Day 56

I know that it's been a few days since I've posted a blog entry. It's just been really busy here; as usual. But, here are a few highlights from the past few days:

Sunday FCF service with Mike Bickle: He preached on the Humility of God. Mike talked about how humility is part of God's eternal nature and that Jesus has existed eternally in the form of God as a servant. I had never thought of this before. I, like most Gentiles, tend to focus on Jesus being God, which He is. I thought that His humility came when He took on human flesh and came to earth. I didn't realize that Jesus was just as humble before He became a man as He is now. Mike also said that meekness is power under control, which I really liked. Jesus has perfect power under perfect control. Wow.

Mike also mentioned that people never knew how superior Jesus' abilities were. Can you imagine?! Even when He was doing miracles, people just thought that He was an anointed prophet. They had no idea that Jesus was actually God. I don't like to be misunderstood or when people underestimate me. I am usually quick to correct people when this happens. But, Jesus was content to be ordinary. Every time that people treated Him as a normal man, they underestimated Him. I also care A LOT about my reputation, although I am working through this as I renounce my fear of man. But, Jesus was not concerned about His reputation (Phil 2:6-8). He never insisted that people treat Him as He deserved to be treated, although He honored people like the centurion who recognized Him as a man of authority.

Finally Mike talked about how the very fact that God loves and enjoys weak and broken humans like us reveals His humility. He could not feel affection towards us if He was proud and insisted on what He deserved. Jesus could have won everyone's allegiance in one second if He would have come to earth in His full glory and power. We would have been completely dazzled, the way I often am by celebrities. But, Jesus wanted to win our hearts for love, so He decided to come as an extremely ordinary man (Isa 53:2-3). He is like the prince who disguises his true identity in order to be loved for himself rather than his privileges.

Monday: Toward the end of the 4 AM intercession set, we sang in the Spirit for a good 20 minutes and it was really cool. I kept thinking of Song of Solomon 4:9:

You have made my heart beat faster, my sister, my bride; you have made my heart beat faster with a single glance of your eyes, with a single strand of your necklace.

I just imagined how moved God's heart must have been to hear all of our voices lifting up to Him simultaneously. If a single glance of my eye makes His heart beat faster, than how does He feel when over 100 people sing straight to His heart from their spirits? I hope that His heart felt exuberant at our praises and that our affection for Him brought a great big smile to His face. I hope that we are a welcome resting place for His Spirit on the earth in the midst of evil all around.

Tuesday: We talked about how Jesus is looking for friends in our large core group meeting today. We discussed people like Moses, John the Baptist, John the Beloved and Peter and what being a friend means.

The combination of all of these things has been encouraging me to think more and more about Jesus' humanity and how I impact Him when I engage in relationship with Him.

Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am… John 17:24

Jesus wants me to be with Him. He likes me and He calls me His friend (John 15). I want to be a good friend to Him. I want to be near Him and to bring joy to His heart. I know that Jesus makes intercession before the Father and I want to join Him as the disciplines did in the garden of Gethsemane. I want to watch and pray with Him as they did. I don't think that I actually understand what it means to be Jesus' friend, but I want to and I'm asking Him to make me His friend.