With A Glance of Your Eyes by Francis Frangipane

Below is an article from Francis Frangipane that was posted 8/12/08 on the Elijah List (a daily devotional and reading). It shows of the love our Jesus has for us.

"Who is this that grows like the dawn, as beautiful as the full moon, as pure as the sun, as awesome as an army with banners?" Song of Solomon 6:10

In spite of all the controversy and strife in our world, regardless of the clashing opinions in today's religious wars, the focus of Christ still remains upon His Bride. It is our quest to turn our gaze toward Him.

Most of us sincerely love the Lord and are thankful for all He has done. However, too many are more comfortable celebrating what Jesus has done than accepting who He desires to be to us. We sing of His victories and teach of His mercies, yet rarely do we quiet our hearts and surrender to His presence. We want Him near enough to protect us but not so close that our consciousness is captured by His presence.

As awesome and liberating as it is to know what Jesus has done for us, until we actually surrender ourselves to Him, our religion will never be more than a "history lesson." Religion is not enough. It satisfies neither us nor Christ. Jesus wants to also know us.

You say, "But He does know us!" In His omniscience, He knows everything. But in His love, He seeks to know us as beings living in unbroken union with Him. He has the right to our souls, our secrets, and our dreams. He wants the person we are when no one else is looking. Yet, He will not force Himself. This is not the way of love.

This interpenetration of our lives in Him and His life in us is the only destiny with which Christ is content. At the end of the age, everything short of oneness with Christ will appear as sin.

God is Love

I know the fear of the Lord and that it is the beginning of true knowledge. But, like the apostle John, "I have also come to know and have believed the love which God has for us" (1 John 4:16). God is love. Let us consider that the apostle who fell before Jesus as a dead man on the Isle of Pathos, later wrote, "There is no fear in love" (1 John 4:18).

The Lord knows our fear of God is a strong deterrent from sin and a powerful ally in walking uprightly. Yet, to draw near to Him we must know more than the fear of God; we must believe in "the love which God has for us." God's love is perfect. It "casts out fear, because fear involves punishment." John tells us that "the one who fears is not perfected in love" (verse 18).

When it comes to entering the presence of God, it is to be expected that fear, guilt, or shame should seek to hold us hostage. But as we believe in the love God has for us, in the brightness of His mercy the shadows of our past cannot exist.

The Heart of God

Last week I asked, "If Christ were in the room, would you enter? How would you enter?" We spoke of our sin, fear and shame being barriers. These are due to our perception of ourselves. Yet, when the thought first awakened within you that you could enter His presence, something also awakened in Him. He says, "You have made my heart beat faster, my sister, my bride; you have made my heart beat faster with a single glance of your eyes" (Song of Solomon 4:9).

Your glance, even if it was no more than the briefest anticipation of being with Him, made His heart beat faster. The King James Version reads, "Thou hast ravished my heart." Jesus is not returning simply to destroy wickedness; He is coming for a Bride. At the end of the age our task is not simply to prepare for the rapture or the tribulation but for Christ!

You see, there is nothing more important to Jesus Christ than His Bride, the Church. He died for her. He lives to make intercession for her. His love proved itself capable and worthy of winning our full redemption. Our most noble task is to surrender to the love that reaches to us.

Longing for Jesus

How shall we respond? I am thinking of Mary Magdalene's love for Jesus. Yes, here in the love Jesus has for Mary, and in her response, we see flashes of Christ's love for the Church.
Mary is at Jesus' empty tomb. The apostles came, looked into the sepulcher, and went away bewildered. But Mary lingered, weeping. It is noteworthy that Jesus did not immediately come to the apostles; He came first to a woman. This tells us Jesus responds to love more than position; He comes first to those who want Him most. The apostles went away wondering, but there was something in Mary's inconsolably broken heart that Jesus Himself was drawn to.
In her sorrow she did not recognize Him. He said, "Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?" (John 20:15). Blinded by her tears, she supposes Jesus is the gardener.

"'Sir, if you have carried Him away, tell me where you have laid Him, and I will take Him away.' Jesus said to her, 'Mary!' She turned and said to Him in Hebrew, 'Rabboni!' (which means, Teacher). Jesus said to her, 'Stop clinging to Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father'" (John 20:15-17).

The instant Mary sees the Lord she clings to Him. And here is the most astounding event: Christ interrupted His ascent to answer this woman's love! Jesus said, "Stop clinging to Me...I have not yet ascended." In His next appearance, Jesus appears to the disciples. He tells them, "Touch Me." For Mary, He broke protocol; whatever He meant in saying, "I have not yet ascended," He stopped His progression to be with her!

I am staggered by this response of Christ to Mary's longing. This is the nature of His love. His passion for His Bride rules His every thought and action! We are the "joy set before Him" (Hebrews 12:2). For us, He endured the anguish of the Cross. In so doing, Jesus demonstrated that His love for the Church is the highest, most powerful law of His Kingdom!

It is His passion for the Church that compels Him to come for us in His second coming. Yet, as He broke protocol for Mary, so He reveals His heart to us. If we will be satisfied with nothing less than Christ, it is Christ we shall possess. He will come to us. Of all the marvels in this universe, the greatest is the love Christ has for His Church. Though He is standing behind our walls, the glance of our eyes makes His heart beat faster!

Oh Lord Jesus, forgive me for using Your gifts for myself, while withholding myself from Your love. Lord, I will love You with a perfect love, for my love is the love with which You first loved me.

Francis FrangipaneMinistries of Francis Frangipane Email: francis1@frangipane.org

Set Your Sails For Joy

The more I read about Paul and what he went through, the more I find that he was an extraordinary person living an extraordinary life. There was a quote from today's lesson, "It's been said that if you were tot race Paul's journeys in the first century, it would be like tracking the path of a wounded deer running from a hunter, leaving one bloody trail after another… Physically, Paul must have been a wreck. Everywhere he traveled he carried on his body a shocking diary of scars that visibly testified to the murderous hatred and hardships he had endured."

It just blows me away that even with the life that Paul led, he still has the ability to give us a lesson in a life of Joy. He was able to do this only "Because he was confident that God was at work, God was in control, and that God allowed all things to occur for one purpose – His Greater Glory!"

Ella Wheeler Wilcox poem, The Winds of Fate states it so well:

Stanza One
One ship drive east and another drives west
With the selfsame winds that blow.
'Tis the set of the sales
And not the gales
Which tells us the way to go.

Paul definitely had his sails set for Joy! His holding onto God guided him like a compass to keep in on joy's course regardless of the gales that blew.

Paul also was not confused by his position. To the church at Phillipi, Paul was somewhat of a hero. They looked up to him. However, Paul did not take on that role. Instead, Paul looked upon himself as a "bond-servant of Christ Jesus."(Philippians 1:1a) Paul was confident in his role as a bond servant, which also gave him joy.

In Philippians 1:6, Paul spoke of his firm confidence in the Philippians' spiritual growth. "For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus." There are three reasons in this verse why Paul was confident enough to be joyful.

1. The Apostle was absolutely convinced that God was at work in the Church at Philippi,
2. He was in full control of that church, and
3. That everything about that church followed a plan for His glory.

"From the second stanza of her poem 'The Winds of Fate,' Ella Wheeler Wilcox hails one last reminder about setting our sales for joy.
Like the winds of the sea are the ways of fate,
As we voyage along through life:
'Tis the set of a soul
That decides its goal,
And not the calm or the strife.

As you prepare for your trek into the "calm and strife" of your day, you would do well to set your soul's course according to these three guidelines:

1. Confidence brings joy when you focus on the things for which you're thankful
2. Confidence brings joy when you let God be God
3. Confidence brings joy when you keep love within its proper limits

Let's take a lesson and learn how to give thanks. You can read the following scripture to help in that area:

1 Thessalonians 5:18; Ephesians 5:4, 18-20; Philippians 4:6; Exodus 15:1-21; Psalm 136; Psalm 103; and psalm 106.

Review of Wild Goose Chase by Mark Batterson

Dear Charlie's Readers,

I wanted to post a link to a book by Mark Batterson, Wild Goose Chase, that is perfect for anyone wanting to grow spiritually. It is about following the Holy Spirit, Wild Goose to the Celtics, and living a life full of adventure not routine.

The life of a believer was never meant to be boring, but it is sometimes isn't it? Look at David, Moses, Peter and Paul. Talk about adventure. Nowhere does God tell his followers that they are in for a boring, routine-filled life. On the contrary, Jesus issued a warning to His followers,

"Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head." When you embark on your Wild Goose Chase, you never know where you're going to end up." Excerpt from Wild Goose Chase

Click here to check out the website and you can have a chance to win a free copy. The contest will be posted Tuesday the 19th.

Thanks Charlie for allowing me to post this review.

Have fun on your spiritual journey. That is what we were destined for.