Worship

“Rest On Us” By Maverick City Music and UPPERROOM, featuring Brandon Lake and Eniola Abioye

Scripture

“That very day two of them were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them. and they were talking with each other about all these things that had happened. But their eyes were kept from recognizing him.

And he said to them, “What is this conversation that you are holding with each other as you walk?”…

When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them. And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And he vanished from their sight. They said to each other, “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?””-Luke 24:13-17a, 30-32, ESV

The Emmaus Road: When Jesus Meets Us in Our Pain

Can’t you just feel the roller coaster of emotions these two guys felt? Three years with Jesus, then deep despair after His death. They decided to walk away from Jerusalem—the place where everything took place for them; the place where everyone was gathered for Passover, a time of reverence and remembrance. They walked out of town with all of that behind them. I can imagine deep grief and so many questions, perplexed and feeling deep loss. I wonder if they were thinking, “Let’s just forget it. The pain is too deep and the questions too many. Let’s just go.”

Jesus came to meet them on their road of pain.

He could have gone to scores of people that day, but He chose to come to them to turn their hearts from downcast and drifting to on fire with holy passion. They needed His presence and His words. Jesus knew they needed to see Him again. His appearing to them sent them running back to declare the truth and revelation of Jesus with their own lips and their own conviction.

Navigating Between Burning and Drifting in Our Faith

Although I wrote about this passage last Easter, I awoke with these two words in my mind: burning and drifting. To be honest with you, I feel the magnetic pull toward these two polar ends at times. My heart burns within me for Jesus—His presence, His goodness, His Spirit. Then at times I get so sidetracked by the cares of the world, and I feel my perspective shift. How do we get to a place of continual burning? Is it possible? At the very core of these questions is desire—do we desire to continually burn with passion for Jesus? Or are we OK with seasons of burning and seasons of distraction and drifting?

Those two guys needed an encounter in the midst of their pain. They needed their Jesus. They needed to hear truth and remember all that they had seen. They needed to go back to Jerusalem with a testimony of having seen Jesus in risen form. Their testimony of declaration was part of their breakthrough.

When we are stuck in disillusionment, Jesus comes. He always comes.

Standing Firm in Challenging Times

There is a differentiator when, in our hearts, we are not for Him any longer. Drifting becomes the very thing that takes us far from Him. Scripture tells us that in the last days, even the elect will fall away. When Jesus returns, will He find our faith on the Earth? Will we look like the rest of the world who has lost hope, bound and entangled by culture and the burden the enemy places on our shoulders? Will we see with spiritual eyes the battle for our passions and ask the Lord to consecrate our lives afresh for Him?

“But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power.” -2 Timothy 3:1-5a, ESV

This is our culture and the days in which we are living. It can become disheartening and overwhelming. Our hearts can grow weary if we don’t see Jesus coming to us in the midst of this to reignite our passion for Him. I have devoured Dane Ortlund’s book, “Gentle and Lowly.” I think it is my most favorite book of 2022. In it, Ortlund writes of our compassionate Jesus, compelled toward us like He was compelled to come to his two friends on the Emmaus road.

“Christ loved his own all the way through death itself. What must that mean for you? It means, first, that your future is secure. If you are his, heaven and relief is coming, for you cannot be made un-his. He himself made you his own, and you can’t squirm out of his grasp. And it means, second, that he will love you to the end. Not only is your future secure, on the basis of his death; your present is secure, proven in his heart. He will love you to the end because he cannot bear to do otherwise. No exit strategy. No prenup. He’ll love to the end—’to the end of their lives, to the end of their sins, to the end of their temptations, to the end of their fears.’” -Dane Ortlund, “Gentle and Lowly”

A Prayer for Renewed Devotion

I don’t believe it’s going to get easier from here on out. I think we are on a fast track to the return of Jesus. But I want to burn with passion from Him and for Him because He is the most important person in my life. He holds the Lordship and highest place of honor in my life. I want to be so anchored in Christ that I am not prone to drift or walk away from where I walked with Jesus all these years. Will you pray this prayer with me?

Jesus, will You consecrate me afresh today with a radical love and holy pursuit of Christ alone? Circumcise my heart and remove the little stones (the altars and idols) that are blocking the flow of living waters gushing from my life. Will You come and consecrate me today for what You want to do in and through my life? Lord, remove the things that are causing me to be distracted and drift. Holy Spirit, fall afresh on me, Your Bride, that I would burn with holy passion, unwavering, laser-focused on Jesus, my finish line and great reward. Forgive me for wandering and for becoming distracted in this hour that I lose sight of the times in which I am living that are going to require focused faith and keeping short accounts with You all day long. Protect me from the evil one and from his plans and schemes to cloud my vision and take me into the captivity of activity. Will You set me free today to run my race, unhindered and unhinged? Come and anoint me today that I may overflow with Your power and Your presence.

In the powerful and merciful name of Jesus.

I prophesy to you that He is coming with fresh fire for you. Open your hands and receive it!