Don’t Calm Down

This came to me the other day, “The Lord loves us and He doesn’t want us to apologize for our intensity”. Have you ever gone through a time when it feels that there is little shared intensity or interest in what you have to bring? Even rejection? Well, don’t be discouraged. It’s all intended by the enemy to erode our passion for the purpose of God and the reality that we have been given something incredibly important, timely, and urgent from Him.

When we perceive a certain lack of receptivity by an esteemed person or group, we can often assume it’s because of our presentation or flawed performance. In fact, the enemy can try and convince us that there is something about us that is impeding the Lord’s message. But think about it…Jesus was the most wonderful and glorious Person that ever walked the earth and many rejected Him; yet He was not moved, He stayed completely secure in His Father’s love.

We listen to the devil’s lies too often. We ruminate in self-analysis, trying to figure out why things weren’t acknowledged as we had hoped. But remember, it was said of Jesus that “His own received Him not”. However, He was on a mission to do what His Father called Him to do. Think about Peter’s attempt to “calm” Jesus down. He said to Peter, “Get behind Me Satan!” Jesus had a mission and a message and “He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem”.

The disapproval of others (perceived or otherwise) is intended to cause distraction and ultimately silence the messenger. This is a primary weapon of the enemy to get us out of the game. He is the accuser of the brethren and has a list of our faults ready to use falsely against us.

Let it be known that our God does not regard our excitement and intensity as a defect. Instead, He delights in us and in our excitement over the grace message; including the passion that propels us to speak prophetic words revealing His unconditional love and fervor for His church. After all doesn’t John 2:17 say, “And His disciples remembered that it was written, ‘The zeal of Your house has eaten Me up’.”

Let’s not bother trying to be conservative enough or “respectable” enough to get a pat on the back from those who value moderation regarding the message of grace. We will only wind up like Jeremiah who wrote, “If I say, I will not make mention of the Lord or speak any more in His name, in my mind and heart it is as if there were a burning fire shut up in my bones. And I am weary of enduring and holding it in; I cannot contain it any longer”. (Jeremiah 20:9).

Instead of pursuing acceptance from others, we can joyfully submit to God’s acceptance by His gift of righteousness. We find our inclusion in Him and He locates inclusion for us. I Peter 2:6 says, “the one who believes on Him shall never be ashamed”.