Desiderio Domini

  There is an ancient story passed down through generation of Christians that I just stumbled upon a few days. Story has it that the Apostle Peter, in his latter years of his life, would weep whenever a crow would crow. If you know the Bible history you obviously would know why. It is reported that Peter would often weep in other times, but the men he was with would not know why. One day one of the saints asked, " Peter, Why do you cry so often?" Peter simply turned to him and spoke a short, yet powerful message; " Desiderio Domini."

  For those non- Latin speaking people, Desiderio Domini translates to " I dearly long to be with my Lord!"
That statement this week has blown me away. I feel at points in our Christian walk this is the cry of our hearts. We all can identify with longing to be with someone. Whether it be a wife for her husband, parents to their kid, or crazy cat lady to her cat. However, what God calls us to is that we long for Him even more. Imagine how at times you fully yearn to be another human. Now imagine how much more you should yearn to be with God. The real question is are you really longing to be with God more than a human? Yes, a humans love is needed and fulfilling, but God's love is really the focus. Another person can't love unless God enables them to love (1 John 4:7).

I thought about why Peter would say those words, and the only reason I could think of is because he loved His God. I looked up "love" in the dictionary(.com) and the noun version of the word is, " An intense feeling of deep affection." As well, the verb version of love is, " Feeling of deep romantic or sexual attachment (to someone)." I look at the constant in both those definitions and it is based around feeling and sex. Do I believe we can have an emotional attachment to Christ? Of course, love at times is emotional and the feeling gets us through the bad times. However, feelings aren't truly love. The Bible tells us what love is specifically. The primary meaning of the word "love" in Scripture is a "purposeful commitment to sacrificial action for another." In the Bible it is a fact that loving God is equated with obeying His Word. The two are inseparable. The world defines love as a type of feeling; "we fall in love", or we meet someone and it is "love at first sight". But the world's love is selfish. It is about, if you are attractive to me, be somewhat nice to me, meet my physical needs, love me in return, I will then "love you." The world's love is based around getting something. If you do not please me then I don't love you anymore. The world's love essentially is defined by doing something to in return get love. HOWEVER, God's plan for love is completely contradictory of the world's. Let's turn to the number one scripture that describes love, 1 Corinthians 13:4-8; "Love is patient,love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres"

In the King James Version the word "charity" is used instead of love. In 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 the word "charity" is translated from "agape". There are three different kinds of Biblical love. One word used is "agape". The word is used to describe God's divine love, like used in John 3:16. This word demonstrates the true concern and love for an other's well-being. Another word used is "Phileo". This word translated "love" refers to fervent love for another person. Jesus when challenging Peter in John 21:15-17 asked do you agape me more than the other disciples. Peter replied, "Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love (phileo) thee" This was his response four times to Jesus' questions.The final word used is "eros". This is noun used to describe sexual love.

The love I feel Peter had for his God can be described as Phileo. That love transcended throughout the rest of his life. Peter's love for God should be an example that all Christians should follow. Think about the meaning of Phileo. A fervent love for another person. That person was Jesus. That after He died and rose again, Peter's heart yearned for his Phileo love. For the rest of his life he longed to be with his Lord. Those words were an indirect challenge to love the Lord so much that, as a widow longs to see her love again, that we transcend that love and cry and weep in longing to see our Lord again.
                                                       "Desiderio Domini"

The Lies of The Enemy

      This week I've really been realizing the battle in the spirit. I heard a very wise woman in my church say Sunday in a conversation, "When you play hard ball you battle hard ball." So much truth in that. The more you seek Jesus and find Him the more war you are going to face. There was a situation that I witnessed that was pretty demonic and just disturbed my spirit if I may say. Through all the stuff that was said I felt the enemy speak through this person saying, " I have things to say and what I have to say is pretty interesting." When I heard that my stomach dropped because I know it was a message from the Devil to my church and to my life. I hung onto those words for the past couple days. The words were true. The Devil does have some interesting things to say. If he didn't then people would not be under deception of false religions and ideas. The problem with those interesting words is that they are all lies.
      I've experienced the lies of the Devil in my own life that I constantly have to denounce. Being called into full time ministry has came with some fears. My biggest fear that I have is not where God will place me, who I am supposed to minister to, or what I would have to say, but rather how I could possibly support the family God has for me. Ever since I got complete confirmation of my call about two years ago that fear has lingered with me. I've had people speak into my life that I need something to fall back on because I wouldn't be able to support a family. I knew it is not what God has for me because I know the calling and dreams God has for me and there would be no way to accomplish it and be used for His Glory without being focused on ministry and family. There has been times in prayer I've cried and pleaded with God to make sure I would always be able to sufficiently provide for my family. That lie has at times become crippling and discouraging, permeating fear within my heart. I got freedom from that lie one night unexpectedly in my CORE Discipleship group. We were having a conversation and my Pastor whom I look up to and view as a Spiritual Father said that when he felt God moving him to Essington he thought that he would not be able to support his family on the church salary and would have to get a job at Home Depot ( Praise God that He made way). I felt the demonic presence come back and as I sat there listening my palms got sweaty, my heart was racing, and I felt as if I could just cry my eyes out. Then before I could even think the name of Jesus, I went into the vision where I knew the Father was there in this room. I could not see Him, but I knew He was there. Then I heard The Father say, " I have not called you to part-time ministry or Sunday ministry, but I have called you to full-time ministry." I felt the demonic oppression just break because now I have heard the voice of God and the promise that God had for me.
       I say that to show that the lies of the enemy is very real. Everyone, Christian or not, hear and respond to the voice of the Devil. The Devil does nothing but lie. He couldn't tell the truth even if he wanted to. When you listen and feed into hearing the lies of enemy it can become a stronghold in your life. The solution is to get your mind on Christ and be sensitive to His mind and Spirit. It is not an easy discipline but it is necessary to live a "Victorious Life." The enemys' lies come in so many forms and as Christians we need to TRAIN ourselves to ask God to reveal the lies and strongholds the enemy has in our lives. It is the only way to make it through. Lies are a war tactic for the enemy and when we press and learn the Truth of God the enemy loses a battle tactic. What soldier would not want to battle hard? It is crucial that Spirit-filled Christian get Heavenly and War minded and go to battle in the Spirit, not for our sake, but for the sake of the lost.

" God still sits on the Throne and the Devil is still a Liar."