Relentless Spirit

Relentless

Philippians 3:10 KJV 
"That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;

The term “relent” means to change your mind, just like the word “repent.” As Sons and Daughters of the Living God, we are called to seek God with all of our hearts, to keep seeking, and to keep seeking! The widow woman in Luke 18 was relentless in her cry for justice to the earthly judge, and Jesus says “will God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him…?” The simple story signifies that the woman would not relent, and she got what she needed.

Several other stories in the Bible show us men who were blind crying out to Jesus “SON OF DAVID HAVE MERCY ON US!” People told them to shut up, but they cried out even louder! They would not relent, they wanted their healing so bad, that they were determined to get the Lords attention. They got his attention, and were healed.

Another time a woman cried out for the Lord to heal her daughter, but she was ignored for a while, even getting on the disciples nerves with her crying because SHE WOULD NOT RELENT! Jesus granted her what she asked, and told her she had great faith!

When Elijah prayed for rain in I Kings 18:41-46, there was not a sign of rain in the sky until the seventh time his servant went to look at the sky. Elijah did not stop after five times, he did not change his mind, he did not relent because he had a word from the Lord. I could write pages about such instances as these “relentless pursuit” of the people in the bible, but I must move on to more of this subject.

In II Chronicles 7:14, a very familiar passage of scripture, God says to us that if we will humble ourselves, pray, seek His face, turn from our wicked ways; He will hear from heaven and forgive our sins and heal our land. This is an awesome promise of God, but conditional on our part. WE must do the first part, and he will be faithful to fulfill His part. Many people start off strong, but fall short….

Don’t stop, don’t give up, don’t change your mind! I declare right now over me and my family, and over you as you read this, WE WILL NOT RELENT! We will stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, we will have what the bible says we can have because I choose not to give up, not to relent, but to remain steadfast in my pursuit of God!

The other side of the road is God’s relentless pursuit of us. John 4:23 says that God seeks people to worship Him. II Chronicles 16:9 says He looks all about the earth seeking a heart that is loyal to Him, someone He can show himself strong through. God is relentless in His pursuit of us. He wants all of us, not just part. Jesus said he was like a man who has lost a sheep, and left the 99 to find the one; and like a woman who lost a coin, and turned her house upside down to find it. In both instances, how great was the joy when the sheep and the coin were found! Jesus will not relent in His pursuit for us, for God’s desire is that ALL men would repent and come to Him, that none would perish!

I declare that I will not relent until I have all of Him (this is an endless task because God is inexhaustible) BUT how awesome a journey of pursuit. In retrospect, I ask of God to not relent until He has all of me….that I would decrease and He would increase!

I pray that a desire for Him would burn in you so great that your spirit is greatly troubled when your pursuit begins to slack. I pray that you would also get the “heart” of seeking Him, and not change your mind about what the Bible says is ours to have just because you don’t see immediate results. Hold fast! Don’t’ relent!

Relentlessly pursuing God is not necessarily easy, but it's definitely worth it. However, you can't really pursue God until you've first experienced real freedom.

God is in the business of setting us free, and it's glorious to be free from guilt, condemnation, and always wondering what people are thinking of us.

We're set free from the concern of failing when we know who we are in Christ. This brings us the courage to be able to step out and pursue God's promises.

One of the greatest freedoms God has given me is the freedom to be me. For years I tried to be something I wasn't, feeling like I needed to be like this or like that, all the while knowing I wasn't like everyone else. Yet, I kept trying to be like others until I learned through my relationship with God who He created me to be. This also set me free from me, so I can focus on Jesus and reaching out to others the way He wants me to.

Philippians 3 says Paul was determined, or relentless, to have the things that Christ Jesus died for, to know Him and the power of His resurrection. I believe when we are born again, there is a spirit of determination that rises within us. We can call it Holy Spirit passion or zeal, and it's what gives us the 'oomph' we need during hard times to say, 'I will not give up on having an intimate, passionate, deep, personal relationship with God. I will not give up on being all that Christ wants me to be.'

Be relentless to stay in faith and receive God's promises. Remember, you belong to Him and He has given you a relentless spirit!