Zealous for God

"His disciples remembered that it is written: Zeal for your house will consume me." John 2:17




One of the definitions of zeal is: "Marked by fervent partisanship for a person, cause, or ideal." I would say that is exactly how Jesus felt about His Father. He was fervent about His Father's business here on earth. Seeing how Jesus overturned the money changing tables and drove out the merchants with whips (made of cords)..I would say he was definitely zealous.

I have been zealous for my Father's Kingdom here on earth. Often times, my zeal has gotten me into trouble. In my "zeal" to see His Kingdom here on earth run the way that His Word instructs, I have often put my "zealous" foot in my mouth.

This is not to minimize or state that zeal is wrong..no way. In the right hands, with the right heart, zeal drives a person to "right the wrongs" found in Abba's Kingdom. However, love should always be the motivating factor. A rule I have learned from the Lord is to take my feelings to Him first in prayer. I seek Him. I wait on Him. And then if I get the "ok" from the Lord, I carry on.

In those times where I was in His perfect will, fruit came from the situation. In other cases, when I acted in my "flesh" and allowed my zeal to be a lashing, well, no fruit came out of it. Then I had to go back to God, confess my sins, and ask for forgiveness. Afterwards, I had to go to the person I hurt and ask them for forgiveness as well. I have learned that God is much more willing to forgive than the family of God! So I try not to do things the hard way anymore LOL!

What about you? Have you ever had a passion in your heart so fierce that it drove you to confront someone about an issue in their lives? What was the fruit of that? Whether or not a person receives your correction is not the measurement. Peace is how we measure whether what we did was from God or not. If peace (true peace from God, not manufactured peace to hush the convictions of the Holy Spirit)reigns in our hearts, then most likely, we have had the privilege to be used of the Lord.

Lord, in our desire to please you, and in our zeal to see your Kingdom come, may we examine our hearts for cleanliness. Let no ugly spirit nor any ulterior motive drive our hearts to bring forth correction. May love be what drives us to restore another back on the path of righteousness. Father, forgive us where we have hurt others in our quest for truth. May your love bind our hearts together. In Jesus' Name, Amen.

XtremeFaith