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The Church God designed should be filled with zeal and joy unlike the traditional church, which are filled with silence and deadness. We are going to learn two important keys today to make us zealous and joyful.
1. Have a Heart that is dealt with on a Daily Basis
The main killer of our zeal is the burden that we carry in our heart.
Matthew 11:28-30
28 "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."
Here we see Jesus calling us to cast our burdens on to him. Once we learn to do that on a daily basis as we did when we got baptized, we will no more be burdened. What brings burdens upon us is our unconfessed sin and unrighteousness.
Psalms 32:1-11
1 Of David. A maskil. Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered.
2 Blessed is the man whose sin the LORD does not count against him and in whose spirit is no deceit.
3 When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long.
4 For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer. Selah
5 Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the LORD"-- and you forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah
6 Therefore let everyone who is godly pray to you while you may be found; surely when the mighty waters rise, they will not reach him.
7 You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah
8 I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you.
9 Do not be like the horse or the mule, which have no understanding but must be controlled by bit and bridle or they will not come to you.
10 Many are the woes of the wicked, but the Lord's unfailing love surrounds the man who trusts in him.
11 Rejoice in the LORD and be glad, you righteous; sing, all you who are upright in heart!
Here we understand that how more than our sin it is our unopeness and deceit that hurts God more and makes God more upset.
When we are not open and keep silent we would be heavily guilted out and God’s hand would be heavily upon us.
Because of that our hearts are always in fear, distraction and confusion. The good news is that if we acknowledge our sins to God and be humble and real with our discipler and other brothers / sisters and open up what is going on in your heart and life daily we would be forgiven and we would become righteous in the eyes of God. We all need help to deal with our heart. Then we will be invariably rejoicing and fired up.
When we come together for the meetings we need to understand that
* this is not our quiet time with God
* This is not our confession time,
* This is not our time to express our feelings & attitudes,
* This is not our time to share our burden and worries.
This is the time to lift up God’s greatness & power and also to give to one another. So don’t wait for the church meeting to deal with your heart. Do it on a daily basis. But sadly many times we neglect our personal time with God (quiet time). We neglect our daily openness time (confession).
We neglect our weekly discipling time. And we expect ourselves to be zealous which is not possible. That will only destroy our zeal. This is the secret of zeal- Deal with your Dil Daily. And you will be the most zealous person in the Whole world. There is no other substitute for this.
2. Have a Mind that understands Jesus’ Godliness.
John 2:13-17
13 When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
14 In the temple courts he found men selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money.
15 So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple area, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables.
16 To those who sold doves he said, "Get these out of here! How dare you turn my Father's house into a market!"
17 His disciples remembered that it is written: "Zeal for your house will consume me."
Many of our understanding about Godliness is based on our past knowledge and experience that Godliness means being like a Sadhu. We feel quite awkward to be zealous and joyful in the Church. We say I am joyful in my heart but I am not showing it or expressing it.
In this passage, Jesus is not walking around like one silent wimpy personality. The Bible says He was filled with zeal. Zeal means Enthusiastic devotion or eager desire. Are you truly filled with zeal?
Every one was able to see Jesus’ zeal. His zeal was not only inside his heart it was clearly noticed by others. How about your zeal can people see it?
Jesus’ presence was very obvious in the gathering. Many people would have thought that Jesus is behaving like a crazy man. How about your presence in the meeting? Are you totally out of yourself? Would you like to make a fool of yourself? Is your presence obvious or people need to search for you?
Are you the type of person who sit in the last row of seats in the church and then silently take off without fellowshipping with others?
Brothers and sisters? We see how Jesus was on fire when he came to the temple. He was loud. He was filled with high energy. He was concerned about people worshipping God wholeheartedly and devotedly. Not for namesake coming and going to the church.
Today are you with high energy in the church. “Do you say Amen preach it” loudly in the Church? Do you sing loudly in the church? Do you bring your Bible and notebook to the meetings? Do you come early for fellowship or late?
Fellowship is the hallmark of true Love. Let’s be zealous for fellowship. So let’s understand from Jesus that true Godliness is not just being silent but being on fire and giving.
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