desperation week

a few weeks ago, the theme at mc lakeland was “desperation”.

the architecture of the week was setup to tap into the aggressive side of our human nature that only comes out in extreme moments. intense competition. in the face of fear. on the verge of something great. in the heat of an argument. emotions flying. heart beating out of your chest. do whatever it takes to come out on top kind of moment.

i believe God is zealous. fiery. passionate. intense. fervent in all things. not half-hearted or half-baked. wholehearted.

i believe if we are “made in His image” like the Word tells us we are… we cannot escape the fact that same nature is inside of us.

yet somewhere along the way, we’ve lost that intensity.

we live in a soft age. everything comes easy these days. everything comes fast. effortless. inventions are rolling out of the creative minds of innovators every year that put greater things in our hands faster, cheaper and trouble free.

think about it. drive thrus. online reservations. weather reports and football scores at your fingertips on your cell phone. power lunches. faster internet. faster cars. faster service. faster computers. faster results.

faster. faster. faster. sounds like a dr. suess book to me.

i don’t think God exists on this same plane.

i’m not sure if He wants to be so easily accessible. pop in our spiritual change to heaven’s vending machine, pick our selection, and snap our fingers in haste as the result comes bouncing down to us at the opening below.

i think He likes to be pursued. chased. longed for. i think He likes it when opposition and barriers come our way. to see what we do with it. is it enough to deter our desire? slow us down? stop us in our tracks?

this is where desperation comes in.

do we still pray when we haven’t felt him all week? do we stay holy for the 14th time in the face of temptation when we’ve already said no 13 times before? do we pay the price when others get away with less? do we press through our tiredness, weariness and weakness - to take hold of something lying in wait for us?

i think so. i think that’s what He wants.

‘you will seek me and you will find me when you seek after me with all your heart…‘

on an every day basis, ‘all your heart’ doesn’t come out all the time. just when it matters most. when everything is on the line. when you’re about to win, or about to lose. when its for all the marbles. but when it comes out, it changes everything. in the sports world, its the game breaker. in the financial world, its the money maker.

in the spiritual world, it’s the ‘spirit of the breaker‘

Micah 2:13 says: ‘the breaker will go up before them; they will break through the gate and go out. their king will pass through before them, the LORD at their head.’

breakers don’t give up easily. they don’t look for the comfortable way. they are looking for God…and whatever the price is to get hold of Him, they will pay it. breakers are desperate.

we saw some real ‘desperation’ this week in our students as they fought, competed and battled together during some hilarious moments of gamesmanship.

we also saw some powerful moments of spiritual ‘desperation’ for the first time this year as they learned how to sound their own battle cry.

i pray that those battlecries continue to sound. i pray that moment in chapel resounds in our hearts for many days to come… only to be a beginning to us learning how to walk in His image - the image of a true spiritual breaker. Jesus.

~ by jeffjohnston on December 8, 2007.