The Fathers Heart....The Second Revelation, Mike JC [13 ebook reader txt] 📗

move to Western Australia from New Zealand in the 1980s, and our 3 girls, who were teenagers at the time, and were heavily entrenched in their local schools and friendships,…….

the suggestion of moving to another country…..obviously…. could easily appear somewhat,… daunting…...disruptive,…. and possibly very scary…naturally,….in regard to all that uncertainty that may lay ahead for them…..

 

So, with that in mind,….

 

To alleviate that possibility,….we decided to take a family holiday to Australia and Singapore for a couple of weeks, and introduced our girls to the world that we were considering moving to…

 

The end result……

 

they all loved the idea, and unanimously fell in love with our eventual destination…Perth,….  and today….

have all been in ministry and followed their passion…. as do their children……..

 

My 19 year old grandson for example clearly desires to follow in the footsteps of his dad and mum,…..who pioneered and operate a Pentecostal Church in the US

 

So let me encourage you……don’t be afraid to take the leap!!....if that’s what you feel in your heart to do……...just be considerate…. and do it wisely

 

Because,….as I mentioned a paragraph or two earlier…,.. “that our sense of contentment can easily allude us,….and can,…quite easily…feel very distant and far away from us at the end of our life

 

Contentment is a very sobering and elusive word……

 

There is a scripture that says …”godliness with contentment is great gain”(1 Tim 6:6)  

 

And we see this word …’Contentment’, coupled with the statement the Apostle Paul made, when he said,..“I have finished my course, I have run the race, I have kept the faith”….

This is an extremely satisfying place to find yourself in as you enter the latter part of your earthly existence..to be able to say, “I have finished my course”..”I am content”

 

 

I have followed the passion of my heart and I am satisfied..

”I have finished the race”(2 Tim 4:7)

 

Now keep this in mind, ….

 

that there has never been a more productive time in history to be able to globalise our passion and gain world-wide support for our goals, than today….…..

Obviously, with the introduction of the world-wide-web, and particularly, the multi-media platform and all it’s creative capability…… readily gives us an outlet for our passion and purpose, which obviously,…..was very much more restrictive only a few short decades ago… but has now,…clearly,… become an open opportunity for everyone…

 

We see people displaying their passion,… and the thing that drives them constantly,.. on the multi-media platform…. daily…don’t we?,……

 

And also….. if their drive and motivation has been corrupted in any way,….. then,… their passion can seem,…well….. anything but Godly, dosen’t it?,…..

 

and as we know, can be driven by many different voices as well, including the now well know radicalisation or bitter persuasion …..

This sort of passion, will never bring contentment with it, and the end result,….is ,…more often than not,…. a person of discontent, bitterness and resentment….

The sad part of that, is that it will never ever leave them….they will go to the grave never achieving their goal,… because the goalposts of persuasion will continually keep moving, and permanent contentment will continually elude them….

Unless of course, they turn their heart around and ask the ‘Prince of Peace’…Jesus.. into their lives….well,…..that changes everything!!!!!

 

No,….the person who pursues a Godly purpose in their life will unquestionably find a sense of completion ….like the Apostle Paul did…(even though there may be plenty more that you could do in this life )

 

And so,….

 

how do we find that Godly purpose…..that so many of us seem to grapple with….

 

That so many of the Christian believers continue to feel a sense of incompletion and dissatisfaction

 

Well, firstly….we need to make sure that our purpose driven life is on the correct foundation

 

Every human being has an inbuilt purpose and passion in life, and clearly that purpose can either take one of two directions.

We know that scripture clearly indicates that we are influenced by two fathers in this world….the father of evil and the Father of good……both fathers trying to influence us …

 

Having not being born into the Kingdom of God, and not knowing Jesus, who is the portal into eternal life….leaves us with a great disadvantage, because our influence regarding our purpose in life is severely hindered, and can easily cause us to use our purpose in a way that is detrimental to mankind, rather than its intended blessing for mankind

 

People can easily think that they are correctly doing what they are called to do without realising that their misguided use of their passion, is actually, creating the opposite affect…bringing harshness and severity,…. all the time being guided by the voice of a stranger that we are unaware of….

We can passionately go about our purpose in life, but the end result can be bitterness and confusion and resentment and even though we think that our daily passionate drive is accomplishing that which we have set out to do….. Future results tend to show us that the opposite has happened and we are left with remorse and an empty feeling   

 

Having lived since the 1940s now, I obviously have seen many incredible and dramatic changes to our world….many following their passion and some even receiving commendations like the Noble Peace Prize for their great contribution to the wellbeing of mankind, as well as many other commendations being passed out around the world for people that have followed their passion and purpose and have enhanced the world and made it a better place …

 

It doesn’t have to be a flashy sort of contribution, but often just a simple contribution like Mother Teresa did …..just helping someone to have a better life, could well be your purpose in life, like it was hers, and she was greatly commended in the latter part of her life, even though imé sure she was not looking for any great adulation…

 

I heard a marine biologist on the radio yesterday who spent her entire life (now in her 60s) following her passion that she had from a little girl, and some of the apparently obscure findings that she had made over the years ballooned into majorly helping the re-establishment of our fragile Barrier Reef marine ecology…..which is something she never intended or set out to do….but rather just followed her purpose and passion in life….

 

You see, there is a very subtle difference between,….following your passion and seeing a world that is lovingly enhanced by the presence of your gift….or seeing a world ….that is seemingly enhanced by your gift…..but the end result will ultimately bring destruction  and chaos with it..(this can even happen in our Christian Church world….which can seemingly be with the right motive , but at the end of the day ….the bitter outcome was not what we were expecting, and unfortunately, in order to justify our actions, we blame others ,vehemently justify our position,… which sadly,….actually makes thing worse for both ourselves and others)….

 

Throughout history we have seen many gifted people,..in the Church and outside of the Church….. who’s end and outcome was certainly not what they expected…

Adolf Hitler was a very persuasive and charismatic human being, who no doubt was gifted as an orator and persuader…..but of course….in the end his gift bought him calamity and bitterness to the human race ….as have many others who’s motivation was to create a better platform for the world that they lived in….but the end result, bought nothing but tragedy to the human race….for example …Pol Pot in Cambodia….Joseph Stalin….Mao Zedong and many other dictators that initially started a revolution for the better of mankind, but their spiritual persuasion was from the wrong source and consequently millions were adversely affected by their so-called passion to introduce something better into this world

 

No,…..the platform to arrive at the correct foundation for us to open our gift and purpose is two-fold….

 

(1)….

The spiritual influence must come from the correct source……the Holy Spirit, …and make no mistake, the Holy Spirit can work in unredeemed man just as well as he can in redeemed man, and that is clearly demonstrated by some of the incredible advancements we see in our world by people who profess to be atheists …isn’t it?

This world is governed by the prayers of the believers and the secular world can readily receive a spin-off from those prayers and often ungodly people will react in a godly manner…. unknowingly

Satan is not the master of this world today, but is well aware that he is in a tussle for souls, and “good will always triumph over evil”(Rom 12:21)….and he knows that, that’s why he parades himself as an angel of light…to deceive the nations and take them captive by his seemingly attractive proposals……however ….even for Christians,…the following point….. point number 2…. is more critical to seeing a good outcome for the displaying of our purpose….

 

Number one ….we must be influenced and anointed by the correct spiritual mentor….the Holy Spirit….and taking Jesus into our world is our guarantee that we can have some sort of assurety that we will be influenced by the correct source

 

And now….

that critical number 2 point is...

 

(2)....

Jesus…“a new commandment I give unto you, that you love one another as I have loved you”(John 13:34)

 

If we operate in our calling, or gift or purpose with the above scripture at the forefront of our motivation, then the eventual outcome of our gifting will be undeniably profitable to the world we live in, “because love never fails”,…(1 Cor 13:8)

However,…if we find ourselves at odds with others, and contention and bitter rivalry, or ungodly confrontation rear it’s ugly head, then we need to make an adjustment in our worlds and realise that …..this is not the intended outcome that I was pursuing and I need show some humility and re-engage my purpose from a different angle that is inclusive, and not disengaging of others……

All humanitarians have to make adjustments and learn to work and learn to live with others, and allow others to introduce compatibility into our vision or purpose or gifting, that we may all be uplifted and benefited by our calling

 

In short….

 

“your purpose must be empathy driven”……in line with the ‘Heart of The Father’….

 

to create a better world for mankind and to also,…somehow enhance the world for those less fortunate than us (and that may be your neighbour…or your friend at school)

This can take on many forms,…. even including the development of devices or contraptions that have the capacity to better the lifestyle of others……to improve our world for the better..

 

Interestingly…….

 

The Apostle Paul is a great example of both the good and the bad categories that I have previously mentioned

 

Prior to Pauls conversion (when he was known as Saul), the evidence of Pauls drive and passion and purpose in life is clearly seen in the things that he pursued as a young man..

 

“circumcised the eighth day of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin,….a Hebrew of the Hebrews,…. concerning the law,….a Pharisee…concerning zeal, persecuting the Church, ….concerning the righteousness which is in the law, ….blameless”(Phil 3:5-6)

 

There is no question, that Pauls purpose in life was seen and clearly operational even as a young man….

He clearly pursued the path that he obviously knew he was meant to take and was highly passionate about his purpose, even at a young age….

 

However, we all know the story…..

 

Saul sincerely believed that he was undoubtedly committed to the bettering of his community,….he believed that the outcome of his radicalisation would ultimately see good fruit and that the community would be better enhanced by his efforts….

(However…Even as a born again Christian we can sometimes unknowingly step into Sauls shoes, and think that we are pursuing the right path, but the end can bring quite the opposite effect …..”be ye not ignorant of the devils devices,(2 Cor 2:11)  for he goes around like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour”)..(1 Pet 5:8)………

and we don’t want to be devoured  do we!!!….and this is an exhortation to Christians!!!…..

 

no…..

If we are led by the Holy Spirit, and do it with empathy for others….with a heart of compassion and humility….walking in love for our community….and “giving no place to the devil”….then…..we will do everything uprightly before God and experience