kelly j. hess

God has been revealing Himself to me in so many new ways these past couple weeks. I am so excited at what I am learning. People here in Colorado have encouraged me so much to step outside of how I have always viewed the Lord.

I was listening to a sermon from IHOP (International House of Prayer) and most of this is from the message Matt spoke on. It really made things clear for me. He was speaking on how Jesus ministered to people here on earth. Jesus did weird things! When He healed a deaf man, Christ stuck His fingers in His ear…and the man was healed. Think about it: Can you imagine going up to someone and doing that? If we want to break the chains of being a “2nd class Christian” and pursue something greater, we need to pay attention to the things Jesus did, and be open to doing things that might be a little weird. Doing weird things never stopped Christ. We need to ask ourselves, “What kind of people do we need to be to follow Jesus?”

So much of what we do as Christians is how we were brought up in the church-it’s how we were taught. BUT Christ came to earth with a new revelation, a different way of doing things. We have put such a limit on what WE think Christ wants for us, when He might have something in mind far beyond anything we can imagine. We are so used to controlling things, that we just have to be willing to step out of our comfort zone and accept whatever Christ has in mind for us-even if it’s “weird,” in our small human minds. We cannot let our fear of man blanket us and keep us from reaching out towards something greater.

The question was asked, “Do you REALLY want the truth? Do you want to go to the next level?” Jesus wants to drop the dividing line between who is hungry for “truth” and who is hungry for “religion.” We need to know that while we think we are pursuing truth, we really could be pursuing religion. Religion will get you comfortable, let you know you’re OK, and that you’re going to Heaven. Jesus and truth will set you free and allows life to flow through you. Christ doesn’t keep us from being uncomfortable. At times He will call us to things that are very uncomfortable. But He won’t call us outside of His word. He might call us outside of our understanding of His word, because He is Lord: He will not be “boxed” by any man.

I have been learning that I have put God in a “box” for way too long. I have my own view of God, and how He works, but my view means nothing. I have to learn and discover through reading His word, and through how He reveals Himself to me. Matt said we have to walk out from the religious veil and see the glory of God come to this region we live in. Religion is man made. We need to know Christ, His love for us, and how He wants to use us in possibly “weird” yet awesome ways.