Worldly Viewpoint Or Kingdom Perspective
Jacob in the middle of the wilderness, (Genesis 28:10-22) laid his head down on a rock and dreamed about a staircase between Heaven and Earth. The most amazing of truth is how God bridged that gap between heaven and earth with Jesus. Jesus is the in-between of our worldly viewpoint and our kingdom perspective. Though sometimes it feels like there are huge gaps between us, heaven and earth, yet Jesus is the staircase. So, what causes gaps between us if God bridged the gap with Jesus?
In John 1:45-51 we meet Nathanael as his friend, Philip comes to him very excited to tell him that they found “The One whom Moses and the prophets prophesied would come” and He was from Nazareth. But Nathanael, had preconceived ideas about anyone from Nazareth, and he leaned into his worldly viewpoint and out of his heart comes a sneering, prideful, cynical remark…in other words, his mouth spoke out of his worldly viewpoint, and He completely missed the excitement of Phillip’s reality of truth: “We’ve found him! We’ve found the ONE we’ve been waiting for!” Yes Spiritual Gaps are caused by a worldly viewpoint which reeks of cynical doubt from a prideful heart that impulsively spews out an opinion, of what “you think you know”! Nathanael sneered, “Nazareth! What good thing could ever come from Nazareth?”
Cynical? Snarky? Opinionated?
Have you had these kind of impulsive moments? Are you cynical? Are you snarky? Are you opinionated? Check your heart for a preconceived idea, something you are assuming, something you have speculated on, and formed an opinion on, and it leans you deeply into a worldly viewpoint. Assumptions, preconceptions, speculations, rationalizations, presuppositions, all of these make the gap wider between Heaven and Earth, between God and us, between right and wrong, and between truth and deception. God wants to close that gap in us, giving us an undivided heart (Psalm 86:11-12) that we can listen up to Him with.
When we have an opportunity to believe something we know nothing about and we choose not to trust God, one has to wonder why we would not trust, not obey The One And Only Omniscient God, Who knows everything about all things. Can you imagine how foolish it is to scoff at an Omniscient God? We all do it. We do it in our disobedience when we don’t like God’s methods, and we do things our own way because we “think we know” better than God. At times such as these, when I have disobeyed God, and did my own thing, it usually ended up in the “crash and burn” scenario of human failure at its best!
Come And See
But Jesus turned, and as He saw them following Him, He said to them, What are you looking for? [And what is it you wish?] And they answered Him, Rabbi–which translated is Teacher–where are You staying? He said to them, Come and see. So they went and saw where He was staying, and they remained with Him that day. It was then about the tenth hour (about four o’clock in the afternoon). John 1:38-39
It is God’s desire for us to have this kind of heart attitude. “Come And See”. Where is God Abiding? Join Him There. They were asking Jesus where He was staying. Where are you abiding? So many times we are asking God to join us in our comfort zone, doing our thing, instead of asking: Where are you abiding? Can I abide with You? How did Philip answer Nathaniels cynical reaction? He said: “Come and let’s find out! Come and See.” Come, let go of your preconceived ideas, your opinions, your speculations, and come and see the reality of truth. What closes the gap between a worldly viewpoint and a kingdom perspective? We must be willing to be curious, and with a heart wide open to God’s Way, lay down our plans, and be willing to learn God’s way, truth, and life. Come And See! Come without our preconceived plans and opinions, with our heart open wide to Jesus. Listen Up to this 1 Minute Encouragement Video
What Say You?
Why do you “read” the Bible? Would you say that you are listening to the Word of God with your heart or just mindlessly? Do you listen with ALL your heart? Do you believe God wants to speak to you personally? Do You Quiet Your Soul, So You Can Clearly Hear Past Your Preconceived Thoughts? Do you see the Bible as a conversation with God? Do you invite the Holy Spirit to be a part of Your conversation to teach, guide, and help the conversation stay free of preconceived ideas, biases, presuppositions, assumptions, and opinions? Check Your Heart! What Say You?</span
A Wide Open Heart
“I am the Lord your God, who brought you up from the land of Egypt. Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.” Psalms 81:10 CSB
From the land of Egypt… (Exodus 1-3) We all have our own “Egypt” where God delivered us from every kind of slavery, cruelty, degradation, from having our future stolen, and from our potential being destroyed by strong task managers, who err on the side of narcissism. Yes, God saved us at some point or another from a form of slavery to others or to ourselves. We can’t take the credit, we did not get to where we are today because of our own speculations, assumptions, presuppositions, opinions, or preconceived ideas. We got here today freed by the miracle of salvation, and the truth of God navigating us daily. God delivered us in miraculous ways, so why should we think we should be leading God, when He should be leading us? We should be opening our hearts wide to God, and listening up to Him, because He has a plan that will purposefully lead us into our best days.
Open your heart wide and God will fill it. God can’t lead you where you have predetermined yourself to go. Are you curious, open and alive to God in your heart, with your agenda set aside? Are you yielded to God’s way, truth and life? Y.es I. E.mbrace L.ordship D.aily. In order to open our heart wide, we have to get rid of everything else we are chewing on. We have preconceived ideas about God’s plan for us. We have opinions about everything. We are chewing, chewing and chewing, trying to swallow a worldly viewpoint, which is very hard to swallow, especially when it doesn’t look like what we presupposed it would be like.
“What deadens us most to God’s presence within us, I think, is the inner dialogue that we are continuously engaged in with ourselves, the endless chatter of human thought. I suspect that there is nothing more crucial to true spiritual comfort than being able from time to time to stop that chatter, including the chatter of spoken prayer. If we choose to seek the silence of the holy place, or to open ourselves to its seeking, I think there is no surer way than by keeping silent. Quote By: Frederik Buechner
Followship Is A Great Kingdom Behavior!
Psalms 27:8 I heard your voice in my heart say, “Come, seek my face;” my inner being responded, “Yahweh, I’m seeking your face with all my heart.”
Come And See And Listen With All Your Heart. Followship is a key Kingdom behavior that we learn. Followship begins with our vital-vertical relationship with God. We make that heart to heart connection with God every single day when we get up. I always like to say my first step out of bed is down. I bow down before God, I connect my life to His heart and life. I know after spending personal time with God, that my second step out into my day, I will be “All In” with God.
You are the one and only God. What miracles! What wonders! What greatness belongs to you! Teach me more about you, how you work and how you move, so that I can walk onward in your truth until everything within me brings honor to your name. With all my heart and passion I will thank you, my God! I will give glory to your name, always and forever! You love me so much, and you have placed your greatness upon me. You rescued me from the deepest place of darkness, and you have delivered me from a certain death. Ps 86:10-13
Close The Gap
I am keenly listening up for God’s voice, listening with my heart. There is no gap between us because I have shed all my presuppositions, my plans, my opinions, my preconceived ideas, my speculations, my assumptions. I have laid it all down at Jesus’ feet, so I can “Come And See” what Jesus has for me on this day, and so I can listen with my undivided heart to what He has to say. Yes, listening with all my heart, I can know every divine appointment for me on this day, and I can be equipped by God’s Holy Spirit for the Great God Adventure of the day ahead. I decrease and He increases in me.
To Close The Gap! I Stay Deeply Anchored In God’s Word. It is easy to drift and create a gap between God and us that the enemy fills with assumptions, speculations, rationalizations, preconceived ideas, and all his intentional deception. This gap creates a divided heart, and our loyalty to God becomes indifferent. It is sad that before we realize it, we have drifted (Hebrews 2:1-3) and our heart is severely divided from God, and has hardened, (Hebrews 3:7-8) and we are serving no power higher than our self. Then we find ourselves with our plan in play, with all its selfish ambitions that are resting on the shaky foundation of a worldly viewpoint. Yes, our beautiful, undivided, pliable, soft, compassionate heart is like a stone. How sad is that?! Close The Gap! Listen Up To This 1 Minute Encouragement Video:
A new heart will I give you and a new spirit will I put within you, and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you shall heed My ordinances and do them. And you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and you shall be My people, and I will be your God. Ezekiel 36:26-28
Just Do It
Just Do It! Followship: Abandon-ship of all things us, a strong grip on Jesus, and a firm faith foundation on the truth of God’s Living Word. For Us, “Come And See” Is Not Come And “Show And Tell”, We Clear The Slate Of The Past And Let God Speak-Lead In Our New Day. God is creative and He does new things. Will we know them or will we be stuck in our preconceptions? Followship of Jesus frees us of all those preconceived ideas, opinions, assumptions, speculations, all of which are not truth. Just Do It! Be led by The Holy Spirit, Who leads us on a narrow path of wholly-holy truth, in followship of Jesus, His way, and life. Thankfully, we are not in followship of false narratives, deception, and trickery of the father of lies, as we keep our eyes on Jesus, and stay on the narrow path of His Word.
Again the next day John was standing with two of his disciples, And he looked at Jesus as He walked along, and said, Look! There is the Lamb of God! The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Him. But Jesus turned, and as He saw them following Him, He said to them, What are you looking for? [And what is it you wish?] And they answered Him, Rabbi–which translated is Teacher–where are You staying? He said to them, Come and see. So they went and saw where He was staying, and they remained with Him that day. It was then about the tenth hour (about four o’clock in the afternoon). John 1:35-39
“This is a question that should be asked to every follower of Jesus: “What do you want in following Jesus?” Do we want something only for ourselves? Answers to prayer? Or do we simply want to be with Jesus, Linger with Jesus? Their answer, “Where are you staying?” shows that they were seeking only him.” Commentary Brian Simmons
Ask Yourself
When it comes to followship of Jesus, what hinders us? What keeps us from knowing and doing the daily plan of Jesus, instead of running with our personal plan? How would our day be different if we consistently and intentionally prayed for the plan of Jesus, listened for it with all our heart, and yielded to it? Would it be our best day ever if we, from every moment to every choice, were wholly-holy aligned with the heart of God? Come and See… Our best day is when we “Come And See” and we abide where Jesus is. Yes, we “Linger” with Jesus. We MUST carve out time to purposely linger with Jesus, listening with all our heart engaged for His voice, through abiding prayer, meditating on His word… like it was a conversation with God, and lingering worshipfully in Jesus’ presence. How does that shake out in our reality of truth? When we are in God’s Word, is it a personal communication time with God, heart to heart? Are we listening to God with all our heart, with our heart wide open to Him?
God Spoke This In My Heart: “Wholly-Holy Align The All Of Your Everything To Me, Jesus. Colossians 3:23 Linger With Me Heart To Heart, Listen To Me With ALL Your Heart, And You Will Know Your Heart Motives. You will know for sure what you are doing. You will know without a doubt, WHO you are doing it for. Your motive will be made clear as you linger with me, all in with Me. KimberlyMac
John answered, “No one can have anything unless God gives it. You yourselves are my witnesses that I said, ‘I am not the Messiah, but I have been sent ahead of him.’ The bridegroom is the one to whom the bride belongs; but the bridegroom’s friend, who stands by and listens, is glad when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. This is how my own happiness is made complete. He must become more important while I become less important. John 3:27-30
Decrease Worldly Viewpoint = Increase Kingdom PerspectiveIt is necessary for him to increase and for me to decrease. John 3:27-30 We want to decrease the mediocre indifferent talking and fleshly reactions, (Worldly Viewpoints) and increase the power of God responses of substance and truth conversations with God (Kingdom Perspective). We can chatter on and on in our distractive human conditioned state of mind, or we can put all that aside, shush our mind, and listen with all of our heart to God; decreasing our worldly viewpoint and increasing our Kingdom perspective. Oh, how this matters to living our best day ever. So, we take all our expectations and put them in God’s Hands… and come to God free of our worldly viewpoints and wants. Come And See. Listen With All Your Heart. Listen Up To This 1 Minute Encouragement Video
JEveryone everywhere, lift up your joyful shout to God! Sing your songs tuned to his glory! Tell the world how wonderful he is. For he’s the awe-inspiring God, great and glorious in power! We’ve never seen anything like him! Mighty in miracles, you cause your enemies to tremble. No wonder they all surrender and bow before you! All the earth will bow down to worship; all the earth will sing your glories forever! Pause in his presence Everyone will say, “Come and see the incredible things God has done; it will take your breath away! He multiplies miracles for his people!” Psalms 66:1-5
Come And See! Experience Great God Adventures!
Our flesh has mediocre and barely adequate worldly viewpoint reactions, that emotionally blow in and blow out. Being impulsive, we are never satisfied, and with our human condition in full blown go motion, as we chase after our worldly viewpoint, we are pushing for more and more and most and most. We barely experience anything before we are off and running to the next new thing. When our spirit has a kingdom perspective, we have God empowered responses, through the renewal of our soul. In our daily, vital-vertical relationship with God, where our heart is wide open to Him, and our ears are listening with our spirit, and He is filling our heart to overflowing, we know joy, we know God’s strength. With a Kingdom Perspective of Who God is, we are completely satisfied, and we know He is our enough! We Are Ready At All Times To “Come And See”! Listen To God With ALL Our Heart! No doubt about it, we will see and experience incredible Great God Adventure. Our best day is yet to come!
Dig Deeper: Isaiah 43:18-19
God Is Saying To Us: Shall You Not Know? Open Your Heart Wide To Me ~ Holy-Wholly Listen With ALL Your Heart – Let Go Of Preconceptions – Hear The Newness Of My Voice! He Is Saying: I Am Doing Something New. Your Best Life Is Stepping Out Of What You “Think You Know” And Dare To Stay In Followship Of Me, Living In The Flow Of My Holy Spirit, In Great God Adventure.
Thank you for stopping into The Bridegroom’s Cafe today. We hope the “Spiritual Meal” on the God Exhortation Table has nourished your soul. Please subscribe to our Website by email, so you don’t miss one of these amazing spiritual meals by Chef Jesus! We hope you also check out our Rumble Channel: https://rumble.com/c/KimberlyMac and give us a subscription. Our 1 Minute Encouragement Videos are a great appetizer for your spirit. God bless you, KimberlyMac, Author. PS… Leave a comment and let us know how this post spiritually nourished your soul. Thank you!