OpenHeaven.com Digest August 31, 2023

PASSION FILLED LOVE DISSOLVES PASSIONLESS LUKEWARM – Ron McGatlin

Reference: Revelation 3:15-20

I heard the Lord say that the number one factor in the evil world conditions is the lukewarm condition of Christian believers.

As I meditated and looked further into the depth of the written word and world conditions, it is reality that we are our worst enemy.

Above all the rampant evil deceptions of mankind such as terrorism, the one-world order, human trafficking, slavery, and much more, stands the powerless, lukewarm church.

The true church “ekklesia” is the only potential for changing the world condition. The reality of the gospel of the kingdom of God manifesting into the world through Christ Jesus in His chosen people is the power of love to dissolve the evil condition and replace it with the love, righteousness, peace, and joy of the kingdom of God.

HOW HOT IS OUR PASSION FOR GOD

In past decades I have at various times asked groups of Christians, “On a scale from 1 to 10 with 10 being hottest and 1 being coldest, how hot are you on fire for God?”

What would your reply be?

By far the majority would indicate a number around the mid to upper part of the scale, mostly 4 to 7. A few would say up to 8 or 9 or down to 2 or 3. In other words, many if not most individuals in Christian church groups saw themselves as neither hot nor cold.

OUR LUKEWARM CONDITION AND WHY

Jesus said in Revelation 3:15-16, “I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew you out of My mouth.”

In Revelation 3:17 Jesus tells us why, “Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked.”

Are we looking at our earthly wealth or at our spiritual well-being and spiritual wealth? The lukewarm are spiritually miserable, poor, blind, and naked. Blind means we cannot see our true condition of being poor of Spirit love, power, and wisdom and not able to even see the real kingdom of God much less to change the evil world condition.

WHY IS COLD BETTER THAN LUKEWARM?

If we are cold toward God, we are in full crash mode. Eventually, we run completely out of natural human ability to sustain life. We cannot feel that we are really in good standing with God and therefore we will be seeking some answer to our misery.

But if we are lukewarm, we feel that we are in good enough standing with God and tend not to seek or even accept the further reality of God’s provisions. It is sort of like an evil vaccination that makes us immune to receiving more of God.

LUKEWARM IS HALF-HEARTEDNESS

One of the dictionary definitions of lukewarm is “half-hearted.” The half-hearted are stuck in their worldly lifestyles. Most would probably say that they are in process and there is some truth in that. However, we have been stuck far too long, and movement in the process has been minimal if at all in much if not most of the church.

The divided heart is double-minded and unstable in all its ways. God wants our whole heart and will do all to bring us to truly give Him our whole heart. “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.” James 1:2-8.

In Revelation 3:18-19, Jesus tells us what we need to do about our lukewarm condition and how He is going to help us do it. “I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see.As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten.Therefore, be zealous and repent.”

We are to buy refined gold from Him. He is our source of pure gold, His purity and holiness in love. The price we must pay is giving Him our whole heart and life in love. We will only give Him all when we truly believe and we will only really believe when we fall in love with Him and connect with His perfect love for us and in us.

How is He getting us out of our lukewarmness and into presenting Him with our whole heart and life?

God will show us our true condition by chastening and rebuking us by removing the comfort of natural wealth and all that is in our hearts apart from Him until we realize our need for Him and turn to Him with our whole hearts. Then we will experience Verse 20.

When we see our real condition, we will zealously repent and finally behold Him knocking at our heart’s door.

He will come in His full presence with us and sup with us face to face as we truly open the door for Him to fully live in our lives in this life. This coming of the Lord Jesus into our lives changes everything and fully joins us to God as we become one with Him.

From the throne with Him, we will rule and reign on earth establishing the kingdom of God on earth and the evil of the world will be dissolved from the world.

Verse 20-21: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.”

Our passionate love for God and Christ Jesus is all-consuming and completely fulfilling. We have no need and are filled to running over with heaven’s provisions to share in pure love with one another on earth. We have all that we desire in this life and in the life to come. (John 15:5-8).

We have no concern about eschatology or even theology. There is no intellectual debate or conflict in the oneness with God. We intimately know God and are fully assured that whatever the future conditions are or how and when they take place, we know He is with us and in us and will take care of us through all that is now and in the future.

Whether we abound or are abased we are at rest in His presence of peace and joy in Christ and Christ in us by the Holy Spirit of God in Christ. (Philippians 4:12).

The only real matter is His presence in and with us always.

And so shall we ever be with the Lord whether on earth or in heaven.

Ron McGatlin
OpenHeaven.com
basileia@earthlink.net