PASSIONATE PURSUIT...AFTER GOD'S OWN HEART!

Acts 17:16-18​

Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was stirred in him, when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry. Therefore, disputed he in the synagogue with the Jews, and with the devout persons, and in the market daily with them that met with him. Then certain philosophers of the Epicureans, and of the Stoics, encountered him. And some said, what will the babbler say? other some, he seemeth to be a setter forth of strange gods: because he preached unto them Jesus, and the resurrection.
 Paul had gone forth to do the Lord's will and to disperse the Gospel while waiting on his fellow servants to arrive. There was a need for reinforcements. Many had received the Gospel, but there were also many adversaries. While Paul waited, he was able to recognize the spiritual atmosphere of the city. The “spirit was stirred” because everyone seemingly had been given to idolatry. We today must take down the idols and the high places, and restore the Word, the truth, and prayer back to our schools and communities. The Lord is not slack with His coming, but he has shown himself patient and long suffering towards us. He said he comes that we may have life and have it more abundantly. Let the joy of the Lord be your strength. Put your burdens and cares on the altar of your heart. Pray the prayer of faith. Confess your faults one to another.

We have failures or sometimes we call it shortcomings because as we live we are learning the Lord's names. We learn to trust him as a provider. We learn to trust Jesus as a way maker. We learn to trust him as a healer and a deliverer. We trust him as joint-heirs that he will perform His word in our lives.

When you love the Lord with all your heart, it is easy for your spirit to get stirred because it is after God's heart. With that stirring, there must be an outlet. Jesus was so stirred in His spirit to see that they made His house a den of thieves, and began to turn the tables. Paul, too, was stirred because the Jews were allowing such things. He went to the leaders and devout persons and they treated him as if he was one that was strange asking “What will this babbler say?” When all the while, he was attempting to show them the way of eternal life. He wanted them to know Jesus and the power of His resurrection.
 Acts 17:27-30

That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us. For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of our own poets have said, For we are also offspring. Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device. And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent:
The Lord has shed His blood, has forgiven us, and has pleaded that we stay grounded in His love. The adversary trembles when we surrender completely and walk in the love of Christ. He trembles when we have the joy of the Lord as our strength...And that adversary trembles when we put on the whole armor, and in unity contend for the faith with praise, worship, and fasting/prayer. We don't need the Lord to give another warning about idolatry and the abominable things. The celebrity idols that we have put up on the TV commercials are coming down! The abominable rainbow flag is coming down! The ungodly temple of Baal that has been erected at ground zero wit our tax dollars is coming down!

II Kings 23:1-3

And the king sent, and they gathered unto him all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. And the king went up into the house of the Lord, and all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him, and the priests, and the prophets, and all the people, both small and great: and he read in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant which was found in the house of the Lord. And the king stood by the pillar, and made a covenant before the Lord, to walk after the Lord, and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes with all their heart and all their soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people stood to the covenant.

Choose Jesus Christ and stand on your most holy faith. The Lord is coming and His reward is with him. There will be many to perish for failure to keep the words of the covenant, and to simply trust in the Lord and do His commandments. Do not fear. Do not be sorrowful for those walking in unbelief. Do not waver. Do not compromise your inheritance for the tares and workers of iniquity that refused to take heed to the holy precepts. Everything concerning falsehood and strange gods must be put away or you will encounter swift destruction! #KEEPSEEKING #KEEPPRAISING #EATTHEWHOLELOAF