What Does God Really Desire From His People?
... John 15:15 (NKJV)-
"No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his
master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I
heard from My Father I have made known to you."
This
verse of Holy Scripture reveals something so wonderful about our Lord-
Do you feel how personal it is? Read it over a few times, and you get a
sense of just how deeply Jesus Christ- our very Life- loves His
disciples, and all who would subsequently follow after Him throughout
history. It really moves me to press in on what He desires from me, and
that is RELATIONSHIP.
Think about it- He had every right
to call his disciples servants, for that is what they were. The Apostle
Paul, in his epistles, constantly referred to himself as "the servant
(slave) of Christ", yet Jesus' love is written all over Paul's every
action".... I sometimes hear people talking about how they're "serving
the Lord", and yet, you can serve somebody in many ways, and still not
have a heart felt relationship with that one.....
We ARE
Christ's servants, no doubt about it, but He wants something so much
sweeter than that from us, doesn't He? Every single genuine believer who
reads this will know what I mean here. The Holy Spirit bears witness
with the fact that God DRAWS us to Him in the deepest, most personal
way. He knows that He- and only He- can bring you true joy,
satisfaction, peace. He designed us that way, and He loves it when we
pursue Him as He intended for us to.
"I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you".
He's not holding anything back from His beloved children, He WANTS this
precious intimacy with us! Every time I think about this, and then I
see people living in, and functioning from mere doctrine, it saddens me,
because I can't help but feel Christians often cheat themselves and
their Lord of this beautiful love relationship, simply because they are
afraid to really enter into it.
It's easier to quote
scripture to someone, to show them how much you know, to study the
things of God for hours upon end, to work hard and sacrifice- than to
come, by faith in Who He is, and What He has done for us, right into His
Holy Presence and to simply 'be there' and enjoy Him.
Intimacy
withholds nothing. He is fully aware of your ways, and with all that,
He loves you. What ought you withhold from Him? Do your sins, your
fears, your doubts keep you from coming to Him and being completely
honest with Him? ...
A 17th century French philosopher named Fenelon beautifully explained prayer as he saw it,
"Tell
God all that is in your heart, as one unloads one's heart, its
pleasures and its pains, to a dear friend. Tell Him your troubles, that
He may comfort you; tell Him your joys, that He may sober them; tell Him
your longings, that He may purify them; tell Him your dislikes, that He
may help you conquer them, talk to Him of your temptations, that He may
shield you from them; lay bare your indifference to good, your depraved
tastes for evil, your instability. Tell Him how self-love makes you
unjust to others, how vanity tempts you to be insecure, how pride
disguises you to yourself and others...
If you pour
out all your weaknesses, needs, and troubles there will be no lack of
what to say. You will never exhaust the subject. It is continually being
renewed. People who have no secrets from each other never want for
subjects of conversation. They do not weigh their words, for there is
nothing to be held back; neither do they seek for something to say. They
talk out of the abundance of the heart, without consideration they say
what they think. Blessed are they who attain to such familiar,
unreserved, conversation with God." ....
Beloved, do we dare to approach our God with this intent? It is just what He desires!
En Agape,
Jim Ewing
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