we still don’t get it.

we still don’t get it.
if we did, we would live differently.
if we did, we would talk differently.
if we did, we would act differently.

after spending 23 years from the time i was born to this day, i have found a trend among those whom the LORD calls his bride.

we don’t get it.

we don’t grasp the reality of eternity.
if we did, we would be talking about him to every single person we come in contact with, no exceptions.
forget formalities, ditch the political correctness, one thing would be on our minds and spilling out of our mouths: “have you met my Savior yet? you need to experience the freedom i’ve experienced.”
the harvest would be the mission, souls would be the passion driving our lives.
no matter what our career, bringing the lost into the kingdom would be our occupation. all of our temporary pleasures and desires would fade into the eternal picture we behold.
our priorities would change.
the harvest would not spoil.

we don’t understand the power of God.
if we did, we would be praying for every single sick person we encountered, making bold declarations over impossible situations, and we would never cease giving thanks for the miracles he had done.
we would be walking on water, feeding the multitudes, casting out demons from areas and people they have possessed and oppressed for far too long. the question “what if?” would not even exist in our minds. it would simply be “wait and see the LORD move.”
greater and greater things would surely be done.

we don’t comprehend his love.
if we did, we would be not only receiving it but giving it away to every person we meet. judgement and hate would cease. we would not have “pet peeves”. we would do anything and everything for those we know, because anyone we knew would instantly be a benefactor of Christ’s love through us.
we would be broken over broken situations and we would rejoice at every single person’s victory. we would not speak any bad word about each other, knowing that he does not, and his love is strong enough to cover every offense. we would become addicted to loving, not addicted to being loved.
the world would truly know us for our love.

we don’t actually want revival.
if we did, we would stop singing about it, and praying here and there for it, and actually pursue it. we would sacrifice our income, our house, our career, our comfort, all for the sake of seeing the fire of God consume a nation with the revelation of the gospel.
we would dream it, think it, breathe it, live it. we would see every opportunity as an opportunity for the kingdom to come, and every day at work, every run to the grocery store, and every vacation we took would relabeled in our minds as simply potential for revival.
the holy fire of God would spark revivals in every place we walk.

we don’t believe in the power of prayer.
if we did, we would pray for more than 5-10 minutes. our knees would be blistered, bloody, and broken from whole nights spent awake, crying out to God and asking him to move. the answer to every question would always be to pray, and the solution to every problem would always be prayer.
we would stop telling people we’ll pray for them later, and simply pray for them right there and then.
we would actually “pray without ceasing.”

we don’t actually realize what Jesus did for us.
if we did, we wouldn’t treat it like a flannel-graph from Sunday school. the cross is not on the same level as Noah’s ark and Joseph’s coat of many color. we would be undone by the absolute insanity that is the story of the Creator of the universe coming down in the form of a man and bleeding and dying, all to get his lost children back from the clutch of sin. we wouldn’t move on from the cross. we wouldn’t be able to evangelize without telling someone about what Christ did for them on the cross.
we would actually see it as good news, not as a buzz-kill. we would see it as beautiful, we would see it as glorious.
our desire would be to only preach Christ and him crucified.

we don’t understand the weight of sin.
if we did, we would stop doing it. we wouldn’t be okay with laughing at the comedian making light of things that are a horror to our LORD, or smiling and chuckling at a coworker’s narrative of their recent sinful exploits. we would pursue holiness in everything we did, and we would constantly be checking up on each other to make sure those we love aren’t falling into destructive behaviors. (the true spirit behind real accountability is love, not acceptance, and not correction)
we would be broken over the plight of the world, and the newspapers would be soaked with tears, not crumpled up by frustrated fists.
our hearts would actually begin to break for what breaks his.

we don’t actually feel his presence.
if we did, we wouldn’t cap off the “his presence is here time” when the clock says to. we wouldn’t want to leave church to even go eat. our countenances would change. the way we speak about him would change. we wouldn’t be able to walk. we wouldn’t be able to speak. we wouldn’t care about the retreat, the men’s breakfast, or the next great worship album.
we would be saturated so completely with his presence that not even the worst lighting and wrong key played could disrupt it.
it would mark us.
we would cry out for it day in and day out. we would know the difference between the real thing and the our attempt at creating it. we wouldn’t settle for the latter.
we would stay, as Joshua did, in his presence as long as we could.

i could say more.
i could easily rant more.
i could. but that’s not going to help, and to be honest i’m not sure what to say in regards to practical solutions to solving some of the issues i presented here.
maybe that’s good.
maybe we’re too comfortable to receiving all our solutions from a random article we clicked on written by someone we don’t even know; more comfortable than asking for the solution from the Creator of solutions himself.
all i know is this: i see a huge difference between the church Jesus longs for and the church i see around me.
now don’t get me wrong, there are a lot of great people in the church, and a lot of great things happening. i certainly don’t want to be one of those doom and gloom bloggers who simply get a kick out of throwing mud on the wedding dress of Christ’s bride.
but.
i realize there is something missing.
if there wasn’t, there would be fires of passion and revival everywhere.
how do i know?
because our God is a consuming fire, and if we truly were doing everything right this world would be aflame with his holy love.
we need authenticity.
we need passion.
we need vision.
we need conviction.
we need fire.
but more than anything, we simply need more of him.
would you please make that your prayer with me this week, month, or year? (and actually mean it?)
we need him.
we need him.
i need him.
you need him.
we really, really, really need him.