AdamParker.org

Urgency

Filed under: End Times, Knowledge of God

What stirs up urgency inside of us? Do we only feel urgency when crisis happens? Do we feel an urgency to pray and pray like there may be no tomorrow only when a close family member or friend is in critical condition and if we don’t pray he/she may die? Sure, then we will stop everything, get before God and start crying out. But when there is no immediate crisis happening that affects us do we still feel the urgency that God speaks of?

1 “Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. 2 Now five of them were wise, and five were foolish. 3 Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them, 4 but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. 5 But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept. 6 “And at midnight a cry was heard: ‘Behold, the bridegroom is coming; go out to meet him!’ 7 Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. 8 And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ 9 But the wise answered, saying, ‘No, lest there should not be enough for us and you; but go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves.’ 10 And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding; and the door was shut. 11 “Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open to us!’ 12 But he answered and said, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.’ 13 “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming. (Matt. 25:1-13)

Jesus said He was coming back, and that we need to watch and pray; to be prepared. We must believe Him, we must take Him at His world.

The best way to be prepared is to fully embrace the pursuit of knowing Jesus better. We must have an urgency and a hunger awakened in us that drives us more than the week or 2 after a great conference. We must seek to be steady in our walk and run this race consistantly and with passion, not giving up after the first month or two or even the first year or two.

Winkey Pratney said “Until and unless He (knowing God) becomes the whole given goal and practical purpose of our lives, our reason for life, work, studies – and even religious commitment will be in vain.

We do not know God. We claim to know Him because of how intellectual our culture has become. We read a few books and wahlaa we know all about Him. But in Jesus’ heart is this indescribable longing and desire for true intimacy and oneness with each one of us. This consistant day in and day out approach to being in the presence of God and getting to know Him that is carried out with unshakeable devotion is what we need.

It is out of this urgency to know Jesus, this urgency to make sure our lamps are filled and we are not left standing empty when that day comes, that God will use us to advance His kingdom. We must be on running into the heart of God head on if we want to see fruit in our lives, in our ministry and in our personal evangelism. Evangelism (love for your neighbor) will be the byproduct of this pursuit of knowing Jesus, it should not be our “primary purpose.”

“The majority of us, even in the Church, are wasting our lives doing good things instead of the best thing: living in intimacy with our Father in His house. We do a thousand things in His name, but the true and living knowledge of God is absent in our experience. We get burned out and bored when we continue serving without truly knowing God, without relating to Him intimately and personally. We need something more than our ministries. We need to be filled with God.” – Pursuit of the Holy, Corey Russell