It seems that no matter what season of life we are in, we want to be in a different one. God wants us to appreciate where we are.

Perhaps you remember The New Yorker cartoon in which two monks in robes and shaved heads are sitting side by side, cross-legged on the floor. The younger one, with a quizzical look on his face, is facing the older, who is saying: “Nothing happens next. This is it.”

That’s exactly what it means to live in the here and now. We aren’t waiting for something else to occur, we aren’t distracted by anything around us, and we aren’t trying to escape mentally to another time. We are “mindfully awake.” Paying attention. Savoring the moment for all it’s worth. We are fully alive!

I once heard Diane Sawyer say on television, “The most important thing in life is to pay attention”—and I would agree. But how often are we able to achieve that? Not often enough, unfortunately. Nevertheless, our richest times in life are those when we are completely present, consciously heightening our awareness because our journey has brought us here—and we choose not to miss it.

I feel this when I’m engaged in rich, meaningful conversation with an interesting person. Questions are enticing, listening is acute, and eye contact is direct. I love that; such focused attention makes me feel alive. I also experience this feeling when I’m alone in an art museum or lost in a good book.

When I’m all there—or rather, all here!—I never want the moment to end. It’s wonderful. It’s the “it” to which the wise old monk referred.

About a year after my mother died in 1971, my dad and I were invited to the wedding of a mutual friend. Daddy was living with my brother, Chuck, and his family, and I picked him up so we could go in my car. At 78 years old, Daddy wasn’t driving anymore.

Since we had plenty of time, I suggested we stop off for coffee at a place along the way where we knew a couple of the waitresses. There we sat, dressed to the nines and sipping coffee in a little short-order restaurant.

After a while it began to rain, and we decided to let the weather clear up before traveling on. We settled back in our chairs and talked about childhood—Dad’s and mine—and about Mother and his love for her through the 40 years they were married. I thanked him for being such a great dad to me and my two brothers.

When the rain became more intense, we gave up the idea of going to the wedding and nestled into one of the sweetest times my dad and I had ever had. We had always been close, but never more than that night. We were totally connected conversationally, not distracted by anything and absolutely in the moment.

Would that we were able to maintain that kind of connectedness all the time, with others as well as with ourselves. It’s hard, almost impossible. So often we want to be somewhere else. We look at the “now” we are in and have this illusion that if we could just inch or leap forward on the journey, our lives would be richer or better or more “together.” We don’t want to be here.

Why is this? Why are we so rarely satisfied? Were we simply programmed to be this way, or is it that we just don’t know ourselves or God well enough to recognize what truly satisfies?

JOURNEY OF SELF-DISCOVERY As I look back over my life, I see that there are many times when I wasn’t satisfied; I couldn’t live fully in the moment. I was looking for the next thing to bring me fulfillment and, of course, I wanted that fulfillment to be permanent.

One of the hardest periods in my life was in the mid-1980s. It ultimately became one of the most transforming times because I was willing to attune myself fully to the here and now—even though it was painful. It turned out that my own discomfort contained critical information that formed a pathway to the next leg of my journey. But it was very hard to be as vulnerable as I needed to be to see the real roadblock.

In August of 1985 I experienced some heartbreaking misunderstandings with close friends. At the same time, I was trying to make a major decision—whether or not to take early retirement from Mobil Oil Corp. because of an impending collision between my “real” job and lots of speaking engagements.

I eventually decided to turn over all the turmoil to God. As days and weeks passed, it seemed as though I heard in my head, “Write things down.” So, I did.

The first thing I wrote was a letter to myself, in which I poured out all the feelings I had been dealing with for months or, perhaps unknowingly, for years. I cried out to God about the loneliness I felt and also about the anger, fear, regret, inadequacies, fault-finding, dread and despair.

When I finally stopped writing, it was as if the burden had started to lift. Everything that had been inside was now outside. I had dumped it all on the only One who could handle the whole truckload.

I soon saw positive things happening. For one thing, I came to the realization that my most annoying problem was me.

How could I be my own problem? Simple: I wanted control—of everything—and I resented the fact that God wanted control, too. My desire for control outweighed my desire for connectedness, even with Him.

I felt lonely because I had attached all the desires of my heart to a tiny circle of friends and companions from whom I wanted all my needs met, and they just happened to have lives of their own! I had completely taken my eyes off the big picture of what God had in store for me.

I didn’t want the life I was living; I wanted some pie-in-the-sky existence that wasn’t possible. For some reason I was holding out for it before I would permit myself to be happy where I was.

The second thing I wrote, on September 1, 1985, was a list of goals: all the things I felt were important in life—for now and for later. My first objective was to determine if and when I could retire from Mobil Oil. Since the list was figured on a three-year plan, I aimed for a September 1, 1988, retirement date.

My list included other goals as well—large and small—each with its own objective to stretch me and enlarge my borders. Nothing was too “out there,” but all the goals required discipline—something I was lacking when I felt so frightened.

After the list was completed, I noticed it was entirely about things, not people. Hmmm, it seemed I was still disconnected from my deepest need.

The third thing I did was what rounded me toward home plate. I had been to a Mobil management meeting at which I came across a thought-provoking article on plotting your lifeline in a magazine called the Executive Female. It included instructions for charting one’s life journey, including both personal and career experiences, on a graph, using plus signs for positive events and minus signs for negative or painful events.

I began plotting, and some interesting data quickly emerged.

What I saw was that for the most part, I had enjoyed a good life—happy childhood, meaningful relationships, professional singing, successful career, strong God-consciousness, writing books, travel and so on.

On the minus side, however, were three very difficult experiences that had indented my soul. One related to early problems with my mother and the hurt and sorrow that had been between us. The second was a traumatic move from Texas to California in the 1970s. The third was this current time of loneliness, brought on by insisting things go my way.

As I looked at the chart, I realized something that changed me deeply from that moment on: It was those three painful experiences that had given me my greatest strength and fiber—what I most needed to mature. Through them I was forced to rely on the Lord and deal with reality for what it was. In short, quit griping and grow up! The very things I hated had been the making of me. It was as if I took off a blindfold and walked into the light.

Though I had enjoyed all the good things in the plus category and had had lots of fun, there was no suffering or heartache there—nothing to build character or to provide the rich fodder needed for becoming a balanced adult. Nothing to extract from me the deepest, most revealing, and most transforming truths about myself. These painful experiences had actually helped me the most to become the person God wanted me to be.

When the exercise was finished, I felt I had hit a home run. I felt truly alive and had the guidance I needed to finally take constructive action in my life.

WILLING TO BE VULNERABLE
The soul in each of us is imprisoned until set free by Jesus Christ. We all have shells around us, protecting us from being eaten alive by the pain of life. And when those shells break, we believe we are at grave risk of being hurt, depressed or even dying on the spot.

To prevent this pain and loss, we guard ourselves by retreating deeper and deeper into the shell, being available only to what is pleasant, predictable and safe. But every person I’ve ever known who really had something to give has been burst open by the explosive force of God’s soul-transforming lessons. Each has been willing to be vulnerable to the truth about himself, to admit behavior patterns that are destructive to his own soul.

If we aspire to pay complete attention to the present, we must get out of our own ways. Living fully in the here and now starts deep inside as we allow the self-protective shell to break open so the liberating grace of God can flow in to heal and renew and establish genuine meaning in our lives.

On September 1, 1987, I retired from Mobil Oil Corp.—one year earlier than planned. I also had achieved almost everything else on my goals list. Most important, some of the relationships I had agonized over were restored—and they weren’t even on the list!

For a short time I worked as vice president of public relations at Insight for Living, the international radio Bible ministry of my brother, Chuck, but I soon found I spent more time traveling and speaking than I did working in the office. Once again I “retired” from an office job and began trusting God to meet my financial needs on His terms.

In 1995 I received an invitation to speak at several conferences the following year. The conference organization, now known as Women of Faith, was founded by author-entrepreneur Stephen Arterburn and was designed to be a source of encouragement to women across America. Steve wanted women to get away from their routines for a weekend to have fun, sing and worship the Lord with other women.

Steve asked Patsy Clairmont, Marilyn Meberg, Barbara Johnson and me to be speakers. The next year, we were joined by Thelma Wells and Sheila Walsh.

Every time we spoke at another venue, we experienced fresh excitement. We could sense God was doing something. Thousands of women were discovering what it meant to be a “woman of faith,” to trust God with their desires, their families, their problems, their lives.

Over the last seven years we have spoken to 1.5 million women. Who could have imagined it? I, for one, never dreamed God would swing open this door.

We never know how things will turn out, do we? Feeling stuck or overwhelmed makes us despondent and causes us to stay put a lot longer than we need to.

For me, writing that letter to myself so many years ago taught me things I’ll never forget. Once I saw my effrontery and self-centeredness on paper, I could finally decipher the magnitude of my control problem. I knew change was necessary—and with Christ, possible.

God has shown me that wherever I am in life can be my very best place. I had no idea all the things God had in mind for me. That list I made in September 1985 was only a drop in the bucket to all He had in mind for my journey. And I’m still movin’—enjoying every minute of the here and now!

Adapted from I Married Adventure by Luci Swindoll, copyright 2003. Published by W Publishing Group. Used by permission.

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Luci Swindoll retired from an executive position with Mobil Oil after 30 years of service and began speaking and writing. Her latest book is Simple Secrets to a Happy Life.

Prayer leader Mary Glazier founded windwalkers International Ministries to teach other to soar upon the wind of the Spirit of God.

Mary Glazier knows firsthand that the Spirit of God is moving all over the world. Mary, an Alaska native, is founder and president of Windwalkers International, a prayer network of more than 4,200 intercessors and prayer groups in 44 states, four Canadian provinces and five nations.

Her ministry, originally given the name Intercessors of Alaska, began in 1990. Aglow International called upon Mary to “seek a battle strategy for the state” in response to the desperate need for a spiritual awakening. Suicide, alcoholism, rape, child abuse and family disintegration were rampant statewide.

“God is a miracle-working God,” Mary says. “I prayed for Alaska even as a young girl. But now as I began to stand in the gap, asking for a miracle in our state, the Lord actually showed me the darkness and wickedness we were up against.

“I prayed specifically, asking God to hover over our dark land. Government leaders struggled to find solutions, but I knew that only God could save Alaska and that prayer and faith were His solutions.”

In founding Windwalkers, Mary was relying on the declaration of Psalm 18:10: “And He rode upon a cherub and flew; and He sped upon the wings of the wind” (NASB).

Initially, she organized a weekly intercessory prayer meeting that focused on the specific social needs of the state of Alaska. In addition, she started a weekly Bible study in which she taught on prayer.

By March 1991, 25 more prayer groups had formed throughout the state. Today in Alaska, thousands of intercessors are experiencing intimacy with God and moving to the front lines of spiritual warfare.

“Our message is simple yet powerful truth,” Mary says. “The devil loves bondage, but God loves freedom. We want to encourage and equip leaders to find the direction of the Lord for their lives and their ministries to fulfill the Great Commission.”

ENGAGING THE OPPOSITION In 1995, Mary mobilized a prayer network for Alaska’s prisons and began experiencing spiritual warfare as never before. She had received word that a witch had applied for a job as chaplain of the state’s prison system.

Emergency prayer groups were formed throughout the region. Intercessors came together and prayed that God would move the woman from Alaska to another state where she would hear the gospel.

Mary recalls, “As we continued to pray against the spirit of witchcraft, her incense altar caught on fire, her car engine blew up, she went blind in her left eye, and she was diagnosed with cancer.”

Ultimately, the witch fled to another state for medical treatment. Soon after, revival visited every prison in Alaska.

At the women’s correctional facility in Anchorage alone, 55 of 60 inmates found Christ. “Ask largely,” Mary says. “Intercessory prayer is making a major difference in North America.”

Because of her strong leadership skills, Mary has been called upon by Aglow International to serve as the Alaska State Prayer Coordinator. She is an active member of the Church of Anchorage (a coalition of local assemblies) and the Anchorage Evangelical Pastors Fellowship, a network of more than 90 pastors.

Currently, Mary is on the board of Mission America and is the northwest regional director for the United States Spiritual Warfare Network. The latter role requires her to travel internationally to promote and strengthen prayer groups and promote church unity.

Through her travels she has identified what is most often the greatest prayer need among Christian leaders. It is what she calls “a shallow prayer life.”

“We don’t pray boldly enough as Christians,” she observes. “Our prayers are often fear based.”

Using her teaching gifts to address this and other critical needs, Mary has designed one-day seminars to mobilize and train city, state, and national leaders to hear and respond to the Holy Spirit’s direction on all levels of intercessory prayer. She developed a book of prayer guidelines to be used as a part of these training sessions.

ALASKAN BEGINNINGS Mary’s roots grow deep in Alaskan soil. She is a Kaigani Haida Indian, born in Ketchikan. Much of the town, a favorite tourist spot with 3,000-foot-high Deer Mountain, is constructed on trestles, docks and pilings at the water’s edge. The community boasts one of the largest collections of totems in the world at Totem Bright Park.

Her grandparents migrated to southeastern Alaska from British Columbia in the late 1800s. Mary fondly remembers having participated with her grandmother in an Indian naming ceremony in 1974.

“Characteristics accompany names in my culture and are passed from generation to generation,” Mary explains. “My grandmother, a Christian, called a special prayer meeting during which she named me ‘Healing jaat,’ which means ‘Thunderwoman.'”

She adds, “Although at the time the name sounded strong and masculine, the Lord revealed to me through prayer that I am a redeemed part of His inheritance and that this name was given to me as a necessary part of the ministry He wanted to birth through me.”

Mary found Christ at age 7 through the ministry of a door-to-door missionary. “Joy leaped in my heart,” she describes. “I knew something real had taken place even as a young child.”

She was nurtured in her faith by the ministry of the Salvation Army and worked in her church wherever she was needed. “I taught in vacation Bible school, Sunday school, helped in hospital and prison ministry, and went on numerous mission trips.

“Because I grew up in an alcoholic household, I knew that I needed healthy Christian role models. I surrounded myself with leaders and school teachers who would love and disciple me.”

At age 13, Mary met Sue Parton, a Salvation Army officer’s wife who had a tremendous impact on her life as dear friend, mentor, teacher and fellow truth-seeker. She credits Sue with being an instrument God used in the process of shaping her character.

Sue treated Mary as a daughter and invited her to live in the Parton home for a year when Mary was 15. Today they remain lifelong friends.

Family is important to Mary, and she is grateful to have seen her parents miraculously delivered from alcohol. Along with 60 other family members, her parents have accepted Christ.

“As I matured in my Christian faith,” Mary recalls, “I realized that I knew Jesus as Savior, but I didn’t know the Holy Spirit. I asked Jesus to teach me about the third person of the Trinity.”

Not long after that prayer, Mary received the baptism of the Holy Spirit, which transformed her life. She explains: “The Holy Spirit taught me about the lordship of Christ. I struggled to yield my stubborn self-will to the Lord for a number of years until a deep surrender came.

“Not only did I finally begin to understand the lordship of Christ, I came to know God in a more intimate way as my heavenly Father.” This was precisely what Mary needed as she faced the challenges of balancing her ministry and being a wife and a mom to three children.

God’s faithfulness was revealed to her in 1989 during one of the greatest trials of her life when her son committed suicide. “A fiery affliction came upon me,” she says. “But in the midst of my despair my Father was there to care for me. I knew that He could be trusted with my whole being and that I would follow Him wherever He wanted me to go. Shortly after, Windwalkers International was born.”

The ministry is an apostolic and prophetic missions organization that focuses on training and equipping the body of Christ to respond to the present-day moving of the Holy Spirit. Recently, in anticipation of future challenges and growth, Windwalkers expanded its administrative facilities.

A new building in Anchorage, which sits on one full acre of land, is “a gift from God,” according to Mary, and yet another testimony of God’s miracle-working power. “I am more convinced than ever that God is asking His people to step out in faith and follow Him to places where they’ve never gone before,” she exclaims.

Mary Glazier practices what she preaches as she relies on the leading of the Holy Spirit in her life and ministry. C. Peter Wagner, president of Global Harvest Ministries, says, “She knows how to pray powerfully for the nations, and she has an enviable track record of equipping others to move out to the front lines of the kingdom of God.”

Mary says, “I have learned to listen to the voice of the Lord in my prayer closet.” Then she concludes, “God has been preparing us for a tremendous outpouring of His Spirit, and we want to be ready.”

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Candice Tolbert is a freelance writer. For more on Windwalkers International, go to .

Knowing the facts about Christ is not the same as loving him intimately.

During the 19th century, liberal theologians began a search to rediscover the historical Jesus. They were intent on determining the true personality of a Jesus who existed 2,000 years earlier. Leading this pursuit was Dr. Albert Schweitzer, the Nobel Peace Prize-winning philosopher, theologian and medical missionary.

The fruit of his work was disclosed in his highly acclaimed book The Quest of the Historical Jesus, which was released in 1906–the same year the Azusa Street Revival lit the world on fire.

After exhaustive research, Schweitzer concluded that Jesus was a mysterious, power-hungry ruler who arrogantly considered Himself the Son of Man. Titles such as Messiah, Son of Man and Son of God, Schweitzer said, were merely “historical parables,” and Jesus’ claims of divinity were not based on reality. Schweitzer wrote, “We can find no designation that expresses what He is for us.”

In Schweitzer’s opinion, Jesus had nothing in common with contemporary society, but He could be known through individual experience. For Schweitzer that meant running a hospital in Africa. Although he helped a great deal of people and was truly sincere–Schweitzer was sincerely wrong. 

He sought the Jesus of 2,000 years ago rather than the Jesus of today. The tools of his research were human intellect, the scientific method and subjective experience rather than Scripture, prayer and meditation.

You Can Know Jesus Through the Bible How important is it to rediscover the Jesus of the Bible? I venture to say it means everything. However, revelation–which doesn’t come from human intellect or scientific method–is at the core of who Jesus is. Revelation is the process God uses to show the beauty and power of Jesus in your life through the Word of God.

When you know the Jesus of the Bible, you daily fall more and more in love with Him. Jesus doesn’t want you following Him out of cold, rigid, legalistic obedience as if He were an impersonal taskmaster or an exacting judge. He wants you to obey Him because you love Him and delight in pleasing Him!

Yes, He is a monarch and righteous ruler, but He is foremost a loving Lord who laid down His life for you and continues to pray for you every day before the Father (see Heb. 7:25). In fact, He desires to relate to you as a Bridegroom with His bride. Jesus wants you captivated, fascinated and exhilarated by a true revelation of Him, by truly “knowing” Him. 

To know Jesus, you must begin with the Bible. The Bible was written to introduce you to a Person–Jesus. By wholeheartedly believing in Him, you can share eternity with Him. In the closing words of his Gospel, John wrote, “But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name” (John 20:31, NIV).

For many Christians, believing in Jesus the Son of God is much easier than believing in Jesus the Son of Man–a real, live person. Without forfeiting any of His divinity, Jesus came to Earth and clothed Himself with human skin. 

But after His resurrection, Jesus didn’t stop being a man. Jesus did not temporarily become a man (the incarnation) for a season and then return to heaven, dissolve His humanity and “go back to being only God.” The eternal, uncreated, omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent second Person of the Trinity became a man and will remain a man forever!

Relating to a personal God who is a literal Person is so much easier than relating to some “beatific vision” or “ethereal presence.” Unfortunately, a great deal of religious training not only distorts the personality of Jesus but also ignores His humanity in attempting to emphasize His divinity. We need both! By building a friendship with the man Christ Jesus, you build a relationship with Jesus, the Son of God. 

An Interesting Romance During the 1870s two unbelievers sat on a railroad train discussing the life of Christ. Both were skeptical attorneys: one a writer, the other a famous agnostic. “I think an interesting romance could be written about Him,” the writer commented. His friend replied, “And you are just the man to write it. Tear down the prevailing sentiment about His divinity and paint Him as a man.”

The writer, former Civil War general Lewis Wallace, accepted his friend’s challenge. Yet the challenge didn’t come from an unknown agnostic attorney. It came from a noted opponent of Christianity, Robert Ingersoll, whose scurrilous attacks on biblical belief commanded up to $3,500 for one lecture–a hefty sum in those days. 

In the process of constructing the history of Christ, Wallace found himself facing the greatest life ever lived on Earth. The more he studied the Bible, the more he was convinced. He fell in love with the compassionate Savior. 

His heart was so captivated that one day he felt compelled to cry, “Truly this was the Son of God.” He finished the book, and it eventually became the all-time classic Ben-Hur.

Meet the Real Jesus! God wants you to know the love of Christ. He wants you to drink deeply of His love and discover the beauty, the reality of His only begotten Son, who is “beautiful beyond description.”

The Bible says that God loves you and delights in you so much that in spite of your shortcomings and sins He bursts forth in heartfelt song! If you are a Christian, the wrath of God is no longer upon you. He’s not mad at you anymore–He’s on your side! 

In fact, Scripture says He not only saves you; He also sings over you! “On that day they will say to Jerusalem, ‘Do not fear, O Zion; do not let your hands hang limp. The Lord your God is with you, He is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, He will quiet you with his love, He will rejoice over you with singing'” (Zeph. 3:16-17).

Believe it or not, God enjoys you. He not only loves you; He likes you too and wants to spend time with you. He wants you to follow Him out of sheer delight, captivated by the compelling personality and character of His one and only Son.

The real Jesus is full of life and joy, and He loves you extravagantly. In the deep recesses of every heart, Jesus whispers, “Come. Stop trying to fill the hole in your heart with things that cannot satisfy. Drink of My love and find true life.” A love relationship with Jesus is the foundation of your very life.

Jesus is the Bridegroom who ravishes His bride, the church, with His love. This same Jesus ravishes you with His love. Jesus wants a full-time bride–not some part-time girlfriend!

To see yourself as part of a bridal party is not about gender but position. He longs to be with you as a bridegroom longs to be with His bride! It is this joyful Jesus who, as a bridegroom, beckons you to follow Him as His beloved bride.

Who is this person who calls you to Himself? It’s the festive Jesus who enjoys celebrating a wedding feast; the servant Jesus who prepares a seaside breakfast for His men; the masculine Jesus whom brawny fishermen follow unashamedly. It is the pure Jesus whom hypocritical leaders despise and the joyful Jesus whose infectious smile melts the hearts of the multitudes.

THE JESUS OF MY FIRST LOVE The Jesus I am describing is the Jesus who won my heart when I was much younger. After 20 years of emptiness, which included 12 years of religious schooling, I discovered that true Christianity is not based on religious rules. It is based on a living, dynamic relationship with Jesus Christ.

Up to that point in my life I had searched everywhere for peace and purpose. Then someone introduced me to Jesus. Scales lifted from my eyes and I realized that Christianity was not about performance or production–it was about a Person!

I was overwhelmed by the real Jesus of the Bible, and I embraced a relationship with the One who created me and laid down His life for me so that I could experience His abundant life (see John 10:10).

Over time, however, I strayed from my love relationship with Jesus. The tendency after experiencing a true revelation of Him is to replace intimacy with ministry, passion for the Lord of the work with production for the work of the Lord. While Jesus was calling me back to emulating Mary, I was stuck mimicking Martha (see Luke 10:38-42).

I needed to discover Jesus again. I needed to leap off the treadmill of performance and pressure, back into the loving arms of the smiling Shepherd I once knew.

In the closing hours of her life, Eileen Wallis (wife of one of England’s premier prophets and church leaders, Arthur Wallis) gave me this counsel: “Enjoy Jesus, Larry. Take time to simply enjoy being with Him.”

How about you? Are you enjoying your relationship with Jesus Christ, or have you slipped from sheer delight in Him to drudgery, activity and more and more ministry?

If your hunger to spend time communing with Jesus has decreased, if your experiences of God’s faithfulness are limited to stories of the past, or if you continually struggle to win victory over battles that stand in your way, you may need to rediscover Jesus.

Rekindling Your First Love Jesus once spoke to a group of believers who had become settled in their relationship with Him: “‘I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked men, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. 

‘You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary. Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love'” (Rev. 2:2-4).

The Christians in Ephesus weren’t bad people. They opposed wickedness; they tested all teaching with the truth of God’s Word; and they refused to give up under persecution. From outward appearances these people would be considered solid Christians–and they were. Yet, Jesus said, “You have forsaken your first love.”

If you can identify with these solid believers, then this Scripture passage gives three simple keys that can help you rekindle your passion for Jesus.

• Remember. Think back to the former days when you enjoyed the sweetness of Jesus’ presence and favor.
• Repent. In prayer, confess that you have allowed yourself to stray from your first love. Ask for forgiveness, and choose to turn around and return to Jesus.
• Repeat. Do again those simple things you did to cultivate your relationship with Jesus. Read your Bible and spend consistent quality time with Him in worship, prayer and meditation. Remember He likes you, He longs for you–in spite of your shortcomings and sin.

Respond to Jesus. Be motivated not by guilt and pressure but by His deep-seated, passionate devotion to you! “We love [Him] because He first loved us,” John says (1 John 4:19). What a joy it is to rediscover Jesus and be rekindled in bridal affection for Him as the “Lover of our soul.”

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Larry Tomczak is the director of . (International Center for Evangelism, Church-planting And Prayer) and has 4 children. Larry and his wife Doris live in Nashville, Tenn.

 

(PART 1)

Prejudice occurs when we prejudge a person because of race, gender, religion, profession and so on. Often we inherit prejudices from our forefathers. Far from innocuous, prejudice is sin in God’s eyes.

(PART 2)

Unity doesn’t mean we lose our individuality. Biblical unity appreciates uniqueness through sincere love. The more we know one another, the more we can genuinely love one another.

Read a companion article.

We really are the children of God, and the dynamics of our relationship with Him are more similar to the relationship between earthly parents and their children than we might initially expect. We struggle with this because we all know that human parents don’t have the same attributes and capacities as God. This, however, does not negate the similarities.

For instance, providing for the children is not a burdensome drain upon a loving and resourceful parent. Rather, it is a deeply satisfying pleasure and honor. So it is with God and His children (see Ps. 50:15).

Jesus said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35, NKJV). He, above all persons, seeks to experience this blessing (happiness).

God Himself has set the example of the blessedness of giving for us to emulate. Of course, this also means that “receiving” is a blessing; otherwise “giving” would be evil!

Therefore, God has ordained that we walk in the blessedness of receiving and also in the super-blessedness of giving. This is truly an ingenious basis for both an economic and a relationship system.

Just imagine what this world would be like if every person walked in the revelation of a cycle of life rooted in gratefully receiving and generously giving. It would be like heaven already is.

Happiness is not a limited commodity in the universe; it is like a holy virus that can and should be spread. Christians, above all other people, should be good advertisements for this quality of happiness.

At times earthly parents “test the desire level” in their children regarding the things that they say they want so much. Wise parents do not always respond to their children’s requests the first time the children ask.

Sometimes good parents might hold back to make sure their children are serious, or they might require them to save their own money to buy what they desire. This way it becomes worth more to the children when they finally get it.

If parents will sometimes require their children to wait patiently for their desire to be fulfilled, then the answer, when it comes, will evoke a greater and longer lasting joy and gratitude in the children’s hearts. So it is with God and His children (see Luke 11:13).

There are other situations in which parents will not automatically provide something for their children until the children specifically ask for that thing. When the children speak up, and the desire is legitimate, loving parents quickly respond to the request without a trace of a begrudging or unwilling attitude.

The children receive what they’ve asked for, but they would have gone without it had they not asked. So it is with God and His children.

“You do not have because you do not ask” (James 4:2). This has to be one of the most profoundly amazing and convicting principles in all of Scripture.

Yet again, there are times when children’s persistence ultimately prevails over any reluctance in the parents to grant a specific request. The parents see the passionate desire in their loved ones, and they simply cannot withhold the request.

The parents will even rearrange other things to fit the answer to the request into their larger plans for their children’s lives. The priorities of parents can potentially be altered by the expressed desire of their children.

God’s children at times prevail upon Him through persevering prayer (see Luke 18:1-8). It is God’s will that we prevail over His permissive will through prayer in order to see His perfect will established. This is significantly what prayer is about by its very nature–God truly listening to the voice of human beings and genuinely responding to them (see Josh. 10:14).

God likes that kind of bold “wrestling” in prayer–just as earthly fathers enjoy wrestling with their kids to affectionately bond with them and to help them develop their strength and agility. This is an amazing doctrine of Scripture that has been abused by many and ignored by most.

It remains true nonetheless. The almighty God actually desires to enter into a genuine interactive friendship with us–unmighty as we are.

Prayer is a conversation that really matters both in the heavens and on the earth. Certainly our relationship with God is the most important relationship we have.

Our Father wants us to experience the delight of an intimate relationship with Him, one in which we regularly see Him answer our prayers. Jesus said, “Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full” (John 16:24).

God is our Father, and He loves to hear our voices and respond to our stated needs. We must take the time and expend the energy to keep up our dialogue with Him.

During the 19th century, liberal theologians began a search to rediscover the historical Jesus. They were intent on determining the true personality of a Jesus who existed 2,000 years earlier. Leading this pursuit was Dr. Albert Schweitzer, the Nobel Peace Prize-winning philosopher, theologian and medical missionary.

The fruit of his work was disclosed in his highly acclaimed book The Quest of the Historical Jesus, which was released in 1906–the same year the Azusa Street Revival lit the world on fire.

After exhaustive research, Schweitzer concluded that Jesus was a mysterious, power-hungry ruler who arrogantly considered Himself the Son of Man. Titles such as Messiah, Son of Man and Son of God, Schweitzer said, were merely “historical parables,” and Jesus’ claims of divinity were not based on reality. Schweitzer wrote, “We can find no designation that expresses what He is for us.”

In Schweitzer’s opinion, Jesus had nothing in common with contemporary society, but He could be known through individual experience. For Schweitzer that meant running a hospital in Africa. Although he helped a great deal of people and was truly sincere–Schweitzer was sincerely wrong.

He sought the Jesus of 2,000 years ago rather than the Jesus of today. The tools of his research were human intellect, the scientific method and subjective experience rather than Scripture, prayer and meditation.

YOU CAN KNOW JESUS THROUGH THE BIBLE How important is it to rediscover the Jesus of the Bible? I venture to say it means everything. However, revelation–which doesn’t come from human intellect or scientific method–is at the core of who Jesus is. Revelation is the process God uses to show the beauty and power of Jesus in your life through the Word of God.

When you know the Jesus of the Bible, you daily fall more and more in love with Him. Jesus doesn’t want you following Him out of cold, rigid, legalistic obedience as if He were an impersonal taskmaster or an exacting judge. He wants you to obey Him because you love Him and delight in pleasing Him!

Yes, He is a monarch and righteous ruler, but He is foremost a loving Lord who laid down His life for you and continues to pray for you every day before the Father (see Heb. 7:25). In fact, He desires to relate to you as a Bridegroom with His bride. Jesus wants you captivated, fascinated and exhilarated by a true revelation of Him, by truly “knowing” Him.

To know Jesus, you must begin with the Bible. The Bible was written to introduce you to a Person–Jesus. By wholeheartedly believing in Him, you can share eternity with Him. In the closing words of his Gospel, John wrote, “But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name” (John 20:31, NIV).

For many Christians, believing in Jesus the Son of God is much easier than believing in Jesus the Son of Man–a real, live person. Without forfeiting any of His divinity, Jesus came to Earth and clothed Himself with human skin.

But after His resurrection, Jesus didn’t stop being a man. Jesus did not temporarily become a man (the incarnation) for a season and then return to heaven, dissolve His humanity and “go back to being only God.” The eternal, uncreated, omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent second Person of the Trinity became a man and will remain a man forever!

Relating to a personal God who is a literal Person is so much easier than relating to some “beatific vision” or “ethereal presence.” Unfortunately, a great deal of religious training not only distorts the personality of Jesus but also ignores His humanity in attempting to emphasize His divinity. We need both! By building a friendship with the man Christ Jesus, you build a relationship with Jesus, the Son of God.

AN INTERESTING ROMANCE During the 1870s two unbelievers sat on a railroad train discussing the life of Christ. Both were skeptical attorneys: one a writer, the other a famous agnostic. “I think an interesting romance could be written about Him,” the writer commented. His friend replied, “And you are just the man to write it. Tear down the prevailing sentiment about His divinity and paint Him as a man.”

The writer, former Civil War general Lewis Wallace, accepted his friend’s challenge. Yet the challenge didn’t come from an unknown agnostic attorney. It came from a noted opponent of Christianity, Robert Ingersoll, whose scurrilous attacks on biblical belief commanded up to $3,500 for one lecture–a hefty sum in those days.

In the process of constructing the history of Christ, Wallace found himself facing the greatest life ever lived on Earth. The more he studied the Bible, the more he was convinced. He fell in love with the compassionate Savior.

His heart was so captivated that one day he felt compelled to cry, “Truly this was the Son of God.” He finished the book, and it eventually became the all-time classic Ben-Hur.

MEET THE REAL JESUS! God wants you to know the love of Christ. He wants you to drink deeply of His love and discover the beauty, the reality of His only begotten Son, who is “beautiful beyond description.”

The Bible says that God loves you and delights in you so much that in spite of your shortcomings and sins He bursts forth in heartfelt song! If you are a Christian, the wrath of God is no longer upon you. He’s not mad at you anymore–He’s on your side!

In fact, Scripture says He not only saves you; He also sings over you! “On that day they will say to Jerusalem, ‘Do not fear, O Zion; do not let your hands hang limp. The Lord your God is with you, He is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, He will quiet you with his love, He will rejoice over you with singing'” (Zeph. 3:16-17).

Believe it or not, God enjoys you. He not only loves you; He likes you too and wants to spend time with you. He wants you to follow Him out of sheer delight, captivated by the compelling personality and character of His one and only Son.

The real Jesus is full of life and joy, and He loves you extravagantly. In the deep recesses of every heart, Jesus whispers, “Come. Stop trying to fill the hole in your heart with things that cannot satisfy. Drink of My love and find true life.” A love relationship with Jesus is the foundation of your very life.

Jesus is the Bridegroom who ravishes His bride, the church, with His love. This same Jesus ravishes you with His love. Jesus wants a full-time bride–not some part-time girlfriend!

To see yourself as part of a bridal party is not about gender but position. He longs to be with you as a bridegroom longs to be with His bride! It is this joyful Jesus who, as a bridegroom, beckons you to follow Him as His beloved bride.

Who is this person who calls you to Himself? It’s the festive Jesus who enjoys celebrating a wedding feast; the servant Jesus who prepares a seaside breakfast for His men; the masculine Jesus whom brawny fishermen follow unashamedly. It is the pure Jesus whom hypocritical leaders despise and the joyful Jesus whose infectious smile melts the hearts of the multitudes.

THE JESUS OF MY FIRST LOVE The Jesus I am describing is the Jesus who won my heart when I was much younger. After 20 years of emptiness, which included 12 years of religious schooling, I discovered that true Christianity is not based on religious rules. It is based on a living, dynamic relationship with Jesus Christ.

Up to that point in my life I had searched everywhere for peace and purpose. Then someone introduced me to Jesus. Scales lifted from my eyes and I realized that Christianity was not about performance or production–it was about a Person!

I was overwhelmed by the real Jesus of the Bible, and I embraced a relationship with the One who created me and laid down His life for me so that I could experience His abundant life (see John 10:10).

Over time, however, I strayed from my love relationship with Jesus. The tendency after experiencing a true revelation of Him is to replace intimacy with ministry, passion for the Lord of the work with production for the work of the Lord. While Jesus was calling me back to emulating Mary, I was stuck mimicking Martha (see Luke 10:38-42).

I needed to discover Jesus again. I needed to leap off the treadmill of performance and pressure, back into the loving arms of the smiling Shepherd I once knew.

In the closing hours of her life, Eileen Wallis (wife of one of England’s premier prophets and church leaders, Arthur Wallis) gave me this counsel: “Enjoy Jesus, Larry. Take time to simply enjoy being with Him.”

How about you? Are you enjoying your relationship with Jesus Christ, or have you slipped from sheer delight in Him to drudgery, activity and more and more ministry?

If your hunger to spend time communing with Jesus has decreased, if your experiences of God’s faithfulness are limited to stories of the past, or if you continually struggle to win victory over battles that stand in your way, you may need to rediscover Jesus.

REKINDLING YOUR FIRST LOVE Jesus once spoke to a group of believers who had become settled in their relationship with Him: “‘I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked men, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false.

‘You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary. Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love'” (Rev. 2:2-4).

The Christians in Ephesus weren’t bad people. They opposed wickedness; they tested all teaching with the truth of God’s Word; and they refused to give up under persecution. From outward appearances these people would be considered solid Christians–and they were. Yet, Jesus said, “You have forsaken your first love.”

If you can identify with these solid believers, then this Scripture passage gives three simple keys that can help you rekindle your passion for Jesus.

**Remember. Think back to the former days when you enjoyed the sweetness of Jesus’ presence and favor.

**Repent. In prayer, confess that you have allowed yourself to stray from your first love. Ask for forgiveness, and choose to turn around and return to Jesus.

**Repeat. Do again those simple things you did to cultivate your relationship with Jesus. Read your Bible and spend consistent quality time with Him in worship, prayer and meditation. Remember He likes you, He longs for you–in spite of your shortcomings and sin.

Respond to Jesus. Be motivated not by guilt and pressure but by His deep-seated, passionate devotion to you! “We love [Him] because He first loved us,” John says (1 John 4:19). What a joy it is to rediscover Jesus and be rekindled in bridal affection for Him as the “Lover of our soul.”

Larry Tomczak is senior pastor of Christ the King Church of Greater Atlanta and executive director of Christ the King School of Ministry. He has authored six books, including Reckless Abandon, published by Charisma House, from which this article is adapted.