Ashton writes:
(I wrote this in January but have been editing it and adding to it.)
Hi Everyone! Okay. So while I was still in Georgia my mom got weekly email updates from Ashley Gillam who was at IHOP doing the FSM track. I read them and was amazed at the things that God taught her and taught me through her. So I'm copying her example and starting emails of my own. (I still read hers every week!) Wow. There is just so much we don't know. As I read the word of God and meditate on what it means something new will be shown to me I had never seen before. God is just so huge. He has so many attributes. Every time I think I know them all He shows me another and another. My mind is blown by his majesty and holiness. Just recently He has been showing himself to me as the Bridegroom King and Judge. Well there are a couple of different topics that I want to share with you so I will try to fit them all in. First of all, I was in the prayer room last week and I was thinking what it really meant to be a lover and friend of the Bridegroom. I had heard a little at the OneThing conference and it really connected with me in my spirit that I was called to be a friend of the Bridegroom. Just to sit at his feet and learn what he is feeling and share in that. Basically to be his friend. Then I was at the EGS (Encountering God Service) where Dana Candler taught. She said several things that really struck me. In the Bible in Rev. 22:17 it says that "the Spirit (the Holy Spirit) and the Bride (us as the church) say come". If we were really honest with ourselves, do we really and truly want Jesus to return? Or are we too comfortable in our life right now and don't want it to change? That really hit me. I don't want to be passive when He returns. I want to be one who was faithfully longing for His return.
Then she spoke about Matt. 9:15. "The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast." If your friend is away from you, the natural response is to long until you get to see them again. You don't choose to long, it happens naturally. So I figured if I was to be a friend of the Bridegroom, Jesus, I want to long for His return. Part of longing is mourning. And a way to mourn is to fast. Mourning is a passion for a person that leaves us unsatisfied with the things of this world. Mourning comes from having knowledge of a person. So in order to mourn and long for Jesus, I need to search the scriptures to learn more about him. Jesus wants us to know a man who is like no other and then we long for His return because life isn't right without Him. Longing is loving him. If we really want Him to come back we will show it through how much we love him and long for him. How much we long and mourn for His return shows us how much we really know him. Mourning comes out of love, relationship, and intimacy. We are in a time to mourn. Jesus is returning soon. Will he find faith on the earth? (Luke 18:8) Or will he find bored Christians who do not have a relationship and do not know him? Love mourns in absence. Mourning is what Jesus is looking for. He will not return until He sees a Bride longing and mourning for Him that comes from knowledge and loving Him. We can't be okay with business as usual. We must ache for His return. Longing is an ache of the heart crying to be filled. We will know true joy when we put our affections in place. We have an incurable demand for love that end's up crying for Jesus' return. Jesus is longing for us and wants us to long for Him. Do we really miss him? Can you imagine longing to see someone and when you finally see them realize they didn't care if they saw you until they were old? That would be crushing. That is what we are doing to Jesus. When we long it is not a one sided longing---it is a fellowship with the Man Christ Jesus. Longing, yearning, and mourning are gifts from God that help us learn more about him. He is the one who put the longing inside of us---causing love to yearn within us. He will not return to the earth until He sees such a groan from His church. Philippians 2:1-2 says, "If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like minded having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose." God has called us to place our affection on one person. There is love and unspeakable joy in knowing Him and mourning when He is absent.
I want to be one who longs for the return of Christ. I want to be one of the reasons for His return to the earth. I don't know about you but this puts a huge desire on my heart to really and truly long for my creator to return. As I stated before, fasting is a sign of mourning. That will be my next topic of writing. I just want to leave you in suspense so you have to come back for more.
Anyway, have a great day wherever you are. And may the glory of the Lord shine upon you and fill you with a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him.
I love y'all!
His forever,
Ashton :)
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1 comment:
Ashton,
I, too, have learned much from reading Ashley's "teaching/sharing" and think it is a super idea that you're going to do likewise! As I was reading these two posts about fasting I thought about Mark N's book "The Fasting Key" and how you just added to what I had first learned from Mark's book.
Love you, Nana
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