no one drinks lukewarm tea! Even God hates lukewarm-ness!

There is a verse in Revelation 3:16 that is quite bothering when you really think about it - if we are lukewarm, though we may love the Lord and be in the proper church life, we may be spewed out of the Lord's mouth! I was recently pondering about it - what does it mean to be lukewarm? Am I lukewarm? If I am, how can I be HOT towards the Lord (loving Him with the best love) and COLD towards the world (not loving the many shiny and attractive things the world offers)?

If you drink tea, you drink it either HOT (especially in the UK and in Russia) or COLD (see, Iced Tea). Hot tea on a cold day is just lovely - it warms you up and revives you (though it may burn your tongue if you're not careful). In the UK the tea break is allowed several times a day - it's Britain, right? So you can drink as much tea as you want, as long as you do your job. There used to be a tea break at Tea Time, 5.00pm, but I don't think people here keep that anymore. On the other hand, COLD tea, "ice tea" is drank cold and is quite refreshing especially on hot summer days. But no one likes to drink warm or lukewarm tea! No one loves lukewarm soups, teas, porridge, cereals, or anything else to be drank / eaten...

It is the same with the Lord - He is OK with us being HOT for Him (or hot for the world) or COLD towards Him (or toward the world), but He is NOT OK with us being lukewarm - being in a situation of compromise, in a mix-up situation, where we try to serve both God and the world. You may see something of Christ in the Word and the Lord may shine on you about certain things you need to deal with so that He would go on in you - but you "procrastinate" by not cooperating with the Lord, and things "pile up" in the background... Maybe you want to be like Switzerland - neutral, not taking absolute side to either God and His economy or the world. Maybe you are in the Lord's recovery but you are not fully and absolutely in the Lord's recovery - you still like to shop around, look around, and you still indulge in the things that your friends and your colleagues do...

In Ezek. 47 the Lord says that He cannot heal the marsh / the swamp - the water flowing from the house of God can heal the sea and brings life wherever it flows, but it cannot heal the marsh or the swamp. The Lord is faithful to shine on us, to draw our heart, to show us how much He loves us, to unveil us to see His purpose and His heart's desire, even to bring us into His recovery that we may see His ultimate move. We see that the time is ready - the Lord is preparing the last details for His return, and all He needs is a prepared Bride, those who love Him with their first love... but we may still just stand on the side, not be fully absolute, just "being around" in the church life or in Christian meetings....

Truth be told, if you are not absolute for the Lord and His economy, there are many things lurking in the darkness of our being which are operating secretly, transforming our heart into something that is slippery, something that "swallows everything" and there's nothing of life there... We may know many things, we may even teach others - but if our heart is not on fire for the Lord and cold towards the world and Satan, then we not only do not impart life but we are like "a black hole", having no content or life but sucking the life out of others.... ewww - sorry for the graphical illustration, but I am getting to see and realize more and more that if I don't lay my hands on the wonderful Absolute Christ to take Him as my burnt offering and as the Absolute one for God, there's lots of "slippery things" and marshy situations going on...

That's why we need to Come into the Light and Dig Away! Dig away any stones, any hidden things, any sins that no one knows about, any passions and other loves we develop while not being absolute for the Lord... In the Lord's shining, with a repenting heart, we really see who we are; the light exposes us and, if we cooperate with the light, it also brings life into us. I don't want to be lukewarm, even in a world that is heading towards this! "Accepting everyone the way he is", "you were born this way", and other non-sensical sayings that show clearly that No One Stands for Anything but for Himself - such a prevailing attitude among everyone today.... WHO will stand for the Lord? Who will take His way?

When Isaiah saw the Lord, he also saw himself and realized he's a sinful man living among sinful people with unclean lips... But the Lord didn't give up on him - He sent an angel to purify his lips with a burning coal... Later, when the Lord asked, Whom shall I send - who will go for us? Isaiah replied, Lord, here I am, send me! We who are sinful and with unclean lips, living among sinful people with unclean lips, can be sent by the Lord if we allow Him to shine on us, expose us, burn us, infuse us, transfuse us, reconstitute us, remake us, remodel us, fill us, and be fully expressed through us. Oh, how we want to be in this organic process of being made whole - being made a real and genuine man, a man filled with the divine life expressing God in a corporate way!

One Picture for Today - The Golden Hinde

This is the Golden Hinde, a ship on the shore, Sir Francis Drake's Famous Galleon, as seen at dusk (location: by the Thames River, London, close to Nando's :) and to the Shakespeare Globe). Visit their website for more details. [recommending a nice walk along the Thames at dusk, it's nice to see this part of London...

One Meaningful Thing Today: Redeeming the Time at Lunch (30-day challenge)

Coming back after a lovely home meeting where we enjoyed songs of love to the Lord like, Jesus Lord I'm captured by Thy Beauty, Jesus Lord You're our first love - You're the One we love the Best!, The day approaches - Jesus soon is coming... - I love the Lord so much! I have to agree with David when he says that after he gets into the sanctuary of God and is in God's presence in His house, his whole perspective of the world is changed! Even the way we view the world and the people around us is changed - turned the right side up - when we are enjoying God in the house of God, in the church life!

But coming back to today's challenge - as you can see from the previous paragraph, the home meeting was delightful and eye-opening, but .... there's another matter I want to appreciate the Lord for today, which is,

One Meaningful Thing Today:
Redeeming the Time at Lunch

Believe it or not, I have a lunch break - only 30mins, but it's still a lunch break. As the day goes on and things pile up, to-do lists are being made, post-it notes on the PC, calendar reminders, emails with stars and "priority inbox", phone calls and orders, etc... the first thing I want to do on my lunch break - before even eating something - is to TAKE A BREAK! Just take a breather, man!

But I have already discovered a secret - the real rest I need and the real break for me is not just to stop from working and eat something in peace, but to give this lunch break to the Lord and enjoy Him in this time. Particularly, according to what I see right now as being the need, I am calling a brother and we're fellowshipping and praying together - for less than 11-13mins. This is it: redeeming the time in the lunch break - no matter how short is - to really get some rest, really get some spiritual food, and be encouraged!

The best meals I had for lunch were after such a phonecall and prayer time to touch the Lord with my dear vital companion... It is such a mercy from the Lord that we can TURN away - in the middle of the day, in the middle of the work time - to the Lord! We can turn to our spirit within, where the Lord dwells! It's a fight, it is a struggle, and not all the time you break through - but I practice, I give my best, to touch the Lord and kiss Him again, pray again for what's on His heart! After such a call the food tastes nicer, the time is more than enough, and there's life and peace within!

No matter how the situation was when I left the office, no matter how many things are awaiting my attention and response, I can take a break and enjoy the Lord - and I am filled with Him! He is the real lunch - and I'm learning a bit of what the Lord told His disciples in John 4(when He was waiting for them to get something to eat from the city, and He gave the Samaritan woman to drink of the living water) - My food is to do the will of the Father(John 4:32-34)... it is the Father's will that we keep a constant contact with the Lord Jesus and enjoy Him! This is what I enjoy the most, and this is what God also loves - and both us and God are satisfied!

To Redeem - is to purchase back something that was yours initially, and the price you pay for it is greater than the price you initially paid. TIME is ours - or so we think - but when it comes to enjoying the Lord, there's a greater price we all need to pay for even 10-15 minutes to spend with the Lord! Yes, we have time - but somehow, in some way, and for some reason - we need to redeem this time, pay a higher price to get it back, so that we may spend time with the Lord! But every such time is a memorial between you and Him, and it counts all the way into the New Jerusalem!

Amen, Lord, I want to learn to REDEEM MY TIME! Save me from wasting any more time.... I realize it all starts when you see the value of things - you see the Lord, His value and worth, and then you pay any price to gain Him. And we gain Him here a little, there a little, at lunch time a bit, in the evening with the saints a bit, in the morning a little... bit by bit, spending time with Him, the price increases but the willingness to pay the price is there - because we have tasted and we can testify that He is GOOD, and we see His infinite worth and preciousness! .... [and this was my lunch break today. And yesterday, and all my working days. Lord, recover my lunch breaks - to matter in Your eyes! Start with the lunch break, Lord, and take over many other times and areas...]