Morning by Morning, April 24 - Beside Myself and Crazy for Jesus
Good morning, Lord Jesus. Let me hear Your voice, Good Shepherd. Let me sense Your leading, Holy Spirit. Let me know the embrace of Your everlasting arms, Heavenly Father. ...
"For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. For the love of Christ urges us on, because we are convinced that one has died for all; therefore all have died. And He died for all, so that those who live might live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died and was raised for them" (2 Corinthians 5:12-15).
No doubt when I start off my morning seeking to hear the voice of God in my heart and follow the leading of the Holy Spirit through whatever thought or image or Scripture You bring to mind to begin my day in the communion of prayer, some must think I'm beside myself, a little naïve, delusional, or even a little bit crazy. But like all the crazy followers of Jesus before me who believed that we could personally encounter the Presence of the Living God every day, "if it seems we are crazy, it is to bring glory to God.... Christ's love controls us" (2 Corinthians 5:13 NLT). After all, my own Bible-believing Grandmother who taught me to pray and to memorize John 3:16 before she taught me to write my name on the chicken-house wall thought I had lost my mind when I told her I as laying down my career as a trial lawyer to answer the call to ministry twenty-five years ago. But "if it seems (I am) crazy, it is to bring glory to God.... Christ's love controls (me)" (2 Corinthians 5:13 NLT).
Lord, help me become even more beside myself. Help me become even more crazy for Jesus. You died for me that I might no longer live for myself. Like another crazy-for-Jesus fanatic who was beside himself, I want to be able to say, "I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me" (Galatians 2:19-20). "This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to Himself through Christ" (2 Corinthians 5:17-18 NLT).
More beside myself each day, more crazy-for-Jesus with every breath of Your Spirit I breathe each moment -- let me be unafraid of what anybody thinks and unrestrained in my relentless passion for You. "I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes" (Romans 1:16 NKJV).
Like those outlandish lunatics who were filled up and overflowing with the Holy Spirit in the upper room on that day of Pentecost, I'm not crazy and "not drunk, as you suppose," but I'm in love with Jesus, filled with the fire of the Holy Spirit, and unashamed to let the love of my Father pour out of my heart to turn my world "upside down" no matter what anybody thinks or says (Acts 2:15 and 17:6). Even more, Lord! Like that crazy worshipper and prayer warrior King David shouted as he danced in the streets for joy in Your Presence like a man beside himself and out of his natural mind, "I will be even more undignified than this!" (2 Samuel 6:22 NKJV) Lord, let it be so in me too. And let it spread like wild fire everywhere You send me. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays
My friend, may you be free and unrestrained in your relentless passion for the One who loves you so, beside yourself and crazy for Jesus, in Jesus' name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!
Tommy Hays | Messiah Ministries
Healing from the Inside Out
Pastoral Director | Rapha God Ministries
4 Dominion Drive, Building 1
San Antonio, Texas 78257
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