Spirit.  Somehow after we have walked with the Lord a bit we forget the basics.....

Are you so foolish? 

After beginning by means of the Spirit, 

are you now trying to finish by means of the flesh?  Gal 3:3

We all know, we are not saved by anything within ourselves.  So, why do we take on things that only Christ in his power has been able to do in and through us?  Like defeat sin.  Bring freedom.  Pour forgiveness on our sins.  By grace and faith in the perfect work of Jesus Christ, the firstborn among all creation, the Kingdom pours into us.  Jesus is our righteousness by faith.   We forget this so quickly especially after entering into believing communities that are very outward focused and rule focused.   The Holy Spirit is the one who disciples us.   We were unable to save ourselves, disciple ourselves, free ourselves.  Why do we think that now we have something more in ourselves that puts us above others for shows of righteousness? 

Fascinating Fact -  The Pharisees did not recognize Jesus.  
The sinless Lamb of God who takes away all the sins of the world.  
Why?   He did not speak religion and self-righteousness.  
He spoke Son-ship and Adoption.  He was the walking definition of 
righteousness and truth.  They were as he called them.  
Clean cups on the outside with everything vile and distorted on the inside.  

Zeal is from the inside.  Seeing with the eyes of the heart 


The Kingdom of God never sleeps.  Heaven is active now.  Learning to tap into new avenues of hearing and abiding in the presence of the Lord is key to keeping zeal burning and alive. 

Here is a simple equation  
1)Presence abiding in Jesus leads to (John 15)   
2)Revelation to heart eyes (Eph 1:17-19)   
3) Can lead to faith put in motion in the world and pleasing God (Hebrew 11:6)
4) By hope it is sustained through perseverance and endurance (Rev 1:9)
5) To the advance of God's Kingdom (Matt 13:31)
6) To more revelation of Jesus (John 16:12-14) 
7) To deeper abiding in his presence (John 15)


Hard as it is, we need to dance to the music of our life.  Bloom where we are planted.  There is grace enough for zeal and passion in the life we are walking. 

A pastor friend of mine pointed me to a book for this kind of season, Dark Night Of The Soul by St. John of the Cross.   For years I acknowledged the title as if I had read the book.  Mainly because I wasn't sure I wanted to read it.  It seemed like I was going to give in to something.  The Dark Night.  Not really something I was wanting to agree with or dive into even through I may have been in and out of it on occasion.   I did eventually read the book. Recommended.  But these days my mindset is so opened up with encouragement.  There is a passage through the dark night, but I am discovering a steady stream of grace, love, and passion flows in the presence of the Lord with endless proportions.  Tapping into that requires some diversifying.  We need to open up to new ways to hear the Lord, recognize his presence and dwell and abide. 

Think about these words with me.

Frequency - Atmosphere - Discover - Desire 


Frequencies
Learn to hear God in and through the many frequencies of God's world, both spirit and natural.   (John 16:12-14 and Ps 19)
Sound is a wave.  There are thousands of frequency waves in the world.  Heaven is speaking in so many ways...
in the Dark night of the Soul.   
David had those often it seems.  He wrote about them.  Heaven broke into those poems and he was reminded of the Lord's character.  The way God acted with him.  His loving kindness. 
Jesus had the darkest night ever recorded.   Before the cross.  So intense it was as if we sweated drops of blood.
Peter on the roof top at the tanners house.  Probably wondering why he was hanging out at a stinky tanners house dreaming about food.  A whole new people were introduced into the kingdom through his vision and obedient action.  (Acts 10:6)



Atmosphere
Anyone who has the Spirit of Christ is a carrier of the fulness of Christ, the mind of Christ, the Spirit of Christ and the blessings of his relationship with the Father.  Anyone who has the Spirit of Christ in them carries the Kingdom of Christ with them everywhere.   A key idea in the Kingdom is "overcome evil with good".  The Kingdom presence carriers are full of overcoming grace.  We can shift whole atmospheres with the love of Christ.   What kind of atmosphere do you carry?   Are you the fragrance of Jesus?   As you abide in his presence look into the atmosphere of your life and ask the Holy Spirit what he sees.

Childlike discovery
Raising kids provides an opportunity for some of the best things to come up - jewels to remember forever.  Sweet moments that nothing else in life provides.   After a wedding that my four year old attended and I officiated, we were eating dinner together with the family.   My 4 year old asked me what I was doing at the wedding and what it meant.  After telling him what marriage was about he said, "Dad, You are just like Jesus.  He paused and then said, "only smaller".   From the mouth of babes come pristine truths.   From the heart of the childlike his Kingdom explodes into the world.

 Same with God and us.   He loves our discoveries.  He loves seeing us find something new about Him and then diving into it with abandon.   

“Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me.”

  Mar 9:37

Desire for God
Hunger and thirst are necessary ingredients in the pursuit of God.  When you feel your appetite for the Kingdom waning, invite the Spirit to search you and know you.  (Ps 139)  He is able to get straight to the "mind of the flesh" and point us to the mind of the Spirit (Rom 8:1-7)
 Pro 27:7

One who is full loathes honey from the comb, but to the hungry even what is bitter tastes sweet.

 Mat 5:6

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

Hunger mixed with righteousness is the recipe for divine envelopment.   When our hearts agree with heaven and our lives resonate with his righteousness his heart is opened to us. 

Mat 5:8

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

Water of the Word  
Nothing will secure the road to transforming power and grace like the Scriptures.  Being drenched in their insight and encouragement is a key to walking free and finding the grace to serve with zeal.  Zeal is part of the Character of the Father.   He displays it throughout the world.    

Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, 

serving the Lord.  Rom 12:11

What is he doing in your life?  Share your story, encouragement.  I'd love to partner with you to bring glory to the Lord Jesus.  
jeff@jeffreynoldsministries.com 

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Thank you for reading.  Please comment.  Let the dialogue begin!

 

With Love in HIS awesome CULTURE OF LOVE

Brother Jeff

Jeff Reynolds. Sr. Leader

Capstone Christian Fellowship

jreynolds@mycapstone.org

jeff@jeffreynoldsministries.com

www.jeffreynoldsministries.com