When I posted the above picture on social media last fall, it started a chain reaction I never expected. It reminded me of Acts when the Holy Spirit came down and guided people to speak in tongues.
The tongue that people spoke on this October night was praise to the Lord of all. Tweets, messages, all of love and grace and encouragement and even questions, rained all over the place. I lay in my bed, refreshing the page again and again, ready for the next person to be changed for Jesus. Tangible, seen, proclaimed.
If you’ve ever been lucky enough to attend a mission trip or Bible camp or something of the sort, odds are you have experienced a “God high”. An unshakable feeling of joy and giddiness because you saw the Lord at work, in you or in others. These peak moments are awesome. You feel like nothing can stop you because God is on your side!
“I’m so in love with God now, I’m gonna bring it all back home and share it!”
Thing is, the world doesn’t know what being in love with God is. And how can you tell every single person about it? Sooner or later you slip back into old routines, occasionally living godly, more than occasionally not. Back to square one.
Consistency. How does it happen?
For me, it happened recently. Not overnight, not perfectly, not majestically. But it happened because I wanted it to. When you want Jesus, He’s not passing up that juicy offer. “Oooh, someone that is willing to lose their life for me! They’ll gain it back from me, I’ll see to it personally.”
This is surrender. This is giving it all up. This is being ALL-IN for Jesus Christ.
This is living.
It’s what I call a reset. That small little button on your handheld video game or TV remote that you can only press with the tip of a pen. Such a forgotten, overlooked component of the device… but if something starts to go wrong with the game, and nothing else can fix it, how does it go back to the original? The reset button.
Same goes for our commitment in Christ. Overlooked, taken for granted, however you want to tell of it. When we find ourselves in places of trouble, malice, terror, anger, hatred, and sin in general, we can still hit that button. By doing that, you are a new creation again in Christ, God’s image. We always have that opportunity to start over anew with Jesus.
Recommit yourself. Redefine where your worth is. Re-identify with the Lord. Reset your life; it’s not yours anymore. It’s all shaped and molded for God’s glory.
A lot of people are turned off by the idea of believing because there are so many things we are restricted from. There are so many rules and ways we must follow, that’s what a lot of people think. They just want freedom. Yet the most free they could get is in Jesus’ name. Yes, it is true, I’ll be blunt here.
If you want to be in a relationship with the Lord, you have to be all-in. You have to be all-in. No two ways about it. The “God high” probably won’t last, but God Himself is everlasting. Lean on His Word, speak with Him, love Him before all things. Be all-in.
Now to attack the specifics that I want to address. Being personally on fire for Jesus is really cool. But what I’ve learned lately is that it doesn’t have to be loud and out there. Take Matthew 6:5-8 (NIV):
“And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.”
God loves intimacy. All He wants is a relationship with you. Boasting gets you nowhere. You might find that privately strengthening yourself in Him is more rewarding than just talking it with people around you. Words only mean so much these days… Sometimes the best remedy is just to be. Be and feel His presence, ask for Him to invade and flood your heart and change it. Something has to give when you give yourself. It will work. Faith doesn’t lose. God is undefeated. And you can be on fire, your flames roaring silently in the wake of your reset into Jesus.
-JM
