A few days ago, I met with an amazing saint of God who is 77. He is STILL so "ON FIRE" for God, and so CONSISTENTLY "zealous" of the things of God! His beloved wife of over 55 years of marriage + just died last week. Sitting with him over lunch (a lunch I almost cancelled because I was so busy) was amazing -- afterwards tears rolled down my face because I felt as if I was in the presence of God Himself...
As we were talking and he was sharing how he was going to minister at a Church by visiting newcomers again, we were talking of his dismay at the compromise of so many "Christians" today that want to "water down" the gospel. And I realized that the reason his FIRE and PASSION for the things of God is still so strong is because he lives a life without compromise. He hasn't been drawn away by things that bring so many into bondage -- by things that NEVER ADD positively to life. (Are YOU caught up in the crowd thats defiantly asking: "what's WRONG WITH IT?" -- or are you living for over-the-top excellence and measuring things up by asking "what's RIGHT WITH IT?")
I realized WHY THE FIRE and zeal and passion has DIED DOWN in so many lives: because COMPROMISE is the WATER that DOUSES fire and zeal for Jesus!
A few years ago, I kept telling my kids that if there wasn't a FIRE lit in their generation, following Christ without compromise -- is headed to a STOP. MY generation has compromised SO MUCH it is NAUSEATING TO ME - I know why Jesus said LUKEWARM is VOMITED out of His mouth. I have seen LEADERS and those in authority compromise and fall away from the zeal and fire of living for Jesus 100%. I have seen the fractured lives as a result of what began with a little compromise. WHY has fire has gone out? In each situation it started the same way it did in the garden: "Has God REALLY said...?" COMPROMISE is WATER that puts OUT the fire and zeal for Jesus.
With a drink in one hand, gambling, cussing, and looking just as much like the "world" as like Jesus, I have seen person after person challenge me to say that their compromise is "sin": I have been challenged to "judge" them. Yet time after time, what followed on the heels of the compromises was a DOUSING OUT of their fire and zeal for Jesus and the things of the Lord! And here we are sitting with a Laodicean Church and fractures as a result of it:
““I know you inside and out, and find little to my liking. You’re not cold, you’re not hot—far better to be either cold or hot! You’re stale. You’re stagnant. You make me want to vomit. You brag, ‘I’m rich, I’ve got it made, I need nothing from anyone,’ oblivious that in fact you’re a pitiful, blind beggar, threadbare and homeless. “Here’s what I want you to do: Buy your gold from me, gold that’s been through the refiner’s fire. Then you’ll be rich. Buy your clothes from me, clothes designed in Heaven. You’ve gone around half-naked long enough. And buy medicine for your eyes from me so you can see, really see. “The people I love, I call to account—prod and correct and guide so that they’ll live at their best. Up on your feet, then! About face! Run after God! “Look at me. I stand at the door. I knock. If you hear me call and open the door, I’ll come right in and sit down to supper with you. Conquerors will sit alongside me at the head table, just as I, having conquered, took the place of honor at the side of my Father. That’s my gift to the conquerors! “Are your ears awake? Listen. Listen to the Wind Words, the Spirit blowing through the churches.””
(Rev 3:15-22 MESSAGE)
The GOOD NEWS is that a FIRE is starting in the next generation! There are a BUNCH OF YOU who have seen the disgusting results of compromises of MY generation and who WANT something more -- you want to be seeking God and living for Jesus 100% again! I am SO EXCITED!
Listen my Collegiate Wonders -- GET INTO IT or GET OUT OF IT! Don't settle for 1/2 way --
I love what Mike Moon was telling me about sin... He never grew up as a Christian, and he started realizing that a lot of Christians call sin "missing the mark," giving the illusion that it's like a big bulls eye and your arrow lands just a little to the side of the bulls eye. Sin is NOT "missing the mark" Mike says -- it's MISSING IT COMPLETELY! I also love what another young man told me the other night -- he is SICK of the "Christian" club -- he wants to burn with passion with a relationship with Jesus and show Jesus to a world that NEEDS TO SEE HIM!
Stay a mile AWAY from things that are a FLOODGATE to destruction. You newly marrieds, ban alcohol from your homes. You WILL GO THROUGH trials and tribulations and hard times with each other -- do NOT add alcohol to the mix -- it is a POISONOUS combination and has been proven to be so OVER and OVER and OVER again!! Keep PLUGGED IN to your church as PARTICIPANTS not spectators: MAKE TIME for your spiritual life ahead of ANYTHING else! Pursue God passionately!
And WATCH and EXPERIENCE and ENJOY a life WITHOUT COMPROMISE -- and show the world that when the Lord wants to make our days on earth like "heaven on earth" -- the ONLY things that stops Him is COMPROMISE and YOU!
Love to all!
a.k., Mom, Mrs. Budz.
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