If Anyone Is Thirsty
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HOIgrew up as children with parents who didn’t quite get the love thing? I thought my name was “Shutup!” until about the age of 14. Then the nuns clarified it was “Shutup Michael!”. Slowly I dropped the first name. It became a bit burdensome on job applications. Seriously, my Dad was always yelling at my Mom. Always! I thought every family must come equipped with an angry yelling father. Our car was full of screaming all the way to church Sunday morning. It would stop for one hour of Mass. Then continue all the way back home.
Maybe someone out there can relate to the absence of a father’s love. Loneliness and aimlessness were not intended to be the daily diet for a young child. I had no sense of personal belonging or identity. My friends wondered why I never wanted to go to my house. My Dad could explode with an outburst of rage at any time. Then, of course, we’d say the Rosary every night and I’d get slapped around for slouching on my knees.
We each have our own story. What is yours? You dont realize it but it affects the way you think of God today. When I became a man I was extremely relieved to be away from the oppression of my father. I was determined to find another way of life that consisted of love and an amiable way of dealing with others. Of course, I was also in great need of some serious inner healing. I incorporated a strong sense of humor to compensate for all the grievous years of seeing my Mom cry from my Dads rage.
When I met Jesus while a sophomore in college I had no idea what awaited me in the discovery of this new life. Words like “adoption” and “Daddy” (Abba) began to jump out of the pages of this book I thought to be so ancient and irrelevant to my contemporary life style (Romans 8:15/Galations 4:5-6/ Eph.1:5). Slowly I began to realize that the entire focus of Jesus was the revelation of His Father (John 10:30,14:9-11/ 17:1,21). The language of the ultimate love relationship between a Father and His Son dances across the pages of the New Testament like a ballerina across a stage (John 3:16, 5:20, 6-40/ Matthew 3:17,16:16/ Heb.1:5, 5:5).
In today’s “Christian” culture salvation is reduced to some mechanical process of “getting S A V ED”. It has become so plastic that any true seeker of truth would consider it repulsive. While of course getting saved from hell is everything, the way God works and the context of this experience is absolutely beautiful and personal (Romans 9:26). The evangelical terminology reduces the mystery and profound glory of Christ to some ridiculous fast-food drive-up-window kind of thing. Get done with IT and get on with YOUR life!
How sad to think that a great majority in search of a Father’s love will miss everything Jesus offers because they are subverted by the word of a “preacher” and never personally explore the Word of God. Jesus was absolutely thrilled and excited to offer anyone who is thirsty the very same exact love He shared with His Father (Jn.7:37-Jn.17:6, 26). Jesus was overflowing with the eternal love of and for His Father. It was the SOLE MOTIVATION of the strength, motivation and vision Jesus needed to bear all the horrendous suffering ahead of Him (John 13:3/Hebrews 12:2). The Father offers you an “adoption”, my friends, provided through the blood His Son shed (Mark 14:36).
When the last drop of this love flowed out of the body of Jesus, in the form of His blood, it was accompanied by an explanation only Jesus could give; “DADDY! Forgive them…they know not” (Mark 14:36/ Luke 23:34). This adoption Jesus offers you is no more theoretical than are the arms of your Father around your shoulders to assure you of your importance to Him. He will guide you! He will provide for you! He cares about YOU!
The question is will you become His adopted son (John 8:32-36)?! God offers you not an obligation to church on Sunday or laws requiring you to be moral! God offers you something to really change your life and resolve your greatest problems. There is a relationship of such depth and meaning it will cause you to find a walk in the clouds! This is not religious hype or pie in the sky.
God calls you to set aside all the strange thinking of this world and hear His voice. Can you even say, with a heart cry of hope, Jesus? Can you even think of His love for you? Can you believe in His Character?
2 Corinthians 6:18 – “Come out from their midst and be separate; says the Lord…and I will welcome you. And I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to Me”.
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The clincher for me was where Jesus says "Come to Me...and LEARN from Me" (Mt.11:29). How does one "learn" from an invisible Being? Jesus says the true church are those who learn the things of spirit and truth (not pretense and pomp) (Jn.4:24). Does such a work of the heart not require such things of which no man can describe? Silence, meditation, talking TO God are things of spirit and truth. In this mega-hype culture it can be impossible to force yourself into a stillness of heart. You must do the impossible! Start meditating on the Book of Psalms and the Gospel of John. Wherever you are for five or fifteen minutes. It will seem awkward at first. You will find many voices in your head and feelings of anxiety. You've got to LEARN to silence them. Solitude is essential!
You will find that the reaction by others to this quest, to go directly to Jesus, is treated with presumption; "Oh, of course. I know all that already". Men can work eight hours a day but are too lazy of heart to consider that God's love is of such mysterious and magnificent proportions so as to require a work of individual heart far beyond any passive prayer (Jn.6:27,29). Thus they fall short of His divine Presence. This is the essence of salvation! It was prophecied hundreds of years ago (Jer.31:33-34/Ez.36:26).
This is not the "salvation" of today. Rather it is the unbiblical "accept Christ" prayer-formula that produces plastic "Christians". McDonald's Christianity would have you believe that all you have to do is drive up to the "service" window of any preachers castle and get the salvation-to-go order of repeating a one-time prayer. As if the same generic prayer written for all to parrot has anything to do with the personal heart cry which God requires (Ps.51:17). Like everything in the American culture it is "processed" into an articial and refined response so as to make everyone the same and fit perfectly into their system about Christ.
The brethren in Corinth or Ephesus were the true church who lived as those "set apart" to love Christ rather than this world (1 Jn.2:14ff/Consider Acts 5:32). Luke explains that what Jesus "began to do and teach" in bodily form He now continues in His people in His risen state (Acts 1:1). Their identity was not in an affliation with a particular doctrine, or trying to make this world a better place, but in the power they beheld in their obedient lives looking for the city which is to come . They were uneducated and unlearned but their lives demonstrated that they had actually been with the living Jesus ( Acts 4:13).
Jesus revealed the world is full of religious deception; many "churches", cults and religions (Matt.24). How will you know the truth? Will you learn from a man or go to God? More than ever before, my friend, you must not just go along with everyone. The majority is wrong (Mt.7:13). Don't look at what men SAY. Tons of people claim to be an authority because they have a website or claim to have a following. Like armchair quarterbacks who never played a down of football yet pretend to know what's wrong. Look at their LIVES! Do they just sit around like anyone else claiming to be religious? Or do their lives stand out as a witness? Are they doing something that bears the cross of Christ (Mt.10:38)?
There is nothing wrong with going to a service to try and learn something but watch over your heart (Proverbs 14:23). "...A little leaven levens the whole lump..." (Gal.5:9). Hypocrisy is like toxic waste, it disintegrates sincerity and corrupts anyone with a heart. Don't give yourself over to "church". Learn and go on. You must not settle there. You must keep going. You must get beyond it to learn, build and discover a personal walk with Jesus. We can tell you it is awesome! Do you know His voice? Your life now and your eternity are at stake. This is about your capacity to walk in abundant life or abundant hypocrisy.
For surely there is a true church and is a false church. There is a false christ and a true Christ (2 Cor.11:3-4ff/Mt.24:24,23). Jesus beckons you to come to Him and find the posture of humility to become a disciple and learn directly from Him. His anointing is capable of teaching you all the things (1 Jn.2:27). The idea of God actually coming into your being can only be defined as a mystery (Col.1:27). David said "I have more understanding than all my teachers: for Thy words are my meditation. I understand more than the ancients, because I keep Thy truths" (Ps.119:99ff/read the whole chapter).
Jesus is waiting....If anyone is thirsty!
The clincher for me was where Jesus says "Come to Me...and LEARN from Me" (Mt.11:29). How does one "learn" from an invisible Being? Jesus says the true church are those who learn the things of spirit and truth (not pretense and pomp) (Jn.4:24). Does such a work of the heart not require such things of which no man can describe? Silence, meditation, talking TO God are things of spirit and truth. In this mega-hype culture it can be impossible to force yourself into a stillness of heart. You must do the impossible! Start meditating on the Book of Psalms and the Gospel of John. Wherever you are for five or fifteen minutes. It will seem awkward at first. You will find many voices in your head and feelings of anxiety. You've got to LEARN to silence them. Solitude is essential!
You will find that the reaction by others to this quest, to go directly to Jesus, is treated with presumption; "Oh, of course. I know all that already". Men can work eight hours a day but are too lazy of heart to consider that God's love is of such mysterious and magnificent proportions so as to require a work of individual heart far beyond any passive prayer (Jn.6:27,29). Thus they fall short of His divine Presence. This is the essence of salvation! It was prophecied hundreds of years ago (Jer.31:33-34/Ez.36:26).
This is not the "salvation" of today. Rather it is the unbiblical "accept Christ" prayer-formula that produces plastic "Christians". McDonald's Christianity would have you believe that all you have to do is drive up to the "service" window of any preachers castle and get the salvation-to-go order of repeating a one-time prayer. As if the same generic prayer written for all to parrot has anything to do with the personal heart cry which God requires (Ps.51:17). Like everything in the American culture it is "processed" into an articial and refined response so as to make everyone the same and fit perfectly into their system about Christ.
The brethren in Corinth or Ephesus were the true church who lived as those "set apart" to love Christ rather than this world (1 Jn.2:14ff/Consider Acts 5:32). Luke explains that what Jesus "began to do and teach" in bodily form He now continues in His people in His risen state (Acts 1:1). Their identity was not in an affliation with a particular doctrine, or trying to make this world a better place, but in the power they beheld in their obedient lives looking for the city which is to come . They were uneducated and unlearned but their lives demonstrated that they had actually been with the living Jesus ( Acts 4:13).
Jesus revealed the world is full of religious deception; many "churches", cults and religions (Matt.24). How will you know the truth? Will you learn from a man or go to God? More than ever before, my friend, you must not just go along with everyone. The majority is wrong (Mt.7:13). Don't look at what men SAY. Tons of people claim to be an authority because they have a website or claim to have a following. Like armchair quarterbacks who never played a down of football yet pretend to know what's wrong. Look at their LIVES! Do they just sit around like anyone else claiming to be religious? Or do their lives stand out as a witness? Are they doing something that bears the cross of Christ (Mt.10:38)?
There is nothing wrong with going to a service to try and learn something but watch over your heart (Proverbs 14:23). "...A little leaven levens the whole lump..." (Gal.5:9). Hypocrisy is like toxic waste, it disintegrates sincerity and corrupts anyone with a heart. Don't give yourself over to "church". Learn and go on. You must not settle there. You must keep going. You must get beyond it to learn, build and discover a personal walk with Jesus. We can tell you it is awesome! Do you know His voice? Your life now and your eternity are at stake. This is about your capacity to walk in abundant life or abundant hypocrisy.
For surely there is a true church and is a false church. There is a false christ and a true Christ (2 Cor.11:3-4ff/Mt.24:24,23). Jesus beckons you to come to Him and find the posture of humility to become a disciple and learn directly from Him. His anointing is capable of teaching you all the things (1 Jn.2:27). The idea of God actually coming into your being can only be defined as a mystery (Col.1:27). David said "I have more understanding than all my teachers: for Thy words are my meditation. I understand more than the ancients, because I keep Thy truths" (Ps.119:99ff/read the whole chapter).
Jesus is waiting....If anyone is thirsty!
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