Hillsong United: search my heart

Everyday I am confronted with the reality of a fallen world that is constantly trying to distract me from walking with Jesus. Each and everyday I come to mini-crossroads where I can either choose to follow Jesus and submit to God's ways or I can choose to follow my own understanding that has been largely influenced by the world's ways. I believe that at all times, there lies before a person two kinds of paths: 1) paths which have been set in place by the world and its standards and 2) paths that have been established by God. The bible verse that comes to mind is one of the very first scriptures that I ever memorized and says: "Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight" (Proverbs 3:5, 6 NIV 2011).

The longer I walk with Jesus, the more I am confronted with the reality that the ways of the world are consistently in opposition to the ways of God. When I read about Jesus' life in the Gospels, what I see is a life lived in passionate reverence and faith towards God. A life birthed out of a love relationship with God that was founded on respect and intimacy. Jesus knew of and experienced the Father's unconditional love and responded with His own unconditional love in return. I long to walk with God as Jesus did when He lived among us on earth, but this means continually submitting myself to the spiritual surgery of the Holy Spirit in purifying my heart of its desire to walk in the ways of the world, rather than in God's ways.

So this is my heart's cry and prayer: Father in Heaven, "search my heart and search my soul. There is nothing else that I want more. Shine Your light and show Your face. In my life, Lord have Your way. Hear my cry and hear my prayer. Draw me close, so I know You're near. Give me strength and give me grace to walk with You Lord, all my days" In Jesus Name, Amen.

making much of Jesus

My prayer this morning has been to ask the Holy Spirit to cultivate in me in greater and greater measure the simple passion to make much of Jesus. My reasoning behind this is if I am seeking to making much of Jesus then it won’t matter who I’m talking with or the situation I’m in because if my greatest passion is to make much of Jesus, this will move me to give grace, to sacrifice for another, to be slow to anger, to forgive, to be patient, kind and gentle towards others and most importantly to love continually. Simply put, making much of Jesus will mean dying to myself in greater and greater measure because making much of Jesus means making less of myself.

As Jesus tells us, “Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it”. Both Matthew (10:36; 16:25) and Luke (9:24; 17:33) record that Jesus says this twice in His ministry, in three of the four instances Jesus includes the command to “take up your cross and follow Me.” So, if Jesus took the time to repeat Himself, we should pay extra close attention to these words. I believe a good interpretation of “taking up our cross and following Jesus” is taking the time to deal with the barriers that hinder us from following Him. This means asking ourselves: “Where am I trying to preserve my life, when I really should be dying to myself and losing my life?”

If we are to fully accept that the ultimate goal of the inward transformative work of the Holy Spirit is Christlikeness, then this means accepting the reality that life truly is not about us any longer. So we must stop striving to cultivate a righteousness of our own and simply receive in greater and greater measure the gift of Christ’s righteousness imputed to us through the cross. The more we let go of ourselves, the more we will gain Christ. What this looks like walked out is whenever we choose to forgive someone just as Jesus forgave His persecutors while hanging on the cross, He is formed within us. When we choose to give grace to someone just as Jesus extended grace to everyone He met along the way, He is formed within us. When we choose to put others needs before ours just as Jesus did in ministering to the multitudes of people who came to Him for healing, He is formed within us. I could go on, but I think you get the idea.

Making much of Jesus means allowing the Holy Spirit to do what He loves to do, forming Christ within us. The more we grow in Christlikeness, the more the fruit and gifts of the Holy Spirit will flow in and through us and the more we will make much of Jesus. So this is my prayer: Holy Spirit, do what You love to do and make the things of Jesus known to us, but even more than that, we release You to disrupt our comfortable lives in order to form Christ within us. Cultivate more of Your fruit and gifts within us, empowering us to make much of Jesus in every relationship and in every situation. In His Name we ask, Amen.

Tyson Ibele: HEMLOCK

I find this take on the fountain of youth interesting because it takes the old myth and incorporates modern man's pursuit of technological immortality. The rise of technology has given birth to a movement of "Transhumanists" who are obsessed with living forever through the merging of man and machine. Ray Kuzweil is one of the leading scientists in this endeavor and has coined this merging as the "Singularity."

 

In interacting with this notion, here are a couple questions to ask yourself:

• Biological: When does a human being stop becoming human?
• Metaphysical: At what point do we consider an entity to be conscious, to be self-aware, to have free will?
• Personal: How much technology would you be willing to merge with your body?

Led by the Spirit

I hope that this powerfully moving video based on Galatians 5:16-25 has inspired you to: Invite the Holy Spirit to transform your worldly and fleshly appetites into eternal and righteous ones to the glory and praise of our Lord Jesus Christ! It is only through Him that we have true and lasting redemption where all things become possible (Mark 10:27).