When Your Desire Is Gone

I'm sure it is safe to say that only the truly committed believer is interested in pressing into worship.  Having said that, why is it that people who are so committed still only last a short period of time trying to break through all the barriers of flesh into worship before giving up?  Please don't feel condemned when I say; if you have not stopped yet, most likely you will unless you do something to prevent it.

I, like you, have many of the same struggles trying to juggle the things in life that are necessary and still have time to spend with Jesus.  What I am finding out is that no matter how hard we try to maintain our walk and go deeper into God, the flesh begins to get "thick" once again in areas we may have previously seen progress in.  Private times of worship is one of those areas.

The Lord has directed me to do some things to address these issues with my own flesh in an effort to retake some of that ground that the flesh recaptured.  You see, I have been noticing in my own walk that my time of private worship was being challenged.  I know how important it is to continue to press on if I am ever going to really break through and go to the next level in my relationship with Him.   What the Lord directed me to do may seem to you a bit drastic and maybe even unrelated to the problem at hand, but believe me it is not.  He directed me to do was to Fast.  Yes, Fast.  I know that is probably not what you want to hear, but let me share with you what I have discovered.

When the Lord sent me down this path into private worship it was clearly a mandate from Him and I charged in ready to conquer it.  The fact is, developing a lifestyle of private personal worship is not accomplished over night and it is not something you conquer and then go onto the next assignment.  Your objective is to establish a pattern for the rest of your life of intimate fellowship with your Father and Jesus which will follow you into heaven and eternity.  Your enemy is not at all interested in you taking the first step down this path.  But, for those of you who have won that battle and are already making your way down that path, his job is to sideline you and get you to the place where you are not interested in pressing in any longer.  Somewhere along the way you lose that desire to go on and before you know it weeks have gone by and you have not spent any time at all worshiping your Father.  This is usually followed by the enemy telling you what a loser you are and how you failed again so why even try to get back up and worship.  Can you identify with what I am saying?  The next thing you know there is absolutely no desire whatsoever to worship and so you stop.

If you find yourself in this situation, whether it be worship or prayer or whatever spiritual endeavor you are being resisted in, a sure cure for the "I don't cares" is a dose of fasting.  Whether you fast for a few meals or a day or a few days it will not take long before your "I don't care" attitude turns into pure desire rising up out of your spirit to do what before seemed impossible.  Your emotions can be so strong and if they are working against you spiritually then they must be turned and fasting is how we can turn them.  Before you know it, that thick flesh will begin to give way to your born again spirit and your desire to worship will return and you are on your way.  What is interesting to me is how quickly you are able to see the true desire emerging out of your spirit.  All it takes is for you to put a little pressure on your flesh and before you know it that "want to" to worship is back on line.

Some of you are saying, I need to see some scripture telling me to fast.  That is real easy.  In Luke 5:33 Jesus is speaking to the scribes and Pharisees who had just asked why John the Baptist and his disciples fasted often but He and his disciples did not.  Jesus began to question them about whether or not the children of the bride chamber fast while the bridegroom is still with them.  He is clearly speaking about Himself and the fact that He was present with them, but would soon be gone.  He then says,

Luke 5:35  But the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then shall they fast in those days.


We are living in those days.  Fasting is not fun and we really need to be cautious how we fast.  It is never wise to fast if you have any kind of medical condition before seeking the counsel of your physician.  The goal is not to hurt our bodies and we need to make sure we don't.  I have found for myself that fasting one day and eating the next and fasting the next is a very good way to get control of my flesh without hurting myself.  Sometimes on those fasting days I will not just limit myself to water, but I will drink some fruit juice or if I am working and really feel my body getting weak I will eat a piece of fruit.  Most important of all is to learn to listen to our body and not to push it beyond what is safe.  Again, consult your doctor to make sure fasting is okay for your body.  Everyone's body is different and we need to make sure we are doing what is right for our own body.

Finally, If you are someone who has been struggling and you decide to do some fasting, I would love to hear how fasting has benefited you.  Please take a few minutes and write a few lines about the difference you discovered once you fasted.  Tell us how your worship was directly impacted by your fasting.  I'm sure others would be blessed and encouraged by your testimony.
  

Whispering in God's Ear

As I write this entry, I have just finished one of the best times with God that I have ever had.  Before I begin, I want to make sure you understand the reason for writing this Blog.  I am not doing this to make myself sound more spiritual than anyone else. I am doing this to show you that a common person can have some of the most amazing experiences with God here on earth.  You do not have to be anyone special for God to come and visit you.  All you need to be is hungry enough to press through the dry times until there is enough of "you" out of the way that He can come and visit you.  That's it!  So, as you read the following post realize that this is available to you.  More than that, He wants to share these kind of experiences with you.

My wife, Debbie, and I spent much of the day doing spiritual things.  I decided to end my day with Jesus in worship.  The first hour was less than uneventful.  So much so, I actually caught myself napping.  Determined to worship God, I went to my bedroom and laid down and began again.  This time, wide awake, I offered up worship to Jesus and the Father.  It was still a challenge to stay focused on what I was doing.  Thoughts began to fill my mind and I had to consciously push them aside and focus on Him.  Time went slowly by.  Then, with no warning, it was like a heavy blanket was laid on top of me and a peace that is not of this world engulfed me.  He's here!  Words that I had been forcing out of my mouth now seemed to flow out effortlessly.    It was as though I was whispering into the ear of the Father words of worship.  Each word filled with my love for Him.  Suddenly,  I caught a glimpse of His joy when I spoke those words.  It was a joy that seemed to explode in all directions.  Then, He said, "This is why I made you."  I feel like I have had just a small taste of what it must be like to be in heaven.

He wants you to know that this is available for you.  Don't stop during the dry times.  Your Father is receiving your worship just as much then as ever.  He wants you to press in and not stop because He wants to share these same times with you.

I hope this has blessed you and encouraged you.
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Becoming Like Who You Worship

As I spent time worshiping the Lord today, one thought that seemed to stick with me was how much better I know Him now as opposed to before I began worship.  Something has been happening to me over the past months that I did not realize, I have grown in my knowledge of who God is to me.  When I close my eyes and begin to worship Jesus I don't have to struggle, as I did before, to focus my attention on Him because He is so much clearer to me now.  I remember when I first began to separate myself for worship.  I would spend so much time just trying to focus my attention on Jesus or the Father and now I know why; who they were to me on a daily, moment by moment basis was vague and almost not real.  It's like knowing you have a heart beating inside of you, but until you focus your attention on it, it remains an abstract idea to your mind and not a living reality.  Suddenly, Jesus and the Father have become real to me.

Not only have they become real to me, but I now find myself, especially during times of worship, considering things that before were not important to me.  For example, the New Heavens and the New Earth we are told will replace what now exist have become more real to me. It is like His thoughts are becoming my thoughts as I spend time with Him.  Think about it, how much of your time do you spend absorbed in trivial things that really have no merit in comparison to your life in eternity which will last forever, and yet most likely your life there gets little if any consideration.  Please don't feel condemned in any way, but realize if you will that life here is only a breathe and then it's gone.  How will you spend that breathe?  I want to spend it getting to know the One I will be spending eternity with and doing here what is important to Him and not me.

All of this has happened to me so gradually.  I look back and try to figure out when I began to experience these changes and I really don't know.  All I can say is I know that the person I am today is not the person I was before I began spending extended times worshiping Jesus.  Little by little His thoughts are becoming my thoughts.  What is important to Him is what is becoming important to me.  Here it is, the revelation of private worship, "I am becoming like Who I worship."

We all know that we become like the person or even the object we spend time with the most.  But, who would have guessed that by spending time worshiping our Creator that we can become more like Him.  Thinking the way He thinks.  Putting higher priority on things of life that are truly important and less priority on the trivial things that will pass away.  Actually contemplating our life in eternity while still on this earth and doing things now that will add to our life then.  Who thinks that way?  Anyone who is willing to take the time and worship Him.  Yes, we can become more like Him if we will continue to separate ourselves and worship Him.

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