Pearls of Great Value

Distraction, busy, hurried. I was recently listening to a podcast and the speaker said this one sentence that just popped out and hit my heart so profoundly I had to stop and let it sink in. He said that the days of Jesus being the side project, or being only a supplement is coming to an end. I thought about it for a few minutes and what hit me was the truth of what he was saying. I look at this world, which is forever in a hurry and on to the next thing, and I can see that most people ARE too busy for Jesus. They have little time left for Him. He’s the side project that they come back too when time allows. And time rarely does. Even as believers, are we so busy doing work for the Lord that we forget about why we are doing so in the first place? Is Jesus only a supplement we go and take when we are feeling down or when we are in need? Are we so busy "doing”, we are forgetting about just "being”? Being with Him, being a believer, being on the vine.

Look up the word being. It defines: the state or fact of having existing; all the qualities constituting that one exists: the essence/ essential nature.

So, if I am truly being with God, my very existence and life are with Him. Existence is the continuance or maintenance of life and living. It’s the fact of someone or something existing; being real and present. Jesus says in John 15: ““I am the vine, you are the branches. He who remains in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit. For without Me you can do nothing.” This to me is descriptive of the state of being with Him. It’s called Union. It’s called remaining and abiding. It’s home and intimacy.

Distraction and hurrying are enemies to intimacy with God. You can not, absolutely cannot be hurried and busy plus intimate. When we are in a hurry we are blind to see God at work. The word intimacy, when we break it down, it changes into in-to-me-see. The only way we will ever be able to see into the heart of God and see Him at work is when we have intimacy with Him. When we stop and rest, being still and knowing that He is I am. He is God, He is Rapha, He is El Shadai, He is Jehovah. ( Have you ever studied the names of God😊?) This intimacy is what should orient everything else in our lives. Just the one act of slowing down, even first thing in the morning, and taking time to acknowledge God is with me. He is my rock and He is my Helper in every moment today, therefore I will not be shaken. This sets the pace of the day. This sets the mood in your heart and mind and is also the tune to which you move for the rest of the day. Isn’t that better than hurrying out of bed and instantly being bombarded by the mile long to-do list in your mind? Gird yourself with peace in the morning instead of chaos. And take a pause ever so often throughout the day and re-center yourself to that peace. I promise, it’ll pay off.

Commitment, determination, focus. These words are words that every successful person will quote. And if you think about it, it’s also the words that create any successful relationship. Why would we think our relationship with King Jesus would require anything different? I can’t help but continually hear God calling for His children to come closer. It seems to be on repeat. Over and over, it’s an invitation for every day and every moment: “Come! Lay aside every weight, every chain that keeps you from running the race!” I believe that He wants us to lay aside and get rid of all the extra weight (sin, bad habits, laziness, double-mindedness) that’s holding us back from running well. Why? It’s exhausting, isn’t it? Carrying all that extra baggage and trying to run. And yes, also..stupidity on our part.

“Hebrews‬ ‭12:1-3‬ ‭MSG‬‬ :Do you see what this means—all these pioneers who blazed the way, all these veterans cheering us on? It means we’d better get on with it. Strip down, start running—and never quit! No extra spiritual fat, no parasitic sins. Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we’re in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed—that exhilarating finish in and with God—he could put up with anything along the way: Cross, shame, whatever. And now he’s there, in the place of honor, right alongside God. When you find yourselves flagging in your faith, go over that story again, item by item, that long litany of hostility he plowed through. That will shoot adrenaline into your soul.”

There is spiritual weight we do need to pick up, and if we continually nourish ourselves with the Word of God we’ll add the weight needed to run well. Every good athlete will tell you they spend hours working out and developing core muscle strength. Why? One, it creates endurance and instills memory into the muscles. So, when the athlete is in “do or die” situations, the muscle says we’ve been here before, I know how to get through this. Two, exercise strengthens and tones the whole body: lungs,arms, legs, heart, and even your mind.

When an athlete is in the middle of the game or in the last run of the race, the last thing they want, is to find they don’t have the will or strength to continue. No. Faithful exercise has taught them how to push through the tiredness and trained the body to endure. The Word of God is powerful to do the same IF we continue in it and are faithful to do what it wills.

How much time do we spend renewing our minds in to the word of God? This is the most important exercise we’ll ever do. Did you know that every battle is first either lost or won in the mind? If you have a losing mindset you’ll never win at anything. A winning mentality is sometimes the only difference between victory or defeat. My dad used to say that if you put your mind to it, you’ll be able to do it. And it’s true. Science shows that we wake up every morning with 1,400 new neurons in our brain. As we sleep the brain makes these neurons and the amazing thing is, they have 0 data. So they sit and wait for you to wake up and fill them with info. Do you see how important your first moments of the day are? Every single day, God is giving you brand new soldiers to fight with..ones that do not have any of the old habits instilled within them. Every morning, we literally get the chance to start new. New way of thinking, a chance to start over, begin again. For His mercies are new every morning; great is His faithfulness!

I pray for us a renewed intimacy with Papa God. I pray the eyes of our heart to be enlightened so that we may see into His heart and know intimately His will and way. I pray we will learn to rest and enjoy simply being with Him. It’s the longing of Gods heart to be one with us! It’s why Jesus came and why he died and defeated death and the grave: so we could once again have the union that Adam and Eve had with God in the beginning. Intimacy. Come and see! It’s the whisper of heaven, it’s the refreshing breeze of the Spirit moving through your heart. Come and see into Me! Come and see!