Kissing The Toilet

              I started this post months ago, and just now have the time and revelation to finish it.

   This evening I was in the bathroom with my puppy Reagan. I was washing my hands while she was on the floor, and she walked over to the toilet. Now, Reagan is a sweetheart, and she loves to give kisses. So as soon as she walked over I knew what she was going for. Sure enough before I got to her she licked the side of the toilet a few times. I promptly scooped her up and she started licking me! Somehow her kisses did not seem so sweet, and were rather off putting because I knew she had just been kissing the toilet! I started thinking about how often I do the same thing to God. I defile my lips and being by "kissing the toilet" myself. I give praise to things I shouldn't give praise to, I say things I shouldn't say, I give my time to things I shouldn't give my time to, I meditate on things I shouldn't meditate on. I watch, listen to, read and write things I shouldn't. I give my being and my love to so many distractions of the world. And then I so quickly turn around to God and start giving Him my kisses. And somehow, He still loves them.

   I vowed to save my first kiss for the alter, because I didn't want to defile my lips before God*. Yet how often do I freely give my kisses to the toilet? I also wanted my first kiss to be special, and to be a gift I saved and treasured for my future husband at the alter. But how often do I freely kiss idols, and then expect my kisses to God to be special and a treasured gift I saved for Him?

   To be holy for Him, and wholly for Him, is what I desire. I desire to know no other than Him, to "not even let their names be found on my lips."** I want to be so in love with Yeshua that none other compares, and that none other can hold my attention for even a moment. I want to be so captivated by His beauty that I never look away, never once to turn my gaze. I want to be wholly His.

   What's it to be to know only Him? What's it like to never look away? What do the angels in the throne room feeling after an eternity of His presence? What do the Elders feel after the thousandth casting of the crowns? That's what I long to know. Jesus for eternity.
 

*This was something I felt called to, but I don't believe it is for everyone. I do not believe anyone who has kissed a guy before the alter has defiled their lips! I just believe for me, as one who is called not to, that to do so would be to forfeit God's best in that area.

**Exodus 23:13, "Pay attention to all that I have said to you, and make no mention of the names of other gods, nor let it be heard on your lips."

Vision Post Follow Up

   So, awhile ago I shared a vision I had. This week I wanted to follow that up with an application post for some of the things I touched on in that post.

   "How do we build infrastructure and strategy ahead of time so we can actually handle growth when it comes? And how do we partner with God’s heart/what He is doing in a way that we can sustain it?" I think the answer to this lies largely in cultivating discipleship and keeping our focus on intimacy with Jesus. We need to be discipling people and growing together with others, and we need to be discipled ourselves. We need to raise up the people beneath us in holiness and going after God. "Teach what we know, learn what we don't." We need to be constantly seeking out people to take us deeper in our walk with God, and we need to constantly be helping others grow in their pursuit of Him. But more importantly, we need to be focused on intimacy with God. We need to keep our gaze on Him.

   In a family, life naturally comes out of the husband and wife's intimacy. Life does not come from the children. Our relationship with God is as a relationship of a husband and wife. So are our ministries and spiritual children (those we disciple) as children in a family. Our ministries do not bring life into our relationship with God. Our relationship with God brings life into our ministries and relationships with our spiritual children. So often we lose our focus and expect our life source to be from how well are ministries are faring, and how successful our spiritual children are. But is that the natural? Does the life and vibrancy in a marriage result from how well the children are faring? No! No amount of life and well being in children can keep a marriage that lacks intimacy together! Rather the husband and mother foster an atmosphere where there children can be vibrant and grow strong by having a healthy relationship and intimacy together. The health in the home comes from the health of that relationship. Is that not how it is in the natural? Then why should we expect different in the spiritual? "First the natural, then the spiritual." The health in our relationship with God fosters an atmosphere where our ministries and spiritual children can grow and be strong. (That's not to say that if there is difficulty with a ministry or spiritual child that it is always because of a lack of intimacy with God, for there are winter seasons where fruit is evident, but it is often a factor.) Our intimacy with Christ is where the life in our ministries should come from! 

   The way to keep revival going, the way we partner with God's heart in a way to sustain it, is to keep our focus on intimacy. To keep our focus on Christ and Christ alone, and let our ministries flow our of that place of intimacy.   



   Many of these thoughts were inspired by Nathan Davenport's teaching on Intimacy/Meeting with God. You can listen to it here http://www.chapelonthelake.org/#!teachings/cv40

God and Hamsters

It’s amazing how much hamsters can teach us about God and ourselves and how the world works.

Tonight I heard a sermon illustration featuring hamsters, which has given me a lot of food for thought. It puts this whole strange world and life thing in simple and relatable terms. 

The pastor’s daughters had two pet hamsters, and they put them in a wonderful hamster cage. This cage had everything a hamster’s heart could desire: wheels, tunnels, treats, companionship, lots of food and water. However, one of the hamsters dreamed of a better life, because he started digging through the wall of the cage. The pastor took note of it, but decided to wait until it got worse before he patched the hole. 

Well, the hamster was more determined than he’d guessed, for one night it made its escape.

But the pastor knew something that the little hamster didn’t. Outside of the cage was a cat. The cat’s purpose was to devour the local mice population, but being a well-fed cat he more often nibbled on the mice rather than kill them outright. He was a sadistic torturer, gnawing on rodents before releasing them and catching them again. 

This hamster was in for a world of hurt.