By Keith Cowart

​We have cried out to God, “COME ON!"

Jesus answered our cry: “I have come ..."

"I have come that you might have life and have it abundantly” (John 10:10).

What is the nature of this life? It is not a life divorced from the realities of the world, but one infused with supernatural resources that enable us to live fully and freely in all circumstances. Though the Bible consistently warns us to expect trials, persecution, and suffering in this life, it also uses words like “conquerors” (Romans 8:37) and “overcomers” (1 John 5:4) and “victors” (2 Corinthians 2:14, The Message) to describe the way we respond to those challenges.

Yet, I have to confess that the abundant life we Christians proclaim and claim to possess sometimes seems fleeting. Without question, I have tasted it and found it to be incomparably good. But I also find myself missing it more often than I would like to admit. As a pastor, I have met with hundreds of individuals over the years who have been at various stages of either desperately pursuing or giving up on the hope of extraordinary life.

Why the struggle?

Jesus answers that question in the other half of the same verse: we have an enemy who opposes in every way the life Jesus came to bring. He fights to keep us from it, and once we have it, though the war is lost, he and his minions continue to snipe at us from afar like a rogue guerilla unit that refuses to admit defeat. Let’s not forget this reality as we pray for a fresh move of God’s Spirit. Our prayers will be opposed. At the same time, let’s also remember that while the battle is very real, it is not a battle of equals. The same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead (and destroyed the power of sin and death!) now lives in us. That means we do not fight for victory, but from victory as we pray for one another.

Response

1. If you have not been able to fast this week, might you fast today?
2. Join us at 6:30 a.m. and 12:00 p.m. in the CCC Prayer Room to pray from victory for one another.
3. Pray from victory for:

• Those things in your life or your family’s life where the enemy is attempting to steal, kill and destroy.
• The heavy burdens of sickness, hopelessness, relational brokenness, grief that weigh down those around us. Send a message to let someone know you are interceding for them.
• The awakening to come to our church family.
• The Kingdom of God to advance in our city, country, world. 

“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.” (Matthew 11: 28-30)
 
We awaken this morning to another call from Jesus to “come on." Hear his invitation in this scripture. Hear his desire to love you in a very specific way. Today’s particular call is to those of us who are tired, worn out, burned out on religion. But what is he calling us to? Oh, the beautiful truth of the real remedy to our weariness! He is calling us to Himself. “Come to Me”. That is his call to you today.

Jon Bloom of desiringgod.org unpacks this call:

The simplicity of Jesus’s promise is both striking and refreshing. Jesus doesn’t offer us a four-fold path to peace-giving enlightenment, like the Buddha did. He doesn’t give us five pillars of peace through submission as Islam does. Nor does he give us “10 Ways to Relieve Your Weariness,” which we pragmatic, self-help-oriented 21st century Americans are so drawn to. Unique to anyone else in human history, Jesus simply offers himself as the universal solution to all that burdens us.

And his simple promise is audacious: “Come to me.” The only way that this isn’t megalomaniacal lunacy is if Jesus is who he claims to be: the eternal Word made flesh, our Creator (John 1:1–3, 14; John 8:58; Hebrews 1:1–3). His simple promise implies a power behind it more than sufficient to lift what weighs us down.

What does coming to Jesus mean? When we read the context of this promise (Matthew 11–12), his meaning becomes clear. In his rebuke of the cities (Matthew 11:20–24) and religious leaders (Matthew 12:1–8) that saw firsthand his miraculous works, so clearly demonstrating who he was (John 5:36), and still refused to believe in him, we know that when Jesus said, “come to me,” he meant, “believe in who I claim to be and therefore what I am able to do for you.”

And here is where our burdened souls are tested. Will we believe in him; will we trust him? We want to rest our souls on the knowledge of how and when our burdensome problems will be addressed. But Jesus does not provide those details. He simply promises us that they will be addressed.

Jesus does not want our souls resting on the how and when, as if we are wise enough to understand and determine them. Rather he wants our souls resting on the surety that he will keep his promise to us in the best way at the best time. “Come to me,” he says, “cast your anxieties on me for I care for you” (see 1 Peter 5:7). “Trust in me with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding” (see Proverbs 3:5), he says, “and you will find rest for your souls.”
 
Response

1. Search me and know my anxious thoughts and see if there be any wicked way in me. Where has your soul turned for rest in places other than in Jesus? Ask the Holy Spirit to search that out so that you may confess this.
2. Will you believe in him; will you trust him? Ask him to help you do so.
3. Come to him. Take time to actually abide in Him. Let him take your burdens. Let him exchange with a yoke that is not heavy or ill-fitting. This is the way He desires to love you today.

By Pam Cowart

Yesterday we heard Jesus calling us to AWAKEN to the reality of His deep, healing, powerful love for us. Take a moment to read this insight from Charles Spurgeon. Spurgeon was a preacher in the 1800s, so you may need to slog through some of the less than modern language, but the beauty of Spurgeon’s perspective on what it means to love and be loved by Jesus is worth it. 

"I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if ye find my beloved, that ye tell him, that I am sick of [with] love" (Song of Solomon 5:8).

Such is the language of the believer panting after present fellowship with Jesus, he is sick for his Lord. Gracious souls are never perfectly at ease except they are in a state of nearness to Christ; for when they are away from him they lose their peace. The nearer to him, the nearer to the perfect calm of heaven; the nearer to him, the fuller the heart is, not only of peace, but of life, and vigor, and joy, for these all depend on constant intercourse with Jesus. What the sun is to the day, what the moon is to the night, what the dew is to the flower, such is Jesus Christ to us. What bread is to the hungry, clothing to the naked, the shadow of a great rock to the traveler in a weary land, such is Jesus Christ to us; and, therefore, if we are not consciously one with him, little marvel if our spirit cries in the words of the Song, "I charge you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, if ye find my beloved, tell him that I am sick of [with] love." This earnest longing after Jesus has a blessing attending it: "Blessed are they that do hunger and thirst after righteousness"; and therefore, supremely blessed are they who thirst after the Righteous One. Blessed is that hunger, since it comes from God: if I may not have the full-blown blessedness of being filled, I would seek the same blessedness in its sweet bud-pining in emptiness and eagerness till I am filled with Christ. If I may not feed on Jesus, it shall be next door to heaven to hunger and thirst after him. There is a hallowedness about that hunger, since it sparkles among the beatitudes of our Lord. But the blessing involves a promise. Such hungry ones "shall be filled" with what they are desiring. If Christ thus causes us to long after himself, he will certainly satisfy those longings; and when he does come to us, as come he will, oh, how sweet it will be!
 
Response

1. The hunger in your soul was designed to be filled with the love of Jesus for you. Take a moment to confess any attempt to fill the hunger of your soul with things other than Jesus. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. This moment you can transfer your position with Jesus from far to near.
2. Take a moment to recognize the nearness of Jesus. Receive the “perfect calm of heaven” that comes along with his nearness.
3. Take a moment to recognize where you are “hungry” and what you are hungry for. Would you be so brave and bold to release any illegitimate hunger to Jesus and ask him to increase your hunger for himself?
4. We have cried out COME ON! Spurgeon assures us He is coming. He is coming to satisfy your longings. Take a moment to hear his knock ... his invitation to open the door and let him come in. Open the door. Let Jesus come in. 

By Pam Cowart

In January of this year we heard God calling us to AWAKEN. We gathered to fast and pray in a desire to respond to this calling with obedience. We prayed we would all awaken. We heard the knock on our individual and corporate hearts asking us to “open the ancient gate and let the King of Glory enter in.”

And enter He did! The Spirit of the Living God was among us as we gathered for early-morning and noontime prayer, as well as in our nightly revival gatherings. Again, in late April/early May we gathered to pray and fast for the Call to AWAKEN revival week with Mark Nyswander. We heard the call to AWAKEN to the fullness of the Holy Spirit. We experienced what the Holy Spirit in our lives can do to transform us, redeem us, restore us and empower us. There have been powerful testimonies of what God has done in the lives of individuals and in us corporately as we have woken up!

At both revivals we joined together in the war cry, “COME ON!” That cry has a three-fold meaning:

1. To God we cry, “COME ON!” in a passionate desire for heaven to invade earth ... for the Holy Spirit to invade our gathering ... for holiness to invade my heart!
2. To our own spirit we cry, “COME ON!” in a passionate desire for our spirit to rise up, enter the battle, AWAKEN, activate, come alive again!
3. To one another we cry, “COME ON!” in a passionate desire to spur one another on with encouragement that we are not in this battle alone. We are an army together taking ground from the enemy’s camp!

As we enter a third week of fasting and prayer leading up to a third week of Call to AWAKEN revival gatherings, this cry is still before us. It is still valid and needed as a war cry among us. Yet, I hear a stiller, smaller, quieter voice inviting us into something deeper yet. I hear the voice of Jesus cutting through the noise of this world. I hear His firm, confident, compassionate voice waking us with a call, “Come on.” I hear Jesus saying, “Come on ... wake up ... get up ... follow me.” I hear Jesus saying, “Come on ... follow me ... I am inviting you into something new.” I hear Jesus saying, “Come on ... I truly want you to know and experience an awakening to MY LOVE FOR YOU!”

This invitation into the depths of His love is not some sugary, sappy journey. The filling of our lives with the love of Jesus is the source of all we need. This deep filling is for healing and wholeness. This deep filling is for empowerment for battle. This deep filling is for pouring out to those in need around us. This deep filling is to grow us up together to be the mature and functioning body our Head needs us to be.

What a glorious invitation it is. Will you come? Will you say “yes” to his invitation”? Will you come on? Will you wake up?
 
Response

1. Have you participated in the first two weeks of A Call to AWAKEN? If so, take some time to remember what God has done to awaken you. Take some time to thank God for what he has done. Share your awakening testimony with someone today.
2. If you have not been able to participate in the first two weeks of Call to AWAKEN, please don’t hit the snooze button this time. Jesus is calling. His invitation is so good. Take a moment to respond to his invitation.
3. What do you hear in Jesus’s invitation to “Come on?” Do you sense anything specific for yourself? For the church? Beyond?