CLOUDS WITHOUT WATER

“These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots;” –Jude 1:12 KJV

When I look up into the sky and view all the fluffy white clouds I tend to just enjoy their beauty.  I do not consciously think that all I am seeing is a form of water molecules starting to condense together.  As these molecules grow denser and denser the clouds become darker and when they have reached a saturation point they become water drops, falling down to us as rain.

When reading in the Bible I came across this verse in Jude and it intrigued me.  How could a cloud be without water when it is literally made of water?  Then I thought about how the State of California has struggled through drought after drought and then such destructive fire after fire.  I remember seeing cloud after cloud pass above me when I lived there, but none condensed enough to send the much needed refreshing rain.  I was seeing clouds without water, they looked good on the outside but had no life-giving substance.  People can be like that too.

Jude explains (in verses 10-11 KJV) that these “clouds without water” people “…insult anything they don’t understand. They behave like irrational beasts by doing whatever they feel like doing. Because they live by their animal instincts, they corrupt themselves and bring about their own destruction.  How terrible it is for them! For they have followed in the steps of Cain.”

Think about this:  who was the first evil person in the world?  Cain was; he killed his own brother in a jealous rage because his brother’s efforts were recognized and his own were not.  Cain was self-centered; he focused his life on what would benefit himself.  “They behave like irrational beasts by doing whatever they feel like doing.”

The AMPFLIED Bible puts verse 12b this way, “They are clouds with no rain, swept along by the winds. Like fruitless late-autumn trees—twice dead, barren, and plucked up by the roots!”

Brothers and sisters, we say that we are not like these people.  Why?  Because we are not like “fruitless late-autumn trees” but we are fruitful, bearing the fruit of the Spirit (“…joy that overflows, peace that subdues, patience that endures, kindness in action, a life full of virtue, faith that prevails, gentleness of heart, and strength of spirit.” – Gal. 5:22b-23a TPT)  Jude, in his book, speaks of a warning to believers, that there are those among us, looking like us, saying all the right things, doing all the right things, but all out of selfish motives.  They do not bear the fruit of the Spirit, but rather they strive to look like they do.  Just what is in store for these fruitless people?

“But the evil servant says in his heart, ‘My master delays his coming, and who knows when he will return?’ And because of the delay, the servant mistreats those in his master’s household. Instead of caring for the ones he was appointed to serve, he abuses the other servants and gives himself over to eating and drinking with drunkards. Let me tell you what will happen to him. His master will suddenly return at a time that surprises him, and he will remove the abusive, selfish servant from his position of trust. And the master will cut him in two and assign him to the place of great sorrow and anguish along with all the other pretenders and unbelievers.” –Matthew 24:48-51 TPT

“Are you seeking great things for yourself, instead of seeking to be a great person? God wants you to be in a much closer relationship with Himself than simply receiving His gifts-He wants you to get to know Him. Even some large thing we want is only incidental; it comes and it goes. But God never gives us anything incidental. There is nothing easier than getting into the right relationship with God, unless it is not God you seek, but only what He can give you.” — Oswald Chambers

In conclusion let me challenge you with this simple question:  are you a cloud without water; are you fruitless, or do you bear fruit and are you ready for our Master’s return?

…AND THE HUNGER FOR GOD IS LOST

“And the hunger for God is lost. The desire to see people who don’t know the Lord is left in melancholy and sleeping! There’s no desire to even share what the Lord has done in your own personal life!  Maybe because we stopped looking and acknowledging His divine presence in our lives?” –Leslie Theresa Wendy Norris

Can you say that you know God?  Are you so familiar with Him that you know what He thinks about the issues in your life?  If we are honest with ourselves we have to admit that we do not know Him that well.  As an example:  I and one of my mission team partners, Bill, came across two men standing on the sidewalk in St. Ann’s Bay, Jamaica.  Right away Bill asked the two, “Do you know Jesus?”  Their response, “Ya Mon, we know Jesus.”  Yet their knowledge of Jesus was limited to what they were taught as children; since becoming adults they had both become Rastas (Rastafarians).  They had not grown in faith beyond their early Sunday School lessons and when they became men there was nothing to help guide their lives beyond their own selfish desires of smoking ganja and frequenting rum bars.  “Oh, but Linda I am not that bad,” you say, “I go to church, sing in the choir, pay my tithes, and help the poor.”  Excellent my friend!  These are outward signs of the Christian life, but what are the inward signs?

“I know all that you’ve done for me—you have worked hard and persevered. I know that you don’t tolerate evil. You have tested those who claimed to be apostles and proved they are not, for they were imposters.  I also know how you have bravely endured trials and persecutions because of my name, yet you have not become discouraged.  But I have this against you: you have abandoned the passionate love you had for me at the beginning.” – Revelation 2:2-4 (TPT)

Have you “…abandoned the passionate love you had…” for the Lord?  When I first became a Christian Jesus was my priority.  I read my Bible with zeal to know Him and more about Him.  I prayed often, not in big or flowery words but in simple short conversations.  For the first four years of my Christian walk it was like this, but then I moved to another state and let busyness put priorities in my life other than Jesus.  Although I did not go as far as smoking ganja or drinking, I did quit seeking out more and more of the Lord.  I still attended church, sang worship songs, gave money when the offerings were taken and such.  I was a woman who was looked at by others as “good” but inside my soul was slowly drying up.

“Has going hard after God become as important to us as water is to someone dying of thirst?  Maybe we’re not thirsty enough yet.” –Larry Elder

“God—you’re my God!  I can’t get enough of you!  I’ve worked up such hunger and thirst for God, traveling across dry and weary deserts.  So here I am in the place of worship, eyes open, drinking in your strength and glory.  In your generous love I am really living at last!  My lips brim praises like fountains.  I bless you every time I take a breath; My arms wave like banners of praise to you.” – Psalm 63:1-3 (MSG)

Psalm 42:1 shows as well what our desire should be in knowing God:

“I long to drink of you, O God, drinking deeply from the streams of pleasure flowing from your presence.  My longings overwhelm me for more of you!” –(TPT)

“A white-tailed deer drinks from the creek; I want to drink God, deep draughts of God. I’m thirsty for God-alive. I wonder, “Will I ever make it— arrive and drink in God’s presence?” I’m on a diet of tears— tears for breakfast, tears for supper. All day long people knock at my door, Pestering, “Where is this God of yours?” – (MSG)

My zeal returned when I attended mission school ten years later, and it has continued to grow stronger over the years since.  I learned that it is so easy in this day and age to let the busyness of life distract me away from pursuing a relationship with Jesus.  Other things that I have found prevent pursuit of God are:  fear of rejection, bitterness, anger and even being religious. 

To have found God and still to pursue Him is the soul’s paradox of love, scorned indeed by the too easily satisfied religionist, but justified in happy experience by the children of the burning heart.” –A. W. Tozer

“Amazing! Weren’t our hearts on fire within us while He was talking to us on the road? Didn’t you feel it all coming clear as He explained the meaning of the Hebrew Scriptures?” – Luke 24:32 (VOICE)

Another thing that robs us of that zeal for God is being satisfied with where we are at:  complacency.

“I know what you do. You are not hot or cold. I wish that you were hot or cold!  But you are only warm—not hot, not cold. So I am ready to spit you out of my mouth.” – Revelation 3:15-16 (ERV)

With all this in mind, are you satisfied with where you are at or do you want to grow closer to Jesus?  The Rev. David Wilkerson once said, “You cannot grow until you hate your present immaturity. I encourage you to cry out to God, Lord, translate me into your glorious kingdom of power and victory. Give me the life of usefulness and joy that so many others are enjoying!”

“I was baptized alongside my mother when I was 8 years old. Since then, I have tried to walk a Christian life. And now that I'm getting older, I realized that I'm walking even closer with my God.” — Andy Griffith

A few more quotes to stir your heart with hunger for God are:

“Real joy comes when we get the right desire met - the desire for God himself, for a life led by the Spirit, fulfilling not our material desires but our deepest need, which is to be in a close relationship with our Creator. That is the source of true blessing. The only source.” ― Michael W. Smith

“Your Christian life is supposed to be about your personal relationship with God. It is supposed to be about you and God alone.” ― Sunday Adelaja

“God trusts most those who know Him best, and those who know Him best are those who have spent the most time with Him.” ― Mark Batterson

“Too often we want clarity and God wants us to come closer.” ― Ann Voskamp

“Our hearts are restless until they find their rest in Thee.” –St. Augustine

In these end-times I believe God is fanning the embers of love for him in our hearts.  I pray that He has used me in this article to cause your heart to yearn for Him in deeper and deeper ways.  I pray that you have again found your hunger for God.  Here is one more encouragement:

Phil Wickham, “Your Love Awakens Me”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qC9kdcebZPQ