BURDENED THIS EVENING FOR SOULS:
Over the past 22 years perhaps the greatest hindrance to my walk with the Lord was seeking men and following them rather than living out what was written on my heart regardless if those whom I esteemed would be disappointed. I have had to stand against excommunication, threats, brothers making videos against me and warning others about me and sharing their "concerns" while rarely ever specifying any legitimate concern.
I am not facing any of this right now but after scrolling through Facebook I have been compelled to share this.
Thank God for delivering me from that lion years ago but it was a horrible bondage and I am still becoming more and more free.
Sometimes I scroll through Facebook checking on different people and I see them in the same struggle. I see them wanting to break free but certain individuals who they have allowed to speak into their lives keep them in a place of severe entanglement and uncertainty using the Scriptures. Men have an evil habit of keeping men from following Jesus and what He has plainly written upon their hearts using the Scriptures as they understand them.
The difficult thing is that the Scriptures make strong statements that seem to disagree with one another and many directly or indirectly pick sides and earnestly contend for others to stand with them on their side and strongly warn others who seem to drift from standing with them.
Many would love to have fellowship with others who they know are living out what is written on their hearts but they find themselves struggling to do it because of men in their lives who would be concerned and disappointed.
Many have a deep peace and strong witness that certain brothers and sisters or churches are walking with the Lord but they do not seek their fellowship and to walk with them because of who they are walking with now.
I see so many over-emphasizing the lighter matters of the law while neglecting the weightier. They justify their behavior and positions using examples from the old testament instead of following JESUS.
As for me, I would love to have the walk of Enoch, the praise of Daniel, the voice of John, the cry of Moses, the heart of Mary but most of all, I want the likeness of JESUS. He alone is the brightness of God's glory and the exact of image of His authority and character.
We all must make the choice to walk even as Jesus walked. We are not called to follow in the steps of anyone else but Him who was crucified for all. We must seek Him with all of our hearts and be willing to accept and endure the scorn, disappointment and censorship of those who would oppose us. The psalmist declared, "My soul follows hard after Thee" (Psalm 63).
Moses was a friend of God, as was Abraham but the psalmist didn't follow hard after them to become a man after God's heart. He said, "One thing have I desired of the Lord and that will I seek after: to dwell in the house of the Lord and to behold His beauty" (Psalm 27). Sure he benefited from their walk with the Lord but He could not be limited or bound to an imitation of man's opinion on how they walked with the Lord.
What we see emphasized in the new testament, especially in Jesus, we ought to follow hard after. We ought to look for His emphasis while reading the Scriptures and our life be a perpetual echo of that emphasis. All who oppose this we ought to view as opposing JESUS in us. Jesus must be all to us in lip and life. He must be first and sitting in the highest place of heart honor.
May God give us the courage we need to truly live for Him regardless of threats, warnings, Scripture manipulation, religious abuse, or any other thing.
So many open the Bible to read what they believe instead of believing what they read.
So many believe what they read but they fail to rightly divide what they read. They find a crumb in the Scripture, some potentially new light or rather a light that had been hidden under a bushel...something in Scripture but not emphasized in Scripture to the degree they claim...and they hamper on this revelation as though all of the law and prophets did hang upon it.
But Jesus said, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets" (Matthew 22:37-40).
Even then men have managed to add many lighter aspects of the law into the balance, in fact, so many lighter matters and perhaps many man-made matters which cannot even be called lighter due to their nature, while leaving many weightier issues unweighed.
What are the weightier matters? Jesus told the Pharisees, "judgment, mercy, and faith" (Matthew 23) and "judgment and the love of God" (Luke 11).
What are weightier matters? What you see in Jesus the most, what you see Him doing the most, what you hear Him saying the most. Look to Jesus for the answers. Follow hard after Him. Be men and women after the heart of God and not after the hearts and praises of men.