The Quest of Faith is the sacred fire of God
burning within the souls of men.
“The Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will show thee …. And I will bless thee, and make thy name great.”
Genesis 12:1-2
The faith of Abraham requires movement, a quest. God’s wonder can only unfold to us as we follow His leading.
“unto a land that I will show thee”
A disciple does not choose their own path. They follow, surrender, and yield themselves to the mystery of His Will. The promise of the blessings of God is reserved for such.
“And I will bless thee…”
Slothfulness and slumber are fatal enemies of the child of God. Far too many settle for the mundane, the pedantic, and the path of least resistance. When faith becomes a mere statement rather than a living reality, the glory of Him fades as the cares of this world take precedent (Matthew 13:7).
“That ye be not slothful,
but followers of them who through faith
and patience inherit the promises.”
Hebrews 6:12
The eye of the disciple is single. They live in the present with a heart set upon the things that lie before. The past is forgotten except for the lessons of His Spirit that have been branded upon them. The past is buried in the blood of the Lamb, and the future burns bright with expectation and hope.
“…this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind,
and reaching forth unto those things which are before…”
Philippians 3:13
True disciples keep their hearts free from bitterness and unforgiveness. There can be no “reaching forth” to the things before without a “forgetting” of those things in the past. Paul’s heart was alive to God; there was a mark that God had set before him. It was a heavenly call that required obedience.
“Whereupon, O king Agrippa,
I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision…”
Acts 26:19
Whenever the heavenly vision becomes a doctrine, it loses its wonder. The pull, the press, and the inexorable passion of the Spirit of God are no longer felt within. The words remain, but the faith to apprehend that for which God apprehended us is no longer felt within the heart.
“Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect,
but I press on to make it my own…”
Philippians 3:12 (ESV)
The heavenly vision produces a quest to obtain. There is something intrinsic and foundational in its need to apprehend God’s Call. The language that flows from a heart that God’s call has captured sounds foreign to the complacent and compromised. Pews cannot contain the Pilgrim. Those who look for The City – “whose builder and maker is God,” cannot linger in the buildings of men. There is a wilderness to be conquered, rivers to be crossed, and an unruly self to be brought under the dominion of the Spirit of God.
There lies before the child of faith a land of promise that teems with the Glory of God; a doing that flows from a life that has become “rooted and grounded” in the Love of God. This life flows from the eternal well of the Living Christ. An effortless fountain of wonder that can never run dry!
Discipleship is the temper of a heart captured by the Hope of His Call. It is sustained by an enduring love and fueled by a faith that cannot be extinguished or compromised. The Lamp of the Lord burns bright in the hearts of those who pursue Him.
“As the hart panteth after the water brooks,
so panteth my soul after thee, O God.
My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God:
when shall I come and appear before God?
… Deep calleth unto deep”
Psalm 42:1-2;7
Please see the related post: Fellowship and the Quest (Link)
“That image or rather that Person, so human, yet so entirely Divine, has a power to fill the imagination, to arrest the affections, to deepen and purify the conscience, which nothing else in the world has.”
— J.C. Shairp
“A man’s life is an appendix to his heart.”
South
Brian Troxel
Take Heed to the Path You’re On
I will start this posting with a familiar scripture before I reveal the dream I had last night.
Mat 7:13 — Mat 7:14
The Narrow Way
(Luke 13:24)
“Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.
Most, if not all, Believers are familiar with the above passage of scripture from Jesus’ sermon on the mount.
With that said, I will begin describing my dream I had last night.
In the dream I found myself standing on the broad road, the one Jesus said leads to death, and remember feeling a sense of terror that I was on this road and not on the straight and narrow road which leads to eternal life.
However, although I was on this road I was standing and not walking upon it. In the dream I was standing with an open Bible and I saw people coming towards me carrying closed Bibles under their arms and walked right by me as if I did not exist. Some purposely walked right into me to try to knock me down but had no intention of listening to me. I can only infer from the dream that those carrying the closed Bibles were Christians who had left the straight and narrow path and had chosen the broad easy path. Being that I was standing facing them as they came towards me says to me that the Lord placed me directly in their path to hopefully cause them to repent and turn around. The fact that I felt terror at finding myself on the broad path meant that I was placed there,however, I could easily turn and follow the crowd into eternal destruction.
In the sermon on the mount the Lord says that the narrow way is hard to find and in addition difficult to walk upon.
As the days grow darker the temptation to compromise with the world will be greater and greater because the persecutions will become more prevalent. The hyper grace movement is evidence of this.
I will close with the following scripture from 2nd Corinthians.
2 Corinthians 13:5
Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you are disqualified
https://tpuccio.wordpress.com/2020/03/11/take-heed-to-the-path-youre-on/
Sorry for the late reply, as I have been travelling a lot lately in His service. Another accurate word… too many in our day take the words of men over the Word of God. The false and misguided ministers make the road as broad as they can to build their own followings and fill their bank accounts.
Blessings and thank you for the comments.
BT