The zeal of the Lord

Oftentimes, Christians make the mistake of assuming that because Christ is gentle that He is passive.  He is quite the opposite.  He is zealous and passionate beyond explanation.  Isaiah 59:17 even adds to the "armor of God" that we find in Ephesians 6 by stating

"He put on righteousness as his breastplate, and the helmet of salvation on his head; he put on the garments of vengeance and wrapped himself in zeal as in a cloak."

Zeal is defined as "eagerness and ardent interest in pursuit of something".  The Lord is slow to anger, not absent of it.  1 John 3:2 reads

"... But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is."

 If we are going to "see him as he is" we must acknowledge that the same zeal that leads Him to pursue us relentlessly will be applied to His wrath against those who are His enemies.  God is perfectly patient, but there are those who will resist Him regardless of His mercies and grace (otherwise there would be no end-time army of the devil).  We must see Him as He is conquering King in Revelations 19 just as we must see Him as the suffering servant in Isaiah 52.

 I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and makes war. His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. "He will rule them with an iron scepter." He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. 
-Revelations 19:11-15

The more I have meditated upon this lately, the more the fear of the Lord has come.  It delights my soul to have that fear, since it both deters me from sinfulness and guides me in wisdom.  Mike Bickle addresses this in His study on the Book of Revelation NKJV.  I do not pretend to be an expert in eschatology, but I do continually pursue understanding from Revelations; especially since it is a Revelation of Christ not a revelation of the antichrist.  Be blessed dear readers!

The Key to Inheriting the Promises

Heb 6:11-12 "And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence so as to realize the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you will not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises" (NASB).

In his book The Apostolic Ministry, Rick Joyner states "... if it takes 'faith and patience' to inherit the promises, why do we have this huge 'faith movement,' but no one has even heard of a 'patience movement?'" I would even suggest that along with self-control, patience is the least sought after fruit of the Spirit. I digress for a moment to suggest that while "fruit happens" is a nice cliche and generally applicable, I think that we could all agree that "fruit happens from a life of pursuing Him" which includes the attributes of His nature that we lack. Anyway, I have been praying for patience frequently lately (in dealing with people as well as work scenarios) and the Lord spoke to me about it and said "Patience must be learned... slowly."

Dismissing our need for patience and not pursuing what we know is in His nature, is inherently sinful (we are created to be in His image, if we pursue another image it cannot be a holy one). So why pursue patience? It is the key to His promises. God is always faithful. It is not, however, a pleasant gift to grow in. The "growing pains" of our instantaneous satisfaction based lives in the 21st century have given us a bent towards believing that if something doesn't happen immediately it must not be His intentions. I actually believe that this one key is the reason people fail to see healing or have their prayers answered: they give up. Luke 18 tells the parable of the unjust judge and the widow who continues to come to him. Christ than equates faith with persistently asking. As long as we continue to believe and stand in faith, while we are in agreement with His will, He will show faithful.

Likewise in Matthew 17:20 Jesus says, "if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you" (NASB). The significance of the mustard seed is not only that it is a small seed, but it has exponential growth over time. If the seed of faith is sown in fertile soil in your heart (Mt 13) and is watered with the living water within you (Jn 4:14) it will grow exceedingly! But guess what? You can't throw out the seed if you don't see a plant in 30 minutes. His promises of healing, provision, deliverance, etc. all regularly rely on our choosing to believe in what He says, acting on it, and not giving up. Just acknowledging the possibility isn't enough, we must be proactively pursuing this patient endurance with faith in His promises in order to see them realized.