Jesus Lover Of My Soul | Breakfast For Your Soul

International Lover

Written by FAVORED1 on November 19, 2009 – 3:52 pm -

Thursday, November 19, 2009

After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; And cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb. And all the angels stood round about the throne, and about the elders and the four beasts, and fell before the throne on their faces, and worshipped God, Saying, Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen. And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they? And I said unto him, Sir, you know. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple: and He that sits on the throne shall dwell among them. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.

[Revelation 7:9-17]

‘International Lover’

Good Afternoon Beloved,

My teenage years were filled with Prince. I had all of his albums, cassettes, posters, magazine articles –you name it, I had it. I still remember my mom and I camping outside the ticket office all night, in the rain, in order to get that precious ‘Capital Center’ ticket in my hand (my poor mom… she didn’t even like Prince… awww the things you do for your children). Well, he had a song called ‘International Lover’. In the song he explicitly boasts of his physical prowess. You may ask, “Regina, where are you going with this one?”… well, walking to work (so many of my daily thoughts drop into my heart while I’m walking), I believe I felt the Lord telling me that He is the REAL International Lover. He loves every man, woman and child on the planet. Every descendant of Adam and Eve… and that covers everybody. Revelation 7 ignited in my heart. If we’re not careful, we can innocently fall under the belief that Jesus is an American. It is very subtle. It can happen in the way that we look at the styles and customs of other nations and shake our heads. Now, sin is sin and the bible pulls no punches as to what is right and what is wrong. The 10 Commandments are for everybody, no matter what culture they were born into. But, we should never confuse ’righteousness’ with ‘personal taste’. You may not enjoy the driving beat of a Carribbean song, and their jubilant praise dances, but to call it ‘worldly’ would be error. Something happened in my life that brought out my own craziness… can I tell on myself? Arlene and I got the chance to visit beautiful Cancun a few years ago. It was the trip of a lifetime, but getting there was another story. The first flight was canceled, and that threw the whole trip schedule off. Long story short, we found ourselves trying to communicate with people who did not speak English. We’re in their country, frustrated because they can’t understand us! Even in the midst of chaos, we had to laugh at ourselves. I joked to Arlene, “Girl, we are really American!“. Everyone was really friendly and helpful to us, even though they were just as confused as we were. We really don’t mean any harm at all, some things are deeply ingrained in us, and it takes something as simple as what we experienced to bring it to our attention. Some cultures drink wine with their meals, like we drink soft drinks. That sounds strange to us who have been in the church for a while. The bible speaks against ‘drunkenness’… it didn’t say not to drink wine at all (me personally, I don’t drink wine because I never liked the taste). Now, if a person has a problem with alcoholism, don’t drink anything (that’s what I’d say). If the thing is going to lead you into sin, stay far, far away

(that’s bible). Another case in point, I was watching “Say Yes to the Dress” (my daughter loves those shows, actually she loves clothes). A young lady from India picked out her wedding gown that was going to be dyed red. She explained that in their culture, white gowns are worn to funerals and her family would be “shocked” to see her in a white gown on her wedding day. That would be like a person in our culture wearing a black gown to their wedding… we would think that a little morbid. See? It is good to learn as much as we can from other people. In evangelizing, it is beneficial to know a little something about where the person is coming from. What is offensive in their culture? What do they believe? How do they think, why do they do what they do? Another character trait of Jesus, was that you always found Him in the middle of whatever was going on. Teaching in the temple, speaking to the multitudes on the hillside, preaching from a fisherman’s boat, talking to the children, going to weddings, hanging out at the home of friends, attending dinner parties at the homes of tax collectors (

). Jesus has always been a ‘people person’. It was that very mission that brought Him from His Throne in Glory… His love for and compassion towards the children of Adam and Eve that He created. It is a timeless and eternal love that will never ever end…