That burning passion that provokes you toward more of His reality is Him in you wanting to be Himself through your life. It is Him boiling in you so that you steam out His presence everywhere you go. That desire to see Jesus get what He paid for through your life, was awakened in you the very second you said yes to the Lordship of the King of Kings and became a living sacrifice that reveals His goodness. The craving for greatness is the effects of being in the presence of the Great One. He wants you to be great!
The apostles lived and breathed running their race with passion and potency. All the while knowing Who was fueling them and why they were truly running. It doesn’t say anywhere in the Gospels to walk your race, or watch others run their race. It says RUN YOUR race, run in what He has for YOU!
When the apostles argued over who was the greatest in the Kingdom, did you ever notice how Jesus never rebuked them for it. Instead He subtlety corrected their thinking and told them how to be great. He didn’t say what most pastors say, which is some long sermon on how to ‘watch out for pride’ (your sin nature has been removed from you, Romans 6). Jesus wants us knowing who we are, which is greatness Himself! When the apostles argued over who was the greatest, Jesus told them how to be great. We were born from above to be just like the Greatest One of all. Luke 22:26 "But it is not this way with you, but the one who is the greatest among you must become like the youngest, and the leader like the servant. (NASB) Welcome to the paradoxical paradise of the upside down and inside out Kingdom of God. The way the world goes for greatness is how you get humbled by God, and the backwards way of being the lowest servant of all is how you become the greatest.
Again in Mark 9:33 Then He came to Capernaum. And when He was in the house He asked them, “What was it you disputed among yourselves on the road?” 34 But they kept silent, for on the road they had disputed among themselves who would be the greatest. 35 And He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, “If anyone desires to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all.” (NKJV) The recipe for greatness was His response to His disciples trying to ‘one-up’ each other.
You were created to do greater works then Jesus, John 14:12. It doesn’t get much greater than that, does it? The false identity of false humility has exalted the fear of pride in the name of trying to be humble, when Jesus said that if you are truly humble then He will exalt you. Real humility gets promoted in the Kingdom. Matthew 23:12 "Whoever exalts himself shall be humbled; and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted. (NASB) In the Greek the word for ‘humbles’ is –tapeinóō- show humility, true lowliness happens by being fully dependent on the Lord – dismissing reliance upon self (self-government) and emptying carnal ego. This exalts the Lord as our all-in-all and prompts the gift of His fullness in us.
Are you willing to look like a fool for Him? He looked like a fool for you, Isaiah 52:14 But many were amazed when they saw him. His face was so disfigured he seemed hardly human, and from his appearance, one would scarcely know he was a man. (NLT) Are you willing to obey His guidance, which can look absolutely insane to carnal minded on lookers? 1 Corinthians 1:27 But God chose what is foolish in this world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong, 28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, 29 so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. (ESV) He might ask you to look like a fool for a second, but only to make Him look like a genius in us. i.e. spit in the mud and rub in their eyes so they are healed.
Are you ok with being the donkey that carries in the King? Are you willing to lay down everything you are so you can become everything He is? The lower you go for Him, the higher He will take you in Him. That is the implication and magnitude of the Good News, Galatians 2:20 "I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.” (NASB) Look how low the apostle Paul went, and look how much God entrusted to Paul.
Jesus spoke on this topic of how to be great multiple times in the Good News, always encouraging and never rebuking. Matthew 18: 1 At about the same time, the disciples came to Jesus asking, "Who gets the highest rank in God's kingdom?" 2 For an answer Jesus called over a child, whom he stood in the middle of the room, 3 and said, "I'm telling you, once and for all, that unless you return to square one and start over like children, you're not even going to get a look at the kingdom, let alone get in. 4 Whoever becomes simple and elemental again, like this child, will rank high in God's kingdom. 5 What's more, when you receive the childlike on my account, it's the same as receiving me. (Message) The childlike are the center of attention to heaven.
Have you ever watched a child interact with their parents? They live in the simplest place of being that is possible. They trust their parents for everything, every time. Actually children don’t even know how to stress or worry, or what that even is, until they observe it from someone. They just know that their parents will provide everything, and take care of everything. Dare to believe that God will supply for the dreams He has birthed in you the way it says to pray and believe in Ephesians 3:20 Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, (NASB).
You are actually called to live and move and have your being in greatness. Philippians 1:27 Above all, you must live as citizens of heaven, conducting yourselves in a manner worthy of the Good News about Christ. Then, whether I come and see you again or only hear about you, I will know that you are standing together with one spirit and one purpose, fighting together for the faith, which is the Good News. (NLT) ‘Above all’, other translations say ‘whatever happens’ or ‘only’, whatever happens conduct yourselves like Jesus. In other words, conduct yourselves in a manner of greatness no matter what happens! Jesus is the model on how to walk in greatness, and it is your true nature now. He lives inside you, and desires to be Himself in us.
You were born from above to change nations for Christ. You are a walking atomic bomb of glory, power, and love! You have full access to all creativity, after all doesn’t the Creator (the Uncreated One) live inside you? All authority on earth and in heaven rests within you. You cannot help but manifest greatness! You are a new creation, the sound of heaven is your feet touching the ground. 2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if any person is [ingrafted] in Christ (the Messiah) he is a new creation (a new creature altogether); the old [previous moral and spiritual condition] has passed away. Behold, the fresh and new has come! (Amplified)
You are a brand new creature that the world has never seen. You walk in the Greatest Person that has ever lived, and He walks in you! Mr. Greatness Himself desires that you do greater things that He did, John 14:12, and He paid for everything so you could.
John 17: 22 “I have given them the glory you gave me, so they may be one as we are one. 23 I am in them and you are in me. May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me. 24 Father, I want these whom you have given me to be with me where I am. Then they can see all the glory you gave me because you loved me even before the world began! (NLT) You are seated in Christ next to the Throne of Grace as you read this. Greatness is in you and burning with unlimited energy and passion, and this world is begging to see what real greatness is.
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