How I love your law

How sweet are your promises

Sweeter than honey

-Psalm 119:97, 103

The Word of God gives us insight, correction, comfort, joy. Psalm 119 expounds on the goodness of God's word and the blessed life of those who love it. The word is a lamp to our feet. It makes us wise, and gives us insight and understanding beyond our years or professional training. When we walk according to His word, God establishes our way. It keeps us from sin and preserves our purity. Our life becomes a testimony to those around us when we wait for God's word. What a power-packed chapter Psalm 119 is!

Psalm 119:2 says:

How blessed are those who observe His testimonies,
Who seek Him with all their heart.

In the margin of my Bible I've amplified key words of this verse, based on the definitions found in Strong's Concordance.

How blessed are those who guard, maintain and obey your proofs and evidences,
Who visit often and tread over the place where God is looking for him with their whole heart, nothing held back.

Don't hold anything back from God. Visit the place where He is found often, searching for him like a tracker on the hunt. Spend time at His feet and read the word until you get something from your Heavenly Father. Read until you hear Him speak to your heart. You can read the same verse a hundred times and then the very next time you read it, you see something different or new! That's God illuminating His word to you and teaching you! Hungry hearts will be satisfied! Come hungry.

Glory to God!  |  Matthew 5:3-14, Psalm 119

Who is God?
Can He be known by mere dust?
Can He be understood by me?

What is my need?
Is it so great to get God's attention?
Surely He has mightier things which concern Him.

My need is great.
God is greater
Beyond my comprehension

He far exceeds my thoughts.
He far exceeds my need.
He far exceeds my expectation.

LORD, where can I find You?
In the secret place

LORD, how do I know You?
The still, small voice

LORD, when can I seek You?
When do you need Me?

God is Great.
He sets my soul on fire
With His Word and His Spirit
(Selah)

-Passionate One

Every morning

I lay out the pieces of my life on Your altar

And watch for fire to descend.

-Psalm 5:3 (The MSG)

Gut Level Christianity

In John 7:37-38 Jesus says, "If anyone is thirsty let him come to me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, 'Out of his belly will flow rivers of living water.'" Notice He didn't say from their hearts; He said from their belly. Jesus is talking about gut level Christianity. This Christianity puts you on your face before God in the privacy of your home when no one is watching and the pastor won't know. This Christianity sacrifices sleep in order to meet with the Creator. It refuses to quit when the marriage gets tough or the kids go prodigal on you. It does what the word says, even when it seems contrary to logic.

Gut level Christianity is the reason we have books like Jesus Freaks and Foxe's Book of Martyrs. These men and women didn't love God for what He gave them, but for Who He is. They stood firm in the face of persecution. They refused to back down even when faced with vicious and cruel deaths. They refused to change, compromise, or give up the call of God on their life in deference to the opinion of those around them. They gave it all. That's gut level Christianity.

Gut level Christianity is what the disciples had. Gut level Christianity is what the martyrs of yesterday and today have. Gut level Christianity looks a person in the eye who has spit on you and says, "I love you. You are valuable. You are redeemable. God wants something better for you. You can kill this body, but my spirit will never die!" Is this what your Christianity looks like? When God is not an idea in our head or a feeling in our heart, but a passion that stirs us down to the core of our being then we will see a change in our Christian walk. This is the fire I long to see in myself and in every Christian I meet.

Gut level Christianity doesn't play church and has little tolerance for those that do. This is Christ-like. The hypocrites and false advertisers received Christ's harshest criticism. We must not want the title "Christian" without the commitment and dedication required of a true disciple. God wants every part of you. He says, worship Me with all your "heart and strength and soul and might". In other words: "Pour your guts out for Me!" That's how much He loved us. Our response is just a way of returning that amazing love.

How would your horizon change if you started living a gut level Christian life? What friends would stop calling? What weeds would have to be removed from the garden of your life? Gut level Christianity never leaves you as you are. God loves you too much to leave you the way He found you. What a mess! He won't leave you wallowing in the same mire that sucked down your mama and your daddy and your grand-pappy. He wants to set you free from those bondages. He can and He will. He has done it! He finished the work of redemption at Calvary. It is now in our court. Will we choose to live from our head, our heart or from our guts?