Intimacy with God 5
The word repentance means a complete turn around, both inside and out. Repentance is a lot more than simply feeling guilty. It means moving beyond guilt to transformation. It means turning from going your own, independent, self centered way to embracing God’s will for your life. You put one foot in front of the other and go back the way you came. That is the only path back to God.
How many Christians come to the aching awareness of being self exiled from our dear father. (Is 5:13) Exiled because of sin. But how do we deal with the tension between being a believer and continuing in sin. Troubled by the observation that so many after receiving Christ live in defeat to sin, struggling with their own sins and shortcomings. IF we do good at converting people to Christ, we fail at the continuance in the faith. That is because there has to be more than just accepting Christ. How can we help new believers maintain their first love for Christ and mature in their faith, love and fruitfulness for Him?
SPIRITUAL BREATHING:
God’s loving presence is much like the air I breathe. This one concept has enriched my life like no other. I discovered a way for me to take my sins and lay them before God even as I struggle with them. It brings freedom and liberation. It will help you deal with sin. Every breath is precious. We have to watch EVERY breath and what comes into our system. We live in a polluted world and breathe unhealthy things everyday. You need to exhale the pollution of sin and inhale the goodness of God. Spiritual breathing restores the fullness of God’s HS in your life. It keeps you from holding in the pollution and makes you more sensitive to what you breathe.
We simply exhale, expel the impure and inhale the pure.
EXHALE: Confess that sin, name each sin, agree with God and then change attitude AND ACTION. Failure here is not in attitude often…but in action. We agree and name, but don’t change our actions…we keep doing the same thing.
INHALE: surrender the control of your life to Christ and appropriate the fullness of the HS. Spiritual breathing for daily, immediate confession of sin and for appropriating the fullness of the HS by faith as a way of life. Your spiritual lungs are choking on foul air and don’t even realize it. You must remember the height from where you have fallen-up on that spiritual mountaintop, where the air is pure and clean. Take a deep breath and BREATHE.
FASTING AND PRAYER:
To confront the deeper spiritual issues, the most stubborn strongholds of sin, we need to embark on a journey of intense prayer and fasting. Prayer brings us directly into God’s presence; fasting heightens our dependence and desires and sensitivity to what He wants to say to us.
Fasting and prayer bring greater intimacy with Him. Brings unprecedented clarity. To exhale the impure influences that have taken hold…thru dedicated prayer and disciplined fasting, you are ready to repent. IN order to recapture your first love, you will certainly find it necessary to commit yourself more deeply to prayer. When you find a lack of motivation to change, you may find it necessary to seek the transforming presence of God thru fasting. It will jump start your process of repentance.
Repentance may involve a moment of pain and certainly grief. But no repentance ensures that there will be no relief.
Love the LORD with ALL
MIND=remember thinking
HEART=grief/remorse feel
SOUL=repentance change
STRENGTH=return do
ALL FOR YOU

Intimacy with God 4

Bill Bright
As you remember what your first love was like, you gain perspective, the height from which you have fallen. Rev 2:5 describes the forsaking of your first love as a height from which you have fallen.
2 Cor 7:9-10
I now rejoice, not that you were made sorrowful, but that you were made sorrowful to the point of repentance; for you were made sorrowful according to the will of God, so that you might not suffer loss in anything through us. For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death.
When you hurt deeply as you realize that the love has gone out of your faith, that is godly sorro. The right kind of sorrow leads to repentance-a hating of sin.
God is not hiding from you. If you feel separated from Him, that is a good pain, the unmistakable sign of His presence drawing you back to Him. As you feel the ache in your Spirit, you know God is near, the discomfort is His way of telling you that your relationship needs special care. You may feel dry, but it is not the dryness of death-it is a yearning for life.

Sometimes it is necessary to move through a period of sorrow to reach the destination of joy. Remembering from where you have fallen. You once basked in the warm safe and secure presence of your Father. But with the ignorance of a child, you stayed from His warm, loving arms and wandered farther and farther away.
If you can no longer see Him , it may well be that you’re simply facing the wrong way. Nobody likes to stop to ask for directions, but isn’t it so much worse to be lost? God is near, just turn. Sometimes it takes a good bit of resolve to make that turn. You become comfortable in your sin. Your lungs because accustomed to bad air.
ALL FOR YOU

Intimacy w God 3

Intimacy with God
Bill Bright Remembrance
God calls His people to cling to their history and draw strength from it. Remembrance is the work of the mind. If you heart has grown cold, you must rely upon your mind. You may stop feeling, but never stop thinking. Remembering shocks you into realization; things have changed. IN remembering, you feel deep remorse that you have deliberately left home, your first love. The reflection of the mind will lead to the sorrow of heart. In the worst of times, when you cannot seem to hear His voice or feel His touch, you still have an amazing resource. You can consult those incredible filing cabinets in the human mind- your memories.
In talking of his wife….Together we committed ourselves to Christ and to our relationship, and we’ve never left that love for God or for each other. I can remember eagerly anticipating the time when we could actually be united in marriage, never to be separated. I was experiencing these same feelings toward God. I wanted Him to be with me for the rest of my life, too. I did everything I could to please Him and devoted much time to prayer and study of His Word.
IN His Word, Jesus frequently calls the Church, you and me, His bride. The joy of a perfect marriage, great as it may be, is only a dim reflection of the deepest and most intense pleasure of all; knowing God in an intimate, loving, personal way.
Begin by taking the time to reflect. When you do this, you may see evidence of slow EROSION-wearing down-small, seemingly insignificant compromises in your original commitment to God. These may not be obvious, consequential matters. Certainly you may still be serving God faithfully, just as those in Ephesus did. You may have excellent church attendance. You may be reading your Bible daily. But do no be surprised if you find that the marks of your early passion have slowly faded and disappeared, often without your noticing.
After you reflect, I invited you to talk to God about your observations.
ALL FOR YOU

intimacy w God 2

Intimacy with God
Bill Bright
“The Love of God took me totally by surprise.”
It was as if Jesus stepped right out of that Holy Book and commanded my full and complete devotion. Christ Pursued me. I determined that I would not stray from the love of God but strive to see it grow “more perfect”. It would be reflected in my selfless devotion to God and others. Joined by a few others, we established a small group that called themselves the Fellowship of the Burning Heart and pledged to make ourselves totally expendable for God. (wow…what a thought)
One afternoon in 1951, I signed away my life, my future, and everything we owned or would ever own to Christ. Next to the moment of my salvation, this was the most important and liberating day of my life. We unconditionally turned over to our loving Father, every possession, goal or concern of our present or future. It was a contract with God to be a bondslave to the only Master who could ever love and care for us.
Most true believers can point to a time when their hearts were on fire for Him. They loved Christ with a passion that no one could help but notice. Their hearts were on fire for Him. His love had transformed them from the inside out. But somehow, for many reasons and without intending to, many Christians let the flames of love and devotion to God die down to glowing embers, a wisp of smoke and ashes.
How does this manifest. In DOING work for God, we often avoid God Himself. True disciples find themselves at His feet, much like Mary. Jesus replied to Martha by saying there is only ONE THING worth being concerned about and Mary has discovered it. I won’t ask her to stop. Martha had a good heart but a busy heart. The temptation to become so busy with the whirlwind of service that you take leave of the passion that first inspired that service. Jesus is NOT saying you should neglect the everyday responsibilities. But you cannot let those things become diversions from the ONE THING worth being concerned about. SEEK FIRST His kingdom AND Righteousness AND all else is added. If you do anything, it should be an expression of your love for Him. But if what you do is not an expression of that love, it’s far worse than if you did nothing at all.
You may forget the ONE THING about which you are to be concerned. But when you can focus on the ONE THING, then your love for Him will linger. What about you? Have you become busy with the details of life and left your passion somewhere along the way? Rev 2:2-5 You have forsake your first love. Look how far you have fallen. To leave or forsake is an act of will. You have chosen…other things to love and FORSAKEN your first love. You do not lose your love for a spouse or a friend or Jesus. You walk away from it. If you say you’ve lost something, it almost sounds as if it just an unfortunate occurrence that is nobody’s fault-something you can lose in the same way you would misplace your car keys. But YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE to take hold of the love of God and to cling to up and never let it go.
HOW do we do this.
REMEMBER Your first love.
He wants all of you and wants you to have all of Him. If you are struggling with relationships in your family, in your workplace or in your established friendship, the first place you should check is how you’re getting along with God…or how they are. One or the other has probably stepped away from the pursuit. We are to abide and remain in Christ. Abiding in Christ is the deepest meaning of maintaining your first love. As you remain in Him you are fully dependent upon Him.
PRAY- nothing can accelerate your return to first love like fasting and prayer.
To maintain and advance our love relationship with God, fasting and prayer must be an integral part of that pursuit. And doing that together with another adds accountability to that formula and brings accelerated pursuit and causes you to move closer and not drift away.
ALL FOR YOU

intimacy w God 1

The Bible tells us that the greatest of all commandments is this; “you must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind and all your strength.”
But to love God wholeheartedly is a real challenge. That kind of love doesn’t come very easily. How, then , are you to obey God’s greatest commandment? How can you ever hope to accomplish that? The answer is simultaneously challenging and simple; Rely on God, who is love. He is the source of all love, even the love with which you love Him back, so to love Him you have abide in Him and receive His love for you.
According to God’s Word, the Christian life is not what you do for Christ but what He does in and through you. So if Jesus who is the distilled essence of love, lives in and through you as you are surrendered to His will and empowered by His Spirit, you are able to love others, including Him, with that same divine love-and loving becomes His responsibility.
The only way you can be separated from God is by your own choice. If you feel that you’ve lost the love you once had for God, or if you’ve never found it, it’s not because He doesn’t care for you; it’s only because you’ve turned away from Him.
Quite often people ask how they can pray for me. I always answer the same…that in whatever I do, wherever I go, I will never leave my first love. Ever since I was a young Christian, astounded by the powere of God’s presence and overwhelmed with His love, I have made it my first priority to hold on for dear life to my intimate, personal, relationship with Him. I longed to possess a heart overflowing with love and praise for my Lord. If I failed to maintain my first love, my disobedience would undermine all I hold dear. I know that in time I would distintegrate as a believer, a husband, a father, a person and a businessman. My first love for God, is everything to me.
For me the price of maintaining that devotion has been daily submission. All day long I seek to walk and talk with my Savior no matter what the business of the day might be. If I can cling to His love from one moment to the next, I know I will never leave it. I pray continually as I practice the presence of God. God has given me so much, but the greatest gift of all is a heart that can be tuned to sing his praise. God has left me with the one thing that I treasure most; the ability to love Him with my first love and to praise Him with my mind and emotions every moment that I live on this earth. By the grace of God I will never take leave of my first love for Him.
Do not think that I am perfect. Daily my flesh wars against my spirit. My heart is prone to wander just as your is. It requires daily vigilance to protect my spirit from leaving my first love. But it is more than worth the struggle and daily discipline. God’s love is so strengthening and so refreshing. I can face any medical problem that may lie before me. I can face the prospect of death itself with joy. But I could never face the possibility of separation from the perfect love of God that sustains my spirit.
How’s your Spirit today? Have you wandered? Have you left your first love? How would you describe the state of your affection for Him today? Can you remember how it felt on the day you first met Him? How far have you wandered from the place where He wants you to be? What will it take for you to return to that first love that He wants you to experience as a way of life?
Bill Bright….
ALL FOR YOU

While standing in the convention center at Myrtle Beach, I was approached an elderly woman, who by her own confession was 70 years old. She was a little disshoveled and acted a little disoriented. It was after 10pm and we were the only ones in the convention hallway. She had parked her suitcase beside a table and apparently was going to wait all night to leave to go to Hawaii the next morning-or so her story went. It didn’t take long for her to engage in conversation, conversation that quite honestly I could have avoided and done without. But there was something inside me that said to listen. She wore an old scarf and hat, with a green sweatshirt that had Vail on it. Recently, the Lord and I have been talking a lot about what happens behind the ‘veil’ in the holy place. So, while it was a play on words, it caught my attention that she was marked by the word that God had been pricking my soul with.
She talked a little crazy and out of her mind at times. But in sharing her story, I picked up on that she had been a kindergarten teacher in churches along the way. Her opinion was that those were the worst, because they were the richest. I laughed and said I hope not…cause I was one of those kids. She called me naïve and continued to talk of her experiences of trying to grow and change kids. I tried to look for an opportunity to share Jesus with her, but could hardly get a word in edgewise. Talk of living up near my hometown led to discussion about where she was headed. Since she had mentioned she was waiting on her flight to Hawaii, I asked if she was headed back to Hawaii, to which she quickly informed me that I should never speak of going back. That she never goes back, she always goes forward. And that I should never speak of going back but what I am going towards. I nodded in agreement and thought about the words the Lord had impressed on my heart this passed year-no turning back. I quickly interjected that, I too, understood what she meant. That there should be no turning back or going back, but moving towards what the Lord has for you.
By the time we got to this point in the conversation, the work that had to be accomplished was done and it was time to move on. I quickly told her thank you and that it was time for me to head out and left. But on the way to the car, it didn’t take long for me to surmise that this was not a chance meeting. But perhaps a messenger sent to meet me. I know you may think I have lost my cotton picking mind. A random meeting with a ranting old woman who was camping out in the lobby of a hotel waiting to go to Hawaii and talking to strangers about her kindergarten adventures. But it only took a few seconds for the Lord to say to me…
“She is right. No turning back, no going back…only forward and towards me. So what are you headed towards, Christy? Are you coming towards me? Lingering in where you are or moving back? I sent her to remind you, if you want to live life behind the veil, in the holy place, you have to keep coming towards me and there is no turning back.”
My heart was stunned by the words of this elderly woman, who challenged my heart and questioned my direction. The Lord used her to show remind me not to look back, turn back or go back, but instead go forward with Him and find Presence with Him within the veil.
I think I am thankful for that old woman….ranting and all. She pointed me to Jesus. Sometimes, He shows up in the most unexpected places. Don’t miss Him because of the packaging…

ALL FOR YOU

Precious Friends,

At 3:48 this afternoon, with family surrounding her bed….my beloved Memom met Jesus Face to Face. The past few days have been precious moments of caring for, sharing with and being with her. Words were not left unsaid and there are no regrets. We spent many hours in worship around her bed, reading Scripture, singing, praising and praying blessing the Lord. They were priceless moments of heaven here-she bringing it here for us before she went to be with Him. She is where I want to be….with my Jesus.

My Paken is struggling, as He wanted to go with her and is saying he will be there soon. Please continue to remember him in prayer. Memom was the epitome of a Prov 31 woman and she died just like she lived-surrounded by family and as a woman of great faith. The myriads of people from young to old that came to testify of her passion for Jesus and the impact she had on their lives was great. She was a “praiser” and she is doing what she spent a lifetime practicing, praising Him in her new body.

I am certain there will be words of tribute that I will write…but for now, these words from HIS WORD are our heart.

1Thes 4:13-18

13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve, as do the rest who have no hope.

14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus.

15 For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, and remain until the coming of the Lord, shall not precede those who have fallen asleep.

16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of {the} archangel, and with the trumpet of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first.

17 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall always be with the Lord.

18 Therefore comfort one another with these words.



Much like I shared with our church Sunday night, live like you are dying…and do not grieve as if we do not have hope. For He is coming for us quickly and together we will see Him. Where do you want to be found and how do you want Him to find you when He returns?



I have a hope….and praise the Lord. Glory is seen best when we amplify our praise in the difficulty. So today….we amp it up. So would you join me tonight in worshipping like never before, and joining with the angels and my Memom as she stands around the throne and says worthy is the Lamb. My last words to her today were….go home RUNNING….I will see you on the otherside
ALL FOR YOU

I sit today in a waiting area at a hospice house, awaiting Jesus to come and take my Beloved Grandmother home. She has been struggling with cancer and her war torn body has been struggling against this dreaded disease for the past year. Her body is but a mere shadow of who she is, but I must say, she has never been more beautiful. A bride made ready to meet her Jesus.
And today, we are counting minutes as we await the Deliverer to come and bring her to glory. I could certainly share stories of her faithfulness to the Lord and how she served Him well. I could recite the many stories that made us laugh and cry, making memories for us that bring smiles to our hearts even now. Or I could share with you the blessing of a love story between her and my grandfather, having been married 65 years, that would make you want to run and find your spouse and hold them tight.
But today, instead of sharing the details of life. I think I feel the necessity to share the details of death.
Standing in a hospice room, watching a stream of friends and family come to say goodbye, I couldn’t help but smile at the life well lived. Not because she was a good Mom, grandmother, wife or friend, although she is all those things. But instead, because she has been Jesus to all these. And even in her dying…Jesus has been made real, has been seen and is magnified. Even in her struggle, she never lost her praise and continued to thank God for His benefits.
I sang over her yesterday and read Scripture to her today. And this morning, as we gathered in her room, we paused and played Chris Tomlin’s song I WILL RISE. We stood in her room and the words rang out, “ I will Rise when He calls my name, no more sorrow, no more pain. Jesus has overcome and the grave is overwhelmed. The victory is won. He is risen from the dead….I will rise”. In those moments, the glory of the Lord descended upon her room and the Presence of our DADDY encompassed us all. With hands raised to heaven, tears flowed and voices began to sing. And yet, the beauty of the voices of angels singing Worthy is the Lamb gave us a glimpse of where my Memom will soon be. The cry of every longing heart, including hers, was singing Worthy is the Lamb. Church took place in that room. With both death and life circling, the glory of the Lord and the Presence a God that calls us to ‘Come away with Him’ enveloped our hearts. Death lingers and Eternity awaits. In death and life, Jesus is being revealed. No longer had the music stopped that prayers began to be lifted up and cries to our Father of praise and thanksgiving began to flow from the lips of those who love her. And the Father, was pleased to hear the cries of His children.
As I read to her today from Psalm 121; that HE never slumbers and is the keeper of my soul, her eyes opened and she raised those precious brows as if to say, I know…
I have spent many hours thinking about life and death and have come to the conclusion that Memom must feel much like Paul….Hard pressed from both directions, having the desire to depart and be with Christ for that is very much better, yet to remain on in the flesh is more necessary for your sake. (Phil 1:22-23) I have contemplated the longing to finish well and to hear “well done” from my Father, as I have watched myriads of people that my Grandmother has impacted, pouring her life out as a drink offering. And have decided that I want to live a life worth dying for.
I share these words, probably because I needed the therapy of writing what I was feeling and the solace to know that others might care, understand and need to be encouraged by them. But the ultimate thought for me today is what the Lord has been swirling in my head for the last 2 weeks.
Why do we wait until we are dying to live like it? What would happen if we lived like we were dying everyday. With no regret, with a boldness and an intention of heart to please our Heavenly Father in all things? What if we chose to store up treasure in heaven instead of earth because we knew this world is not our home and that our time here is short? We are so distracted with life…and life is a gift, precious and to be lived, but to be lived as if we were dying…with the intention of investing life in those who come behind so that the legacy of Christ-the hope of Glory, lives on in another.
If I have learned one lesson from my precious Memom (and believe me, there have been many), today the lesson would be….live like you are dying, being hard pressed with a desire to be with Christ, but remaining for the sake of others, convinced that if you remain and continue it will be for the progress and joy of others in the faith. And yet our earnest desire should be to live is Christ and to die is gain.
Shortly my Memom will GAIN, because her life lived has been Christ. So while we could certainly talk about a life well lived, perhaps, our hearts should be challenged to live like we are dying from now until the Deliverer comes to take us Home.
Jesus has overcome and the grave is overwhelmed. The victory is won. He is risen from the dead….Now live like it.


ALL FOR YOU