He's Coming.

I didn't sit in for much of the onething conference this year, but I'll tell you what I did take away from it.  A song:

"We miss you, Jesus

We just want you to return.

We are lovesick, Jesus.

We just want you to come back.

For the Spirit, and the Bride say 'Come'

Yes the Spirit and the Bride say 'Come!'

O, that You would rend the heavens! (3x)

And come down...

You're the only solution!

You're the only resolution!"

Misty sang it, and I especially love that first line: "We miss you, Jesus..."

This same line struck me from a small group discussion with one of my favoritest people ever, Tim R.  We talked about fasting and why you fast.  Sometimes fasting seems to be kind of a crazy thing to do, ya?  But when Jesus says:

"How can the guests of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? They cannot, so long as they have him with them. 20But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them, and on that day they will fast."

you kinda get the idea of missing him.  You know what I mean?  Imagine you're the disciples: you get to walk around with the God-man for three years, hear his heart, watch Him work, learn His ways, listen to Him speak directly to you about what happened that day...and then He's gone.  At this point, you know a few things:  

1. He's alive.  
   
2. He's coming back.  
   

Now, if you were them, you'd want him to come back sooner rather than later, wouldn't you?  I mean, I know they walked in power, spreading the Gospel, but imagine this scenario:  One week, you walk through a hospital with Jesus.  He cures the cancer, the paralyzed walk, the schizophrenic are put back to their right minds...  Then you have to walk through the next week without him.  As much as the power of God might flow through you, you lay hands on a few, and they are made well, wouldn't you so much RATHER watch Jesus do it?  Wouldn't you rather see it in their faces as they actually see, eye to eye, the Man who created them, loves them, and came to rescue them from their prisons?  Wouldn't you rather watch Christ's eyes light up as He sees another one of His children free?

So, here we are.  I don't know about you but I LOVE Jesus.  He's real, He's touched my life, and all I want is to know Him.  I just want to KNOW Jesus.  I promise you, it's the best thing you can do, this searching out of Christ.  It's the best way to spend the minutes of your life...it's one thing you can do this side of eternity that will last on the other.  

And how does fasting come in?  God created fasting...it obviously must have a purpose.  It must have some strategic way it unlocks our hearts.  Are you following me?

The last thing I want to do is fast out of what I might call "religion".  I honestly don't think fasting out of guilt is gonna get me very far either.  And, I've heard fasting described as "voluntarily putting yourself in a place of weakness" and then letting God move.  And then this idea of fasting because we miss Him came in...

When I think about fasting because I just love this Man so much...  When I think about the fact that I miss Him, and my world will be put aright when He returns (and He IS returning...make no mistake about it)...  When I think about the fact that my Jesus is perfect, but my world is turned around and inside out...when I think about how babies are being killed, children enslaved, people's lives are torn apart by selfishness both by dictators in Africa and by our self-focus as we sit in our comfortable Western living rooms...then I long for my Jesus to come back.  Then everything in me cries out for Him to come back.

It makes me miss Him.  And when I miss Him, my heart is tenderized...Oh, to love to fast and pray because of how close you feel His presence when you do.  Oh to not tire of spending hours in the Bible because it is the very WORDS of this One my heart loves.  He is the answer.  He's my answer, He's your answer - "You're the only solution..."  Jesus is coming back.  He's going to make the wrong things right, He's going to make the dark things light...  If you're having trouble connecting with the idea of "missing" Jesus, just ask Him to speak to you about it.  Ask Him to speak to your doubts and answer your questions.

"You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart." -Jeremiah 29:13

This blog isn't saying I've reached the pinnacle, but I'm moving.  Fasting makes more sense when I think about it this way.  There's this feeling I can't quite describe with words; like there's a great mystery of how you abstain from food for a time and Jesus meets you in a special way...it is quite a mystery, isn't it?  

Jesus has me on the right track, and my choice daily has to be to love Him.  Love Him with my all, and everything else will follow.  Jesus is coming -- don't waste the time you have before He gets here.

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My sister wrote an awesome blog about reading the book of Revelation...  Scroll down to "Reading the Last Chapter" HERE!