Kindle Notes & Highlights
by
R. Ashbrook
Read between
January 22 - February 11, 2019
“You see, We want to help you and love you in every way, but we honor your freedom and won’t force Ourselves upon you.”
We want to share His perspective toward others.
Barry remained silent for a moment and then shared his perspective, “The trouble is we’re all so used to thinking that They’re up in the sky somewhere, looking down on us. We’re not used to realizing Them in the room. Communicating directly came naturally when we could see Jesus physically. Even though He explained that He and the Father and the Holy Spirit would be in those chairs, we still forgot.”
That’s not the point,” Jim responded. One of the important lessons the Lord taught me was that He is our Shepherd and wants to lead us personally. It’s not so much doing something wrong, but of being attentive to the fact that God is with us, communicating with us.”
All listened to God and to their own hearts.
That’s why I said to my disciples that where two or three are gathered together in my name, I’m right there in their midst.
There’s no ‘one’ reason for Our plans. In fact, more reasons and consequences exist than you could possibly understand. Someday you’ll be able to see them from the perspective of heaven, but not from here.
It’s very common for people to project attributes of their human parents onto God, but it’s seldom recognized.
I’ve tried to husband Your church and then expect You to bless what I do.
I told my first disciples that my sheep recognize my voice. That’s the way you hear my voice. What you learn in My Book becomes alive to you as I show you its truth in your own heart, in the lives of others, and through the whisper of the Holy Spirit.
“The trouble is, the people conduct the affairs of the church, for the most part, as though I weren’t here.”
“You all mentioned your dislike of the Elder Board, the leadership group for Emmaus Church. Do you think things would go differently if I were sitting physically in the room? Like the church service, those meeting go on as though I were not the Leader of the church at all, as though I weren’t even present. Usually, the only time I’m mentioned is in the opening and closing prayer.
Now that we’ve experienced You as Presence, we can see the truth of what You’re saying about the church. But we still have the same problem. We don’t know how to do what You’re asking. I don’t know how to do what You’re asking.” Jim’s
And in Your loving kindness, cut off my enemies and destroy all those who afflict my soul, for I am Your servant.”
Later, as Barry, Lillian, and Jim processed their tavern experiences, they wondered if more fellowship existed at the bar than at church.
Some claimed to be Christians, but for most, the “club” provided their community needs, and travel or recreation filled most Sundays.
While she held nothing against wealth, she knew full well how hard it is to serve God and one’s entitled standard of living at the same time.
Often the soccer community became their “church,” the place where they met friends who also worshiped success in their kids, in hope of a sports scholarship.
The moms that didn’t claim any kind of faith tended to see the church as a judgmental group of bigots who criticized others and thought themselves better.
The ones that knew Jesus understood from experience that they needed a Savior and Lord. The ones that didn’t know had reasons why “God” couldn’t be trusted or, more often, why Christians couldn’t be trusted.
We’re called to partner with Him in the exercise of His will and power in our world. He wants everyone to experience adoption as the Father’s children—heirs who experience His love, who will help run the family business, so to speak, working with Him to bring His love and power to the world.”
Barry interrupted, “Trouble is, people don’t know they need adopting. Most think they’re fine right where they are.”
We don’t demonstrate the real nature of the Kingdom of God. We don’t show others the amazing forgiveness, love, power, and healing that exists here.”
But then the hard part comes; they need to want abundant life enough to muster the courage to surrender to Jesus and His Lordship, to trust Him. Yet, the Holy Spirit helps those who truly want abundant life.”
We know how hard it is to learn to know and love a God we can’t see or hear, not to mention learning to live by the Ten Commandments rather than the ‘anything-goes’ lifestyle of the world. It’s even harder to trust Jesus completely rather than depending on our possessions that’re supposed to bring us happiness.”
Lillian took the Bible from Barry and read, “Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”
Jim expounded, “The Holy Spirit transforms us. He gradually removes our hearts of stone and replaces them with the hearts of flesh that we were created to have, ones that can actually know and love God. That’s what’s been happening to each of us as we’ve talked to Jesus over these last few months. As we’ve longed to understand Him and become like Him, the Holy Spirit has been transforming us so that we can do just that. He has been growing the fruit of the Spirit in us. You know: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. They’re listed in Gal
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However, our thinking’s not the only problem. Our motivations need to be transformed as well. Selfishness and sin have made us unable to respond to God’s love or to hear His voice. We need new hearts and new ears. It takes transformation from the inside out.” Jim paused to get his breath.
“The key to transformation lies in a person’s willingness to really want to let go of the old way. The Holy Spirit won’t just rip it out.
“We’re like the monkeys that were caught in Africa. Poachers put a banana in a small mouth bottle hooked to a rope. The monkeys reached in to grab the banana, but couldn’t get their hands out unless they let go of the banana, which they were unwilling to do. So, they became trapped. We get just as trapped by trying to hold on to the things that we depend upon instead of Jesus.
That makes my point: you can’t take others where you haven’t been yourself, or show them what you haven’t seen.”
Jim told them about the gift of the magic sword and the multiple battles, each of which the son lost until he learned to wield the sword, become a working part of the king’s guard, and finally to hear and follow the King’s instructions.
Yes, Jesus has overcome the world, but, as He explained it to me, He has entrusted the battle for the souls of others to us, His kids. As Jesus spoke, I’d never seen Him so serious. He told me that we, His followers, write the history of Emmaus and the world. Unless we’re transformed into the kind of people who can wield the sword with God’s love, all those people we visited this last week could be lost.”
After a long pause, Lillian almost whispered, “What scares me is that I wonder how many people really want to follow Jesus as Shepherd.”
Most of the folks they interviewed believed that church, simply an organization of its members, rather than the Body of Christ, existed for the members’ comfort.
A few even wanted to experience God.
What they later described as “dark thoughts” started for each of them around 9:00 P.M. Their shift in thinking followed pretty much the same line. Maybe these visits with Jesus weren’t so great after all. Was He asking too much of any ordinary local church? Was He asking too much of them? After all, Emmaus was a nothing town and Emmaus Community Church had no real significance. Even if the whole town fell in love with Jesus, what difference would it make? A revival there wouldn’t even rate a small mention in Christianity Today
Barry began to think about his life before Jesus “arrived.” “Sure I was unhappy, but I’d gotten used to it.” He fondly recalled the previous predictability of his life. No, he didn’t like drifting away from his boys and their families, but it had become “normal.” They could handle it. Barry had felt comfortable blaming others for all his troubles, which he said, “Weren’t all that bad.” Now Jesus not only asked him to take responsibility for his own issues, but for those of the whole town, even the whole world. The phrase, “It’s not fair,” kept ringing in his ears. He didn’t ask to become some
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All this stuff about adoption and transformation scared Lillian. “That’s for theologians and evangelists,” she said out loud.
He started feeding the pigs and then slumped on the bale of hay. He felt listless and tired.
The three sat motionless, maybe recognizing for the first time the dark shadows that had attacked them.
How could I ever have lived with myself if I’d gone through with it?”
Barry flushed and finished the verse angrily, “‘The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.’ It’s John 10:10.” He regained his composure and went on, “Well the ‘thief’ sure came close to stealing everything Jesus has done for us, killing our faith, and destroying our trust—Jesus would never ask us to do something that’s impossible for us.”
The stark reality that Jesus was not only calling them into a spiritual battle for other people, but to one being fought in their own heads—a war that had been depriving them of joy for many years.
Jim was the first to respond, “I feel like my eyes opened for the first time, to myself, to those around me, to the warfare we’re in, and to You, Lord.”
Jesus’ look of concern and sorrow revealed that He shared their pain.
You have the additional problem, however, that your hearts and wills have been crippled by the presence of sin.
Jesus beamed, “I love you all so much. Together, we can do all of that. You’ll have to let me teach you how, though.” Jesus stood and stepped to each one with a warm embrace.
“That’s a very good question, Jim. People must first come to really believe it is possible to experience me as Present, and then they must actually let me make myself known to them. Knowing something means more than just believing it’s true with your mind; you ‘know’ when you actually experience the reality.”
Slowly the same thought occurred to each of them,
