Awesome indeed:))

Great insight…that parable leaves many law-abiding believers very unsettled…LOL. Im so excited to see where we all get to go…individually & corporately. He is so personal & communal. Early on when i was in my first few months of encountering Jesus, i felt i was so ” behind” every other believer & that i just wouldnt ever catch-up… that bc i wasnt raised w/religion i had somehow missed out. i heard Him say in my spirit: “Everything i have for you I still have for you.” That helped me to rest in Him before i ever heard or knew anything about resting. Reminds me of ‘The last shall be first’. What an amazing Lord we have!!

Shelby, when I first met you last year and heard your story of where you’ve been, and then, to ‘see’ the maturity of Christ in you, in the now – it blew me away. Just now something came to me. You know the parable of the workers, the one where some worked all day and got paid the same as those who began working later in the day? It just struck me that this payment is the love of Christ, and that without measure. There are no late comers to something poured out without measure or end. We are entering into a heavenly intimacy not knowing where it begins or ends, because it has no beginning or ending! :)

:-) !

Vinny, you wrote something really insightful. “>>Love so strong it scares me and barriers come up from past hurts.”

This reminds me of something that Lisa Weger recently shared on the Loving Like God blog. It is related to ‘aborting’ relationships, and the lifelessness we are left with. I have been looking for more opportunity to share this comment, as it speaks to a tendency to ‘pull away’ in fear from this very powerful love.

She wrote: (in response to Jay’s post: “The Morning After Pill” http://lovinglikegod.com/2013/10/23/the-morning-after-pill-2/ )

“Jay said: “It can be very difficult to tell the difference between the high or chemistry of the flesh, and the high or chemistry of the Spirit. The former is fleeting – the latter is ever lasting. We are not talking about an earthly romance here, but a heavenly one.”

Part of what I believe Jay is talking about is how discombobulating it is when people experience His Love together. Especially when it crosses gender lines. “Is this okay to feel?” is a huge question that comes up. It is not a situation that is talked about or condoned in “church” circles…. the predominant thinking is that that kind of Passion is only legitimate between married couples. (And yet, there is no gender in Christ.) You can experience this Passion and feel pressured – either from within yourself – and/or from external forces, to “abort”. So what started as a very legitimate Passion that He puts between us – His Love expressed on the horizontal with those that He’s putting together in particular – now becomes aborted, because we don’t have the discernment, revelation and/or commitment to see and live what He is after.

For a new believer, or a believer who is just coming into this realm of understanding and experience, it can be a fleeting experience rather than an eternal one. The problem as I see it – and a question that Jay brought up many times – is what are the alternatives to learning to live in this Passion on the horizontal? If God is calling people into Him, what is a legitimate expression of what He is doing? Isn’t it in these real, passionate relationships? If we cut off these relationships out of uneasiness, what is left as an expression of Him? It seems what’s left is what man calls “church”.

Until we embrace what God is after, and allow God to work in us – teaching us how to Love as He Loves with those He gives us, we are aborting what He calls Church.”