I was having a perfectly delightful day enjoying my time with the Lord and reading His Word when God interrupted me in a poignant way.
I was reading about John the Baptist in John 3:29 in which John said, "The One who has the bride is the bridegroom, but the best man rejoices when he stands and hears the bridegroom's voice, so now, my joy is complete."
John was rejoicing because Jesus had appeared on the scene! His great joy was to see the bridegroom, Jesus, connected with the bride! He was ready to decrease so that Jesus could increase in the hearts of the people that He so loved.
Without warning, I began to feel this intense grief fill me. I asked the Lord, "What is this?"
He answered me by saying, "That is My grief that you feel when the bride is drawn away from Me to the messenger who was sent to connect her to Me."
I heard the Lord continue to speak to me about what He sees far too often on this earth. You see, many times, His messengers feel as if they are in competition with other messengers. As such, they feel compelled to find an"edge" that the others don't have. All to often that translates into purposely speaking and preaching about what is tantalizing, new, and bizarre in order to attract the people.
After all, they think, the people LOVE to hear about THAT.
Of course, I'm not talking about speaking about any present truth that the Lord wants them to speak about. All of the Word is important for growth. I am talking about tuning into what the people want to hear instead of tuning into what the Lord wants to say.
So often the result is a people more attached to the messenger or to the new, bizarre word, than they are attached to HIM.
I determined at that moment that the goal of my ministry would always be to connect Jesus with His greatly loved sons and daughters.
I am convinced that when we truly love HIM, it brings joy to His heart.
I am also convinced that when we bring those who don't know Him yet face-to-face with His love and power, it brings joy to His heart.
Think of it.... WE can delight Him through our love. WE can be those ministers of reconciliation that cause exuberant joy all through heaven. WE can heal His sometimes broken heart.
To every much loved son and daughter,
LET'S DO THIS!
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