Chase vs. Pursuit

God put this question on my mind and heart about a month ago.  I decided to ask my friend who is a police officer what was the difference between the two, Chase vs. Pursuit.  He said in a chase you typically weigh the dangers and hazards ahead and the margin for error for safety to life.  If there is a high chance of danger the chase will usually be ceased and live to chase another day.  That made sense because I have many students over the years talk about “getting away” from the police chasing them on their dirt bikes.  Now he said in a pursuit, they are going to do whatever it takes to apprehend the suspect. He gave the example of when a police officer is killed in the line of duty, Law enforcement goes to DEFCON 5 and are relentless in their pursuit of the suspect and there is no stopping until the suspect is caught or killed!  The margin of error and the risk of hazards and safety to life are put to the side in a pursuit.

After chatting with my friend I realized what God was trying to teach me.  You see Jesus pursues us, he goes to the ultimate way of pursuing us by sacrificing his life so we would never have to lose ours.  We do have to carry our cross but never will we be nailed to it.  That is catching our soul by any means necessary.  He pursued us to the point of death.  He finds us in the moment of accepting him, which is him actually choosing us.  It is from that moment that no matter what we choose to do he continually pursues us.  He always makes a way to let us know that he loves us.  His pursuit of our heart, mind and soul is relentless is his God nature.  He desires us so deeply that he will pursue us in the deepest darkest and scariest places where he will grab us, embrace us and lift us to safety.   C.S. Lewis calls Jesus the ” Hound of Heaven” and there is such beauty behind that.  Blood hounds are chosen because they pursue the smell they are given not chase after it.  No matter what gets in their way they will find that scent!  This is what the pursuit of God coming after us looks like.

Then my friends, there is me.  I have known Jesus for over 21 years of my life and truly known his love for me and desire for me the last 10 years.  The problem was I have been ok in all that time with being saved.  Salvation was enough for me.  I believed that salvation was enough and the struggles I have will always be there and I will just have to deal with them for the rest of my Earthly life.  This is what life is about and ” call that George” ( A Trini expression).  The truth is for me and most of us is we are chasing after God and definitely not pursuing him.  I would serve him and glorify him but then when the hazards would seem to dangerous or honestly I would just get tired of chasing after him, I would turn to what was easy.  I heard someone say that people that choose the easy way have a hard life, but those that choose the hard way have an easy one.  We have to work and grind and pursue after our passions and Christ should be our number one passion.  When I got tired of chasing I would fall right back into the darkness and when you are there you are fed by your flesh and the demons around you.  They occupy your mind and fill it with heaviness and numbness and pain until you want to Chase after God again.  Then we are in that cycle and because there is no urgency in a chase, we repeat it over and over again.  This is what the Holy Spirit has revealed to me about myself.  He is telling me I need to Pursue Jesus by allowing the Holy Spirit to lead me.  We can’t do this life alone and usually when you are in a chase it’s one on one, however when you are in a pursuit there are typically several pursuing one.  We have that as children of the one true God.  We have Jesus, the Holy Spirit and angels to help us in our pursuit of God.  He also places people in our paths to help us realize we are not alone.  You don’t stop pursuing when you get tired, but if you do, you have all of these spiritual friends and human ones to help you continue your pursuit through the pain.  There is nothing in the Bible that tells us we will be pain or burden free in this life, but we are told in our pursuit of Christ that his yoke is easy and his burden is light.  He knows if we are pursuing him we are going to get fatigued, beat up and weak and this is where he can and will make us strong.  This will be aging me but I think of Jesus and the Holy Spirit a lot like the cartoon Voltron.  Each character would have a tough time alone.  That is me and all of you, my friends, alone we have a tough time.   However, when the characters would Voltron up and become the Ultimate Defender, they were UNSTOPPABLE!  Jesus tells us the same thing in that when we Voltron up with Jesus and the Holy Spirit, that all things that are impossible become possible.  Scripture tells us that what is impossible for man is possible for God.  I lived my life chasing after God and losing and listening to the lies of “I Don’t Matter.”  Looking for acceptance and validation in every part of my life.  I strived to be the best because I was terrified people would find out deep down I was a poser.  I would quit on myself, even in success, because I would get tired of chasing.  Now, that Jesus has overwhelmed me with his presence and the Holy Spirit has taken over I have made the decision to NEVER stop pursing after Jesus.  We are told to Never say Never, but I can because in my pursuit of Christ he makes all things possible, therefore it is possible for me to say Never in my pursuit because He is with me.

Jesus is worth pursuing.  I am reminded daily by the weight of my cross that I am and you are created in His image.  When we repent and turn away from our sin you are pure and clean in His eyes.  Once we are clean in Christ( and capture, examine and take every thought captive) there is a mental exercise I want to challenge you to do.  I personally have done this a few times and though I am bald headed, the hair on the back of my neck stands and goose bumps cover me and tears have filled my eyes.  The challenge is the next time you look in the mirror, remember this.  We are created in the image of Jesus Christ therefore our reflection in the mirror that we see is no longer me but Jesus! AMEN and AMEN

One Love, One King, All Christ!

Ya Got To Let It ALL Go!

When God is the teacher you better listen.  I am learning to do that skill a little better everyday.  However, some things take a few hours or even a day to sink in.  I know I am covered by Christ and that the Holy Spirit is guiding me in almost every area.  There was something that popped up when chatting with a friend of mine.  He asked a question and said it was placed on his mind a few times by God.  I was able to answer the question with conviction, but there was some doubt within.  It is amazing that as my mind is being renewed and my time is devoted to Christ I still attempt to deceive myself into keeping something I like.  Even though it isn’t a bad thing I am still holding onto the thought like it is mine.  This has to be surrendered and given to Christ it is the only way that I can completely say I am devoted to him fully.  There have been huge blessings and soul shattering changes in my life recently and I need to be mindful of these changes and look way deeper into each one.

Jesus has blessed me in so many ways, more than I will ever realize, but mainly because I am still here and living, even though, without him I probably wouldn’t be.  He has placed people in my life who are significant growers of my soul.  These types of relationships are vital to each of us, but more importantly we must get on our knees and lift up each one of those relationships and ask God to reveal its purpose.  This way we can stay peaceful as we learn it is in His Mighty Hands!  What I am learning is when I have hope in anything other than Christ that “anything” can become an idol, almost unknowingly.  A land mine waiting for me to step on because of my own selfishness.  When we see something or experience something good, our human nature automatically desires more of that good thing.  It can be dangerous, even as I am close to God, because you can fake the funk and make it seem he is blessing what “I want”, when in fact it just may be a blessing of paths crossed.

Jehovah Jireh is one of my favorite Hebrew sayings ” The Lord will provide” or ” The Lord will see to it.” We see this in the story of Abraham and the command from God to kill his son.  Let that hit your head, KILL HIS SON.  Abraham in all his feelings of not wanting to do this, surrendered, lifted his knife and was prepared to take his sons life.  He knew that God had provided for him and if this was what he wanted he would continue to provide.  You see God provided for Abraham what he thought was impossible so in his gratitude toward God he was committed to God.  He understood!  It was in his conviction and commitment to God that made him ready to carry out that task.  Thankfully, it was only a test and he did not have to take his sons life.  I am thankful my task is nothing like his, but it will be painful for me, but necessary.  The only way to live by saying Jehovah Jireh is through conviction and commitment to Christ.  There are things the Holy Spirit has placed on my heart that I have “my hope” in and not leaning on HIS Hope for me.  The hopes I have are not bad and are actually healthy one’s but they are about me and not God.  The reason it is so hard to let go of “my hope” is because honestly I have never had them and they are good.  This does resemble my battle with my sinful nature because it deals with self and not soul.  In order to move forward with my love affair with Christ at the center I must suffocate “my hopes” and desires and wait on Him to provide.  You see, my dear friends, He is the perfect one and that includes God’s timing.  However, with me being so new to this healthy way of thinking, it’s hard for me to see something So Good and it not be So Good! It is in that goodness that reveals to me my problem and forces me to be honest with myself.  I have to completely stop interfering with God’s plan and just follow! I gotta realize he doesn’t need any of my directions or suggestions!

I am ready to do this but not looking forward to the pain, but I am looking forward to how God will embrace me in this true surrender.  Hearing God’s voice is AWESOME and it was something I thought I would never be able to do but in my quiet time, as I was silent, He spoke the hard truths.  The main focus and beauty of this is even in the hard truths, and the pain I know is to come, and the questions of ” are you sure, God?” No sin or temptation has come near.  PRAISE BE TO GOD!  I just wanted to make sure and share this battle as this is a good one.  This is not good vs evil, but a conviction of my soul renewed to complete a covenant made between me and the Lord.  I must follow his terms of this contract and stop trying to add my own clauses to it.  Pray for me that God would prepare me to do this well.  JEHOVAH JIREH! Yes He Does! My Faith is in him and no longer “my hopes!” Amen

One Love, One King, All Christ!

Our Rhythm Creates a Beautiful Melody

Every single heartbeat and breath we take
Gives us truth that death has been denied
The blessing of every morning we wake
The opportunity to take every chance in stride

Within this life we each have a rhythm
A beat that we are so familiar to follow
That flow is much easier with Him
Without Jesus there is just feeling hollow

When Jesus is what we hang our heart to
That rhythm is a sweet melody to His ears
He is the audience if we only truly knew
Our joy and pain is expressed through our tears

As I fall to my knees in worship and prayer
reflecting back to God his radiance and worth
He comforts me with no burden to bear
Confirming my soul belongs to Heaven not Earth