Come to More

It was a year ago today that I first sat down as a Fire in the Night intern. No stranger to the ministry of IHOP-KC, but I was a stranger to truly knowing God.

I'm no longer an outsider.

Jesus changed my life.

After seven years of suppressing the call of God on my life to pursue ministry, I finally answered it. That internship began to accelerate the journey to intimacy that my soul has yearned for since I was created in the womb.

And I'm never going back.

Back to what?

There is nothing that can compare with the surpassing greatness of knowing Jesus. The only Son of the Creator of this incomparably vast universe, became like me to settle a debt that He didn't owe for a creature who rejects Him. Daily.

That's Love.

If you have yet to experience even a glimmer of the hope that is this Love, I pray that tonight you will encounter the Author of Love.

It's more than gaining heaven and avoiding hell.

Than crossing off a to-do list.

It's about being in a relationship with the only perfect Person in the world. Everything we ever thought we needed doesn't matter when we get to sit at His feet.

And the funny thing is? I don't get it. Yet.

Not even close.

There is no way I can.

My body cannot contain the fullness of the knowledge of God's character.

But I try anyway.

I pray that I, "being rooted and firmly established in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and width, heaght and depth, and to know the Messiah's love that surpasses knowledge, so [I] may be filled with all the fullness of God" (HCSB, emphasis mine).

And I've tasted just a small drop from this unfathomably vast ocean of love.

Does that kinda blow your mind? Yeah, me too.

And I love it. But it didn't used to be that way.

Rewind. I'm at a conference in 2009. For the first time, I'm overwhelmed by the fact that God actually likes me! He's not mad at me! He wants to take away the shame from the things of my past of which He has already forgiven me. Such freedom.

I submit. He overwhelms.

And thus begins the journey to understanding the kind of love that Jesus has for those who call Him Daddy.

It's been a year since I began to encounter.

And now I'm ruined for anything less.

I'm thankful for that.

Now I sit here in the prayer room again.

It's been nine months since my internship ended. I begin a new one on Friday morning. After that, I'll pursue music ministry at the music school here in KC. It's...refreshing to finally be walking in obedience.

Being here, in the will of God, finally, is a breath of fresh air. It's been a journey. And it will continue to be a journey. But it's a journey of "Come to More," a never-exhausted supply of living water. And I drink deeply.

Will you?

"Taste and see that the Lord is good." -Psalm 34:8 HCSB

the delete button

I'm telling on myself.


I wasn't loving the other day.


I'm sure I"m in good company. After all, I'm human. But isn't that always the excuse.


I was chatting with a friend the other day. Politics came up and during the exchange I mentioned that I didn't believe that President Obama loved Jesus based on his actions. He claimed that the POTUS does. And we both ended up agreeing that no one man can, nor should be expected to, solve this country's many problems...


Then I began to think. I wasn't loving either, was I?


I judged a person by my extremely limited exposure to him.


That's about as bad as writing a book report on The Hobbit after reading only the inside leaf.


Funny thing, I had just gotten done teaching some young people about how powerful a weapon our tongues are.


That's just like the Enemy. He comes around when I least expect. Darn it. And every time, I say, next time, I'll be ready. The next morning, I wake up and voila! deja vu. All over again.


Can't say I wasn't warned.


 Jesus knows what this is all about.  Satan "retreated temporarily, lying in wait for another opportunity" it says in Luke 4 from The Message.


This is refreshing. The Savior of the world, firstborn from the dead, the One Who holds all things together, the head of the church, knows what it's like to be tempted. And so much more. The prophet Isaiah says he is "acquainted with grief." What a relief.


I'm in good hands.


So the definition of love Who died for me is patient with me and loves me (and President Obama...and everyone else for that matter). When I'm not loving, He still is. And gives me multiple chances.


So I confessed my failure to love and I repented. What's next? I press delete and press on. Or at least I try. For some reason, forgiving and forgetting the things I do is difficult. There I go again. Confession. It's cathartic.


My goal for tomorrow? Wake up tomorrow and try to love more like Jesus. The secret to this is allowing Jesus to show me how to love me like Him, and then love others like I love myself. It takes Him to love Him. We were created to be in a loving relationship with Jesus. It's a two way street.


So by the time you read this, I will have been unloving to someone. And you probably have too.


But I challenge myself as I challenge you: try out the delete button. It's a great way to keep yourself unburdened.