How deep do you dive when you get into God’s presence? Friendship with God is so important on its own but also in relation to friendship with godly friends. I’ll admit, I’d like to dive deeper in both areas. God has been showing me through the last few years it’s less about academic grasping of theology and more about encountering the LORD of glory Himself, encountering the Holy Spirit leading us into a place of steady following of Jesus Christ and encountering others doing the same. From that place of wonder and joy together with God regarding Himself… God’s gift of Himself to humanity is truly the most wonderful gift He could have ever provided!!!… From that place of wonder and joy together with God regarding Himself together with other Jesus-hooked Jesus followers, we can more healthily and faithfully make new disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ… That said, making disciples should be something we are doing along the path of fellowship with God and other believers, and not trying to work on relating with God and other believers in a vacuum and thinking we will introduce others to God and His kids sometime down the path. The best context I’ve found for reaching the lost is in reaching them with other believers and the best path I’ve found for growing with other believers is in the path of reaching the lost… Not something that happens exactly this way always but this ideal is so refreshing and encouraging for everyone involved and so glorifies God as we are loving God and neighbor and making disciples all in the same set of rhythms.

The deepest dive possible is a life lived in pursuit of Jesus Christ, hot on His heels, filled with the promised Holy Spirit, and keeping the love of the Father God in our hearts.

This morning what impacted me was David’s general Joab’s red hot support for David at least in a big chunk of the glory days for King David. It’s sad to read later how he doesn’t protect his legacy and decision for king late in life – Solomon and Bathsheba and Nathan and crew helping David know what was happening without his knowledge. It’s an interesting story all through, but Joab’s ruthless ways caught my attention. It’s sobering how passion is important and loyalty is important, and yet it’s so critical that it’s cultivated as a back-filling and being sourced from a red hot pursuit of the glory of God and not self. Joab seemed to make fast decisions that supported his securing of power.

May God get us deep into the paths of following Christ and not our own ego and ambition. May Christ be so our focus that we look more like him than our former sinful self. May the Holy Spirit so fill and work through us that people don’t see intense humans but rather loving disciples of Christ, faithful and true and courageous followers of the Way, the Truth, and the Life, Jesus Christ Himself.

Do you have a Joab in your life? Is there someone who scrapes and stabs and fights and clamors for your advancement or position only ultimately because there is something in that for them? Maybe it’s a family member who defends you tooth and nail, but if you fell out of favor, they would gladly defend someone else it served them to defend? May we seek friends and associations that aren’t just in the relationship for themselves and not even in it for us but in fellowship with others for the glory of God in pursuit of Christ.

May our closest associations be with other authentic and consistent Jesus followers and otherwise be associations where we are loving, encouraging, supportive, able to enjoy, etc, but not looking to risk as much trust in those associations. The only reason I trust my most trusted advocates and those I most steadily advocate for is I genuinely believe they trust God and follow Jesus at the deepest level of their soul. Will they let me down and will I let them down? Of course, but what cultivates the deepest trust in my soul humanly speaking is that I genuinely don’t believe they think too highly of me or themselves and trust the King of kings as Lord of lords, Jesus Christ the Messiah, the Savior, the Lord of all.

Much love!

Torrey