Manup Moment - Jay Cookingham

Is God playful? Is it hard for you to imagine a playful God? Well, Does He enjoy His creation? Does He enjoy you? Does He enjoy your playful side? You have one you know; you’re made in His image. If He has one, so do you!

Holiness is warm and inviting… because God is! He’s warm and irresistible! So, it’s more than just choosing a life of holiness… it is choosing Him!

The Westminster shorter catechism says, “Man’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.” Maybe the wording “enjoying God” sounds too playful or not serious enough when it comes to our relationship with God. Afterall, we’re supposed to fear God… aren’t we?

Charles Simeon, a pastor in England during the mid-1700’s once said this about enjoying God. “There are but two lessons for the Christian to learn: the one is, to enjoy God in everything; the other is, to enjoy everything in God.” This is so true… I feel that Christians struggle with this still

I believe, there is a born-in longing for the presence of God. A deep longing… not for blessing, not for rescue… not for healing… just a yearning, a hunger, an ache for Him. An overwhelming, passionate desire to enjoy Him. The question is… Do we enjoy the things God provides more than we enjoy Him?

This is probably the simplest economic concept to understand… What someone will pay for something determines its value. Simple right? Ephesians 1:7 speaks to this. “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace.”

An orphan/slave spirit is always looking for proof, a sign, something they can use to control or leverage for their own benefit. They need something to hold on to, something that will give them a sense of security and belonging. This can be anything from a physical object to a promise of love. But no matter what it is, the orphan/slave spirit will always look for more.

So, if our life hides itself in Christ, then our identity looks like Jesus, who came to show us the way to relate to the Father as a son. He did this by focusing on the things above. Things like His Father’s will, His Father’s purposes and fulfilling His Father’s mission.

Romans 8:14 “For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.” First God gets a hold of us, then comes with us, and leads us. I love the fact that God leads us into sonship, and that He goes with us on this journey of becoming more like His son, Jesus.

Romans 8:15 For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!” Adoption is the extreme makeover of people into sons and daughters. When we accept Jesus as Messiah, God’s adoption rescues us from our sin, sets us free from our bondage, restores our identity, and gives us a purpose.

When God says He wants to be our Father, our Abba Father (dear father), He means it! He wants to place us as sons in a desperate world needing them.

Wild animals do not like being in a cage. They pace around a cage, full of bottled-up energy, with no way to release it. They’re confused, frightened, not understanding their lost freedom. However, if you keep an animal caged too long, they forget what kind of animal they were, they lose their aggressiveness. The cage becomes too comfortable and sometimes… they die in captivity.

Did you ever wonder what Jesus sounded like? In John 7:46 we read this incredible statement about Jesus. The chief priests and Pharisees sent officers to arrest Jesus, but they returned empty-handed… they heard a frequency from Jesus… that kept them from arresting Him. They told their bosses when they returned without Him in custody. “The officers answered, “No one ever spoke like this man!”

Jesus calls for our hearts to be on the same frequency as His, sounding off with His love, touching other people’s lives, with good works motivated by mercy!

There is a frequency to our lives… this is crazy cool, all human beings have a frequency. Everyone, everything on planet Earth… gives off a frequency. However, we humans have a noise problem… a noise pollution problem. There are far too many voices speaking at once in our head. Voices of doubt, uncertainty, confusion, and fear… that distract and fog up our thinking.

Jesus calls us every day to follow Him… to follow Him in the wild places. Jesus is always calling us out.

There is a very old Africa saying in the form of a question… a question with a deep intimate longing… the saying is… “Will you walk with me?” Will you walk with me? Not around the block, not across the street… will you enter my life, my world and journey with me? This is the call to follow Jesus, to enter the world of the Messiah and journey with Him, not at a distance but up close and personal.

We are chosen to be followers. The Greek word for follow means to… to join someone as a disciple and it means to be in the same way with… implying intimacy, going the same way, living the same way as the Master!

Among you it will be different… what will? Life will be different… following Jesus changes the way we see life.

Remember the first time you realized that God, the creator of everything, was real and loved…you?