Holy Jealousy?

dustinzupancic March 25th, 2009

Pride is such a killer, in so many circumstances and situations it just ruins everything!

I’m thinking specifically now of a particular instance where after observing someone worshiping in a particular way, I said to myself, “That’s fine and all, but I just don’t worship that way.”

Now that very well might be true, I may feel like I connect with God in a different way much easier.  But for me to be dismissive towards a way that God is moving because it doesn’t appeal to my sensibilities is arrogant at best.

What have I missed out on because I get offended at something different, extravagant or even reserved?

I need a heart that truly desires for Jesus to be glorified and sees people for their destinies in Him.  Then I’ll be able to celebrate those differences and marvel at the piece of God’s heart they have that I don’t.

Can I go as far to say that there is such a thing as holy jealousy? That we would be inspired to seek the connection with God that others make in ways we have not yet explored?  Is it really that “We don’t worship that way.” or that we don’t yet have a revelation of Jesus as being whatever that is in our lives?

Seeing others moving in their gifts/talents/callings should drive/inspire/encourage us to seek to know God in “that” way.  Let us leave judgment behind, get uncomfortable and seek out the reality and depth of who our God really is.

Praise God for offense!

dustinzupancic March 24th, 2009

What a wonderful opportunity offense is!  It’s something we often dread, but I believe James 1:2 has it right,

“Dear brothers and sisters, whenever trouble comes your way, let it be an opportunity for joy.”
-James 1:2 NLT

Now is that not the best attitude or what?  As Christians, ones who follow the teachings of Jesus, we should be completely unable to be offended.  We should be so secure in who Jesus is, we should be empowered and emboldened because He dwells within us and we should be filled with wonder and excitement, never ceasing rapture and awe in who we are in Him and what He thinks of us.

If we are at all offended when circumstances blindside us, when someone insults us or when church happens in a way that disagrees with us, we should in fact, take joy for what is presented to us is a wonderful and rare opportunity for growth in character and in the knowledge and understanding of who Jesus is!

At best, you were right, you had been wronged and if you walked uprightly and listened closely to what your heavenly Father was doing, you did not stumble and thus are in a place where God is justified to act on your behalf.

At worst, you responded negatively to whatever offense it was and not only did you forsake a wonderful opportunity to know Jesus in a way you had not experienced yet, you instead, by sinning, have put yourself in a place where you are doomed to repeat that lesson, over and over until you receive whatever it is that God is trying to give you.

The wonderful thing is though, that either way, if we are truly seeking the face of Jesus and earnestly desire to know him, if we do miss it, we mess up, get offended and freak out at someone, Jesus is still there.  He’ll pick us up and give us another opportunity to learn that thing again, whatever it is.  He doesn’t want us to miss out on a single wonderful thing about himself.

I would go as far as to say that it’s his grace to allow us hardships, to put us in situations that force us to come to terms and to the reality of who He is.  There are so many situations I would never have chosen for myself to go through, but now, having gone through them, they are some of my most cherished memories.  Those are the times I saw a side of my Saviour that I never knew before, it was a divine unveiling, the curtain was torn.

People often ask for an acceleration, for God to move in their lives.  I’ve got bad news for those people, the quickest way for God to reveal himself to you is to offend your expectations and ideas to make room for the reality of Him and his divine nature. 

Oh that we might seek a spirit of wisdom, revelation and discernment that we might recognize the times, that we might be like the men of Issachar and recognize the seasons, that we could see what God is doing in the offense and agree with it. 

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t enjoy being offended by whether I’m right or wrong in any given situation, when I’m offended I have a wonderful opportunity for Jesus to take the place of that offense and be my lack.  So really do take joy my brothers and sisters, instead of feeling sorrowful and questioning “why me?”, look to the kingdom purposes of God and see his hand move in your life.

One Revelation from Transformation

dustinzupancic March 24th, 2009

Expectations can be so enslaving and destructive yet how often we succumb by either aligning ourselves with those that are imposed upon us or by confining others as we impose our expectations upon them.

In Proverbs 23:7 we learn that as man a thinks in his heart, so is he.  The things we believe and accept as true, we become.  We all see this all the time, we see it in the person who struggles with addiction, when told he will always be that way, never pulls himself out.  We see it in the girl that society would say isn’t beautiful or doesn’t dress in a way pleasing to man, that person often carries that shame/embarresment/low self-esteem in an even more continually unattractive way.  We see it in the person who after being told is “stupid” enough times begins to believe it and starts failing school.

Those a few of the negative ways we see the interior thought and belief being manifested on the exterior.  How much worse is it when those thoughts and ideas about ones self being imposed on us by others?  As followers of Jesus we have enough to deal with in just submitting our own flesh and soul, we certainly don’t need even more external forces to deal with!

James talks about the tongue and the power of Life and Death that it holds and many proverbs speak of the danger of speaking malice or even the damage a careless word can cause.

Being a people that contain “The Word” within them, we should understand the creative power of our words to either build or tear down.  God created the universe by speaking when He easily could have worked in silence, even just that thought should make us consider the creative power of the tongue.

Have you considered what is being created when you speak?  When you encourage or criticize, affirm or negate, speak truth or tell lies?  What about what you are building in others or in yourself either positively or negatively? 

Our words build thoughts, or patterns in the mind/soul/spirit of ourselves and others.  How many times has your outlook of someone changed either negatively or positively based on the words of someone else about that person?  We can all think of examples of that and see how our own behavior has changed accordingly either to the benefit or detriment of the other.

We need the expectation shattering words of “The Word” who dwells inside of us to be the words that we speak out to others and ourselves.  If we want to know what’s true about anything in life, we should be weighing it against the Spirit and the Word that we have been given.  Why do we often put a greater weight upon the words of man instead of the Creator of man?

If we can start speaking The Word, whatever it is that He desires us to speak, none of our words will fall to the ground and ourselves, the people around us and the very earth will respond and flourish, being filled with life and hopeful expectation.

We need to draw our perspectives from God, we need His heart and His love for others. We need to see them as He sees them, never focusing on the problem or issue presenting itself, instead focusing on their destiny, where they are going and how we can partner with God in the furthering of his kingdom in their lives.

If we can have the insight/revelation/discernment to see people the way God does we will be virtually unable to be offended.  We won’t be put off by what presents itself but will be able to speak hope and life, to counteract negative expectations and be the revelation that that person needs to become transformed.

If we get caught in our own minds and expectations and rely on our wisdom, we will be too offended or consumed with our own solutions to see God’s solution for that person.

We should pray and earnestly seek, wisdom, revelation and discernment, that we might speak timely words that are not our own in a timely and compassionate fashion to those around us, always considering their destiny and preferring them over ourselves.

Turbulent Passions

admin December 21st, 2008

“When at any time the passions are turbulent, a gentle retreat inward unto a present God, easily deadens and pacfies them; and any other way of contending with them rather irritates than appeases them.”
-Madame Guyon (A Short and Easy Method of Prayer, Chapter 11)

Peace is one of the hardest things to gain and it can be one of the easiest things to lose. It’s so hard to stay in a place of constant peace, a place where the mind is still, the soul is settled and the spirit rules.

There is a clarity one has when they can live in a place of peace, there is an ease to connecting with God and hearing his voice, why is it that we so quickly trade that for the chaos of our own solutions?

“Notice the way God does things; then fall into line. Don’t fight the
ways of God, for who can straighten out what he has made crooked?”
-Ecclesiastes 7:13

I believe peace is a decision, we have to allow ourselves to be robbed of our peace. The more your mind is in control, the more you are ruled by your fleshly desires, the more offensive the ways of God will be to you. God’s ways are not our ways, when we allow our peace to be taken from us it shows the reality of our heart. That we don’t believe God knows what He’s doing, that He does not know what is best for us, that He doesn’t have our best in mind.

The sooner we can allow ourselves to slip back into a place of trust and release the control of our destiny and simply listen and obey, the sooner we can return to the green pastures and still waters the Lord desires to lead us to.

God knows the desires of our heart and he knows the pains of our struggles, surely the one who bore all of our iniquities to the cross can relate to our everyday struggles.

God knows our situations intimately and instead of fighting and struggling through the valley of the shadow of death, we should seek to have no fear and follow the Shepherd asking how we can agree with what He is doing instead of complaining like the Isrealites and condemning ourselves to wandering in the wilderness until we can walk in victory.

New Blog

admin December 21st, 2008

Welcome to my new blog, some of you may have followed my last one in the past while I was an intern and on staff with Streams Ministries. I no longer keep that up and have created this one mainly to provide a place for me to write down whatever it is that I may. Likely it’ll will end up being a random assortment of my thoughts and musings of what God is speaking to me and whatever else may interest me.

Will it last? Who knows, I certainly don’t, time will tell I suppose.

-Dustin