I woke up this morning and experienced what is actually very rare for me: I didn’t feel excited to be awake. Usually, the best part of my day emotionally, spiritually, and physically is when I first awake. Even when I’m deathly ill awakening in the morning has been very positive for me for the past 33 years. However, from time to time I have one of those ‘off’ mornings. To be honest, because of what I’ve seen and experienced on the ‘other side’ on those mornings it would be easy to say, “OK Lord, I’m ready to come home.”
In 1978 I was in such horrible physical and emotional pain that living had little appeal to me. As some of you have heard me share, when the intensity and duration of pain was more than I could handle I was offered the choice of staying or crossing over. That experience is still as powerful and influential in my life today as it was the very day I made the choice to stay.
The one thing that made me want to live was to ‘finish my course!’ Karl Marx, a Satanist Communist, along with many other wealthy and powerful people died with complete regret for how they had spent or misspent their life! Compare that to the words of the Apostle Paul and you find the very mindset with which you want to crossover to meet our Lord.
For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand.
I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing (2 Tim. 4:6-8).
This is the way to leave Planet Earth! And it was this very mindset that caused me to choose to live. Not just stay alive, but to live for a purpose, to give myself fully to God’s eternal purpose and to live, serve, and pass my time here on Planet Earth for His purpose.
Since my life is not my own I realize I am merely a steward who was given the choice as to how I would spend my days… for me or for Him! That means everything about my life is focused on His will for me, not my will for me. To some this sounds burdensome, but be assured, those to whom this sounds burdensome, negative, or legalistic have never tasted this quality of life. As you have heard me say, we only experience the life of God in the areas where we believe what Jesus accomplished through the cross and in those areas wherein we have chosen to allow Jesus Lordship!
If I am His then I have to treat my body as a temple. That means I do not have the choice to surrender to sickness. He solved that problem on the cross. The question is, “Will I allow Him as the Lord raised above sickness to have His will in that area of my life?” It’s the same with which emotions I allow myself to experience or how I treat my wife, children, and friends. I don’t have the right to passively accept any state of being that is less than His will for me.
As stewards dying, growing weary, being tired of the journey, or wanting to quit are never an option. When these feelings (whether physical or emotional) seek to overwhelm me I am obligated to return to the cross, commune with the risen Savior and Lord, and assume my place in Him. The Prophet Isaiah said it like this:
Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, Neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the weak, And to those who have no might He increases strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, And the young men shall utterly fall, But those who wait on the Lord Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint (Isaiah 40:28-31).
This God, the Creator who is never weary and never out of strength is willing to share His strength with you when you are weary. This process begins by knowing and believing who He is… the almighty, all powerful Creator of Heaven and Earth!
Then it says we must wait on Him. In so much of the crazy, irresponsible teaching that is coming in the name of ‘grace’ we are made to feel like praying, worshipping, and confessing are works. These false teachers do not understand the concept of labor to enter into rest or love the Lord you God with all you soul, all your mind and all your strength. Maybe they have never been so in love with someone that they cherished what it is to do what it takes to create intimacy! But I can assure you, waiting on God is not dead or evil works.
In the Hebrew language the word for ‘wait’ means “to entwine or wrap around.” I love this concept. Wrap yourself around God, commune with Him, become one with Him. It is in that commune, that oneness of identity, that oneness with His resurrection that we exchange our weakness for His strength. I’ve done it hundreds of times. I have walked out of hospitals after hours of surgery… that’s right… I just got up and walked out. I have survived various infections incurred on the mission fields and I have outlived several death sentences from doctors by wrapping myself around God and experiencing His strength!
It might not seem as dramatic, but think of all the times you got out of a sick bed to preach, minister to someone, or take care of your family. How many times have you gone beyond your natural strength because you relied on Him? That may not seem as miraculous, but it is the same power.
I have drawn from that strength many times on days like today when I just didn’t feel like getting up. I didn’t feel like I had one ounce of inspiration to bring to you… but then I remembered. I am His, not mine. Unless He is giving me the choice to ‘cross over’ today, the only other choice I have is to live in victory. Then I wrap myself around Him and find a strength, a hope, and a passion beyond my own.
I want to close with one of my core life beliefs. Every decision I make either makes my life better or worse. It contributes to my success or my failure, facilitates health or sickness, makes me sad or happy, is either helping or hurting… there is no middle ground! Proverbs 18:9 of the Amplified Bible (which, although very different from the KJV is a very legitimate translation) says it like this: He who is loose and slack in his work is brother to him who is a destroyer and he who does not use his endeavors to heal himself is brother to him who commits suicide. This makes every thought and every action important.
Jesus takes this same principle to a Kingdom perspective when He says: He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad (Matt. 12:30). Everything about my life will draw people to Jesus or repel them from Jesus.
Face every day with the awareness that everything you do to reach the world is significant. You may not be out personally winning souls or going to the mission fields but without you none of us could go! When you grow tired of your job remind yourself it is helping you reach one billion people with the love of God! Remind yourself that we will stand before Jesus with all those we have helped and hear Him say, “Thank you,” or as the KJV says, Well done. Let purpose motivate you to live the quality of life Jesus purchased for you. Never accept less than the best, even when it doesn’t seem to be working in your own life. And never give up on the purpose of the great commission, the life as a servant, and as a steward in the Kingdom of God!
Together we are changing the way the world sees God! Never forget it!
Blessings,
Jim Richards
PS I want to remind you of two great offers this month.
1. Our monthly special is the life-changing series, Secret Signals. Along with this purchase you’ll receive a free download of, Speaking & Listening: The Art of Communication.
2. If you were unable to attend our annual World Changers Weekend you can still get the 11 CD World Changers Weekend series, The Most Important Things at the World Changers special price of $50, the same price as the attendees. Call 800.284.9402 ext 301 to order.