SET YOUR GAZE

“Regardless if the sun shines above or below the horizon, it still shines in full strength. And as the sun shines in full strength so My Son will burn and shine with love for you. You’re just the moon in the daylight. People will see how bright you shine when the darkness sweeps in. Although the darkness may be frightening, that will be your moment to shine. You will reflect the light of the Son shining in full strength. Just let me stay within the line of your gaze and you will shine.”

- This is a word I believe the Lord spoke to me a couple years ago. Gosh, how times have changed since then. But, even though I now stand in a dark night of faith, I still believe this to be true. His love still burns for me. It never faints. It never goes out. 

I believe a time is coming when great darkness will sweep in. In this time, Jesus will put His bride on display. In the darkest of nights she will reflect the light and beauty of Jesus like never before. 

I honestly don't know when the darkest hour will come.. It could be in my lifetime or it could be the one after. All I know is that it’s coming. The dark is getting darker. What matters most is the now. Are we aligning our gaze to His?

The only way we can reflect the light of the Son is if we allow Him to be in the line of OUR gaze, when we align our hearts with His. 

In the book “Pursuit of God” A.W Tozer describes repentance as a form of gazing. “Believing, then, is directing the heart’s attention to Jesus. It is lifting the mind to ‘behold the Lamb of God,’ and never ceasing that beholding for the rest of our lives. At first this may be difficult, but it becomes easier as we look steadily at His wondrous Person; quietly and without strain. Distractions may hinder, but once the heart is committed to Him, after each brief excursion away from Him the attention will return again and rest upon Him like a wandering bird coming back to its window.”   --- I believe that this is the destiny of the church and thus our own personal lives.. It is difficult to gaze at first, but the more we practice the more we will become like Him. Keep looking higher. 

Jesus, our hearts are sinful and wretched. We look to the lesser things of this world to satisfy us but they only leave us dark, dry and empty. We were made to see Your glory and to reflect that very Glory.  You’ve already made a way for us. You’ve made us clean by your blood, yet we still live in this tension between our wandering eyes and your beckoning us to see your glory. We admit defeat within ourselves and confess our need of you and your grace. Our only hope in this dark world is if the light of Your face is in the line of our vision. We desire to be a bride who will behold and reflect the light of Your goodness in our hearts, our neighbors, our communities, our nation and the world. We want to see you rightly Jesus. 

2 Corinthians 3:7 “Now if the ministry of death, carved in the letters on stone came with such glory that the Israelites could not gaze at Moses’ face because of its glory, which was being brought to an end, will not the ministry of the Spirit have even more glory? For if there was glory in the ministry of condemnation, the ministry of righteousness must far exceed it in glory. Indeed, in this case, what once had glory has come to have no glory at all, because of the glory that surpasses it. for what was being brought to an end came with glory, much more will what is permanent have glory. since we have such a hope, we are very bold, not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not gaze at the outcome of what was being brought to an end. But their minds were hardened. For to this day, when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted because only through Christ is it taken away. Yes, to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their hearts. But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled faces, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. 

TASTE AND SEE

So Ive always thought about starting a blog, but it took some encouragement from a friend that I deeply respect to set a fire under my butt and to actually get it started. My vocabulary isn't very large, my grammar is horrible and sometimes my thoughts can be scattered but none the less, God is giving me a story. Day by day I am able to read one page in this HUGE story of my life that God has already written. I would love to share pieces of this story with you. I pray that in some small or large way my story will be an encouragement to you, that my testimony will remind you that you are not alone in this pilgrimage. 

I thought I would start off with a vision that the Lord gave me recently. I was processing with a friend about the facets of life, ministry, grace and satisfaction. All very weighty things so of course my analytical mind was on overload! haha. I was talking to the Lord one morning trying to process and make sense of it all and the Lord gave me a vision in my heart. If you know me at all you'll know that I cannot go a conversation without using a word picture to explain myself. I think a lot of this is because in many ways this is how God communicates to me. through word pictures. 

In the picture I suddenly saw myself barely standing on the shoreline of this eternally vast ocean called the wisdom and knowledge of God. Its sooo huge compared to our little minds that we quickly want to throw our hands up in the air and run away from this eternally vast ocean. As I was feeling so overwhelmed desiring to run away I felt in my spirit that the Lord was saying to me. “Jared I am not asking you or even expecting you to drink this entire ocean today. I know how small you are compared to it. Son all I am asking is for you to simply jump in the water. Enjoy its refreshing coolness on your skin and simply taste of its sweet delights today. You have forever to drink this entire ocean. I am not disappointed that you are standing on this shoreline. I am sooo happy that you are no longer running after that mirage, that illusionary puddle in the desert. Do you remember? I found you.. Deep within the desert place. You were so thirsty running after an illusion that would never satisfy. I rescued you. I brought you here by this ocean. I am not angry that you cannot drink all of it today. Im just happy son that you are here. having your eyes towards my fountain of living waters.”But then of course, the voice of accusation immediately comes to me and says. “Thats not God! Cant you see that the spirit of the Devil is trying to get you to be passive and to accept the false grace message.? Jared TIME IS URGENT! You wasted soo much time fooling around in the desert place. Now look, you’re barely standing on the shorelines of this ocean. Hurry and drink the water!!” Then, at that moment I was filled with the “fear of God” and started gulping and gulping and gulping the water from this endless ocean. This once sweet water was becoming  bitter and was making my stomach hurt. I looked up at the ocean and felt so overwhelmed that I barely made any progress. I then cried out to God. “Please forgive me!” 

I realize this has been my tendency for the majority of my life. I punish myself for being so small and weak. I gulp the water not out of love and enjoyment but out of fear and self condemnation. God is slowly breaking this in me. Do you feel like you can relate too? I am slowly realizing that God is not an angry God. He is sooo merciful and compassionate. All he wants is for us to enjoy Him. To be refreshed by him. To see him for who he is. A loving and compassionate Father desiring to be near to his children. Did you know that God loves you with all of His heart, soul, mind and strength? I don't understand all of this fully but he does and guess what? He’s not angry that you don't fully understand. Simply Jump in. Taste the delights of His love today. When you were going your own way filling your stomach with hot sand, God rescued you. He made a way. He DESIRES to satisfy your Soul.

Psalms 34:6-8 

“This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles.

The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them. Oh TASTE and SEE that the LORD is GOOD! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.