Sunday Special: Seek First His Kingdom.

Last weekend, I went to my first Celebrate Conference. My mind, body and spirit could only take one day as opposed to the whole weekend this time, but I feel so blessed with the time I've spent praising the Lord, meeting lovely people, having so many interesting conversations and just really thinking deeply about my life and my faith. And I'm looking forward to catching up with the Conference recording's over the coming weekends (and revisiting the talks I've heard on Saturday). They will be a lot to take in.

What comes next is a selection of thoughts and reflections from myself and a variety of people met at the Conference.

The Loving Father.

The word father appear over 600 times in the Old Testament and almost 400 times in the New Testament. The only more frequently appearing words are God, Lord, Christ and Jesus. Clearly, Father is an important concept in Christianity. Yet somehow not emphasised enough. Christians strive to have a relationship with Jesus, but Jesus was all about having a relationship with the Father. When He taught us to pray, He taught us to say "Our Father, who art in Heaven".

Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me." (John 14: 6)

So the Father is important, but there is something fundamental that everybody should understand. God is the Loving Father who created you out of this love. You are not a mistake, a glitch in a system or a coincidence. You have been thought through. In fact, God could not have imagined a world without you. You are an indispensable part of the creation.

For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well. (Psalm 139: 13-14)

The Doors.

What do the doors to your hearts and your soul look like? Here's a painting by Holman Hunt, The Light of the World, with Jesus knocking on your door. The door might be covered with overgrowth, but He still wants to come in. But there is no handle on the outside. You can only open from the inside. It's your choice.

And here is my door. With a handle on the inside. And a door chain. Though the chain is off now. So the doors can be easily opened. Oh, and the peephole. That's important for my security, just looking out who's outside, and what He wants. I would like to move beyond that to the open door stage, but I need a little more time and encouragement.

Pray like a punk.

There is place for quiet contemplative prayer, for adoration and for reflection. But sometimes, your prayer must get loud, forceful and almost angry. One of my favourite parts of the Bible is when Jesus drives the merchants out of the temple. He throws the tables over, shouts at the people, has this burning rage on his face. And this passion for the Father is what I am talking about when I talk about praying like a punk. Get lost in the Spirit. Invoke the power of the Name of Jesus.

The seventy-two returned with joy and said, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.” (Luke 10:17)

And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;
They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover. (Mark 16:17-18)

Christians should be so bold about their prayer, because Jesus has given us such a privilege when He let us invoke His Name. It's not something restricted to the religious. Call on the Name of Jesus. He yearns to respond to your call. 

Abandon yourself.

This might sound a little contradictory to my previous reflection, but  when you abandon yourself completely to the Lord, your life becomes much simpler and all of a sudden everything falls into place. You need to call up to the Lord, but at the same time have total trust that He will keep His promise. 

The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still. (Exodus 14:14)

So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. (Isaiah 41:10)

I am constantly amazed by the power of this abandonment. When I feel stuck, I pray "Jesus, I abandon myself to you, Jesus, You take over." We shouldn't worry, because we do have a loving Father and He takes care of everything. Nothing is too big for Him. Nothing is too little. God will take care of your troubles, whatever they are. Just place them at the foot of the Cross. Everything has come to its fulfillment at the Cross. 

~~~

Seek First His Kingdom. Everything else second class.