The explosion of the Gospel in the spiritual realm and your life.

Do not assume that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn

‘a man against his father,

a daughter against her mother,

a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.

A man’s enemies will be the members

of his own household.’

Anyone who loves his father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me; and anyone who does not take up his cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. Matthew 10:34-39

Here Jesus is echoing the prophet Micah’s truth (Micah 7:1-6). Jesus steps on to the earthly scene in the ‘human body container’ (earth-born) and the spiritual realm goes into chaos. The effects of Jesus’ ‘emptying’ Himself into a human ‘suit’ – are still reverberating today. Anyone who ‘takes up their cross daily’ and follows Jesus will experience the same effects surrounding them. (Luke 9:23-24).

This is a difficult reality that isn’t taught much by the ‘comfort preachers’. What is the ‘cost’ to those really following Jesus? Everything in THIS place. From the moment a person surrenders to Jesus – the ‘discipleship of loss’ begins. Paul describes it this way…

But whatever was gain to me I count as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things as loss compared to the surpassing excellence of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God on the basis of faith.

I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to Him in His death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.

Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize of God’s heavenly calling in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:7-14

Are you ‘pressing in’ deeper and deeper into your obedience to Jesus? Then you will be experiencing some spiritual disruptions and explosions in your life. Some of your own family members may become those who betray you and persecute you. Truly following Jesus causes real ‘spiritual warfare’ to begin popping off all around you. If spiritual explosions (manifesting into the physical) are happening all around you – you most likely are ‘over the target’. The reality is… Jesus manifesting His heavenly kingdom through you, will cause all sorts of explosions spiritually around you. It will definitely refine what you think is ‘important’ in your life. The ‘walk’ with Jesus will continue to challenge the faithful disciple at ever increasing levels, and the ‘path’ gets steeper at every turn.

This ‘walk’ with Jesus is not for the ‘faint of heart’. James exhorts us with a difficult truth and suggests something that is NOT the usual human reaction.

Consider it pure joy, my brothers, when you encounter trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Allow perseverance to finish its work, so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. James 1:2-4

This ‘walk’ begs the need for a life surrendered to the will of the Holy Spirit. The need for a deep abiding intimacy with the Holy Spirit is a necessity for ANY spiritual progress in a disciple of Jesus. An ever-increasing humility, and a revelatory gratefulness, and a daily practice of repentance (an ability to acknowledge) listen to the Holy Spirit’s conviction will begin to manifest in your life the closer you walk with Him.

So how are you doing? Are you encountering ‘trials of many kinds’? Are you understanding the ‘why’ behind explosions happening around you currently? Are you pressing into the Holy Spirit more and more? Are you straining and ‘pressing on to the goal’ with greater fervency?

In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be My disciples. Luke 14:33

What is He asking you to give up?