PREFACE FROM MY BOOK
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WHEN Christ started dealing with me and I began to experience a
spiritual growth that defied my imagination, I still endured a gamut of
emotions. One of which was isolation from other Christians. I had no idea that
growing in Christ was such a dynamic life. I was so ignorant of the fact that
Christianity in the Bible is something that the Holy Spirit works within us—for
real—so real, in fact, that the process of demolition and reconstruction caused
a complete metamorphosis. When this happened, I no longer saw life as business
as usual. I changed spiritually into something else that I had no control over
nor was able to slow down. There was some confusion, a result of my ignorance
of what true Christianity was all about. I didn’t know that the Holy Spirit
could be so animated in us.
I sought for some kind of
mentorship to help me understand what was taking place within me—all in vain.
God is so good, even when I did not know where to turn for answers. Somehow,
however, I came across a document from A. W. Tozer entitled “The Pursuit of
God.” As I read this book, I had a ‘eureka’ moment. I realized I already knew
about God in the Bible, I knew about Him loving me first, I knew about Him
wanting me to be closer to Him, and so forth, but
there was a deeper knowing I still needed to understand and live out. I
understood, finally, why I was suddenly walking around as if I had another set
of eyes on the inside. I understood that I was privileged to take a peek beyond
the veil, and somehow to some extent, I knew I had to buckle up. From
reading Tozer’s material, I understood that God was
simply leading me to a place where I would understand what true and
practical Christianity looks like on
a daily basis. Later on, I understood as well that the need and obsession I had
in wanting to understand what was going on with me was so that I would be able
to cooperate better and join the Holy Spirit in the work that was taking place
within me.
While we are blessed in North America to have countless
Christian books and authors, what we lack are books that spell out this radical
Christian life we are called to follow. While it is understandable that we
cannot limit God and that the Holy Spirit works within us through different
approaches, trials, intensities, and duration, we nevertheless go through the
same preparation in the soul—the same narrow gate, the same kind of dark night
of the soul, the same process to break our stiff necks and prepare us for
intimacy with Him. So, while I found solace in reading the classics and
Puritans books, I found my soul longing for fellowship—even if only through
books—with people who were living this kind of life right here, right now, and
in this century. I have no doubt that there are Christians in this century,
very close by, who have experienced what I experienced. We lack twenty-first
century Christian manuals from writers who are not afraid of being bold with a
pen. Because they have been with Him, they are not afraid of being labeled, or
criticized harshly due to the demands they put on their readers, or of being
persecuted either. Let’s face it, most professing Christians today are not
interested in hearing any message that goes beyond tickling their ears. As the
Holy Spirit taught me, this kind of boldness is overdue in the times that we
are living in now. We need to dismantle any excuses they might have. I
personally have been through it, so I know with all my heart that a lot of Christians have no idea of
the deeper Christian walk with God, largely because we are not being taught
about it. If God had not gotten hold of me, then “I did not know” would have
certainly been my excuse when I finally saw Him face to face. I can say with
certainty that this book is not for the faint at heart and neither for those
uninterested in changing their lives with God.
Thus, the wilderness series
is exactly that…it fills up a gap. I have no intention of promoting the
mystical side of Christianity. We have way too many people in the pews seeking
for experiences in place of knowing God. My hope through writing this book is
that the reader would come to understand that the only formula to this
wonderful and adventurous Christian life is truly about seeking the Kingdom of Heaven
It's time that we stop
denying true Christianity for what it really is and start living like people
who have truly received Christ fully inside. Being a Christian is about
becoming the same Christ that walked the earth in His humanity. So let’s forgo
the excuses, the feel-good pat on the back Christianity that most of us have been
living, and move forward in Him who died so that we might have life in
abundance.
May the love of God finds
your heart. May you be blessed with a burning passion that engulfs your heart
so much so that the only step left is to go forward with no fear and no looking
back straight into daddy’s arms.
With all my love to my brothers and sisters in Christ,
M.J. André
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