Antonio Baldovinos - Relentless pursuit : awakening hearts to burn for him

ABOUT ANTONIO BALDOVINOS

M ARKED BY BOLDNESS and passion, Antonio Baldovinos has an uncompromising message of calling the Church to a wholehearted pursuit after God. Since 2000 Antonio has traveled to many nations seeing tens of thousands respond to the gospel. In 2008 God expanded his vision to call people to a lifestyle of prayer and intimacy with God. It is this passion that brought him and his wife to establish the Global Prayer House Missions Base, which includes the Pursuit Conference, the Pursuit Internship, and the Pursuit Worship, all flowing out of the place of prayer and worship. Antonio and his beautiful wife, Christelle, live in Alberta, Canada and love raising their five children: Michael, Gabriel, Elijah, Isabella, and Justice.

CONTACT:

Website: www.antoniobaldovinos.org

Email:

Twitter: @Antoniobaldov

MORE ABOUT ANTONIOS MINISTRY

Global Prayer House: www.globalprayerhouse.com

Pursuit Conferences: www.pursuitmovement.com

Pursuit Internship: www.pursuitinternship.com

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I WOULD LIKE TO thank:

My parents: Carlos and Sandra Baldovinos for encouraging me and supporting me always and pointing me to Jesus. I will be forever grateful for you. I love you both so much!

My siblings: Carlos and Amy Baldovinos, Marcela and Adam Anderson, and Yoshua Baldovinos. I love you more than you will ever know. Its a great joy for me to have a family that passionately pursues Jesus!

My in-laws and extended family: Mark and Karen Anderson; Sean and Lindsay Anthony; Sean and Kirsten Mark; Jonathan, Cori, and Josiah: I love you all dearly and I have always appreciated your love and support.

The Staff at Global Prayer House: Ryan and Sarah Daw, John and Donna Ross, Mechele Wachnuk, Jacob and Amanda Cook, Wilma Van Niekerk, Braden Scharfenberg, Alexis Norio, Jen Wachnuk, Joel and Melissa Graber, Jordyn Weibe, Joel Stigter, Randi Short, Leslie Rasmussen, Rick and Judy Sorum, Joakim Jansson, Kathy Truer, and the Pursuit Internship and Worship Staff. You are a gift to me and the House of Prayer and the Pursuit vision. I cant imagine anyone else to build a place of His presence with. I love you guys. Thank you for letting me serve you and run with you!

Jeff and Mary Printz: Thank you for your tireless effort in the editing process. I couldnt have done this without you. Your sacrifice truly helped make this book possible.

Kirsten Mark: For your creative expertise and long hours thank you.

Corey Stark: Your friendship has meant a lot to me over the years. Thank you for your support in this book!

Rick Pino: I love running with you. Keep putting up the tent pegs all over the world! All for Jesus; all for love!

Randy and Deb Pick: Many thoughts and ideas in the message of Relentless Pursuit have been inspired by our long hours of talking and spurring each other on in many of these truths. Thank you for your love and support over the years.

Wes and Janice Reinheller: Over the years you have supported all that I have done and championed Gods call on my life. Thank you for your friendship!

God has placed unbelievable friends around my life. I have grown so much through you. I want to acknowledge Jason and Jessica Fluery, Matt and Renee Rood, Merideth Stark, Anna Forsberg, Corey Russell, Sammy Robinson, Tim and Liz Coehoorn, Ken and Alva Klassen, Marlies Wirzba, Aaron and Kendra Melanson, Aaron and Chelsey Wellwood, Sean and Lisa Furlong, Tyler and Melissa Davidson, and Terence and Larissa Kowalchuk, for your friendship and support in the vision that burns on my heart.

I N FEBRUARY 2009, I awoke abruptly out of my sleep at three oclock in the morning. Feeling surprisingly energized and not able to fall back asleep, I decided to get out of bed. As I walked over to the loft where my wife, Christelle, and I spend time praying and reading the Word, I began to wonder why I was wide awake at this time in the morning. I asked God, What am I doing here? God instantly spoke to my heart and said, Im pursuing you, Antonio.

My heart stopped for a moment, and I sat there in great amazement. Suddenly I was hit with a life-changing revelation: the Creator of the universe is pursuing me.

Moved with great emotion, I began to cry in His presence. In my weak love, I responded to Him. I am pursuing You, God. As I said those words, I felt like I touched His heart, despite my thoughts that my love was infinitely inferior and unworthy of Him.

God instantly responded again, with full assurance, I am pursuing you, Antonio.

This divine dialogue was the first time that I had really realized that God has always been pursuing me. What I had known in my head up until that point now became a reality inside me for the first time. No matter where I went or how far I was from His presence, God had been relentlessly and intensely pursuing me.

The height and depth of His love are beyond measure and comprehension. He will go to any measure to have you for Himself. If you dont know this Great Pursuer, let me guarantee youthis great God, the Creator of the heavens and the earth, the Creator of the angels and everything else, is pursuing you. The question is: how are you going to respond to His pursuit of you?

When we respond to His pursuit, it awakens love for Him in our hearts. Our ability to experience the holiness, magnificence, love, and the glory of God increases. I urge you to go to Him and respond to His pursuit. He will lavish you with love, forgiveness, and joy, and He will completely fulfill you. We are the objects of His tender affections and goodwill. Above all, His goal is intimacy with His people, forever and ever!

DO YOU KNOW HIM?

As you journey through this book, I will lay out pieces of my life story where I started with great zeal to make an impact on the world. It is my calling and destiny to change the earth for the glory of the Lord. I desperately want to make a difference. Im sure you feel the same way. We all want to leave a mark in history. However, I lived much of my life doing things for God instead of knowing Him.

Not everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name? And then I will declare to them, I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness! (Matthew 7:21-23).

I was someone who moved across cities and nations doing things for God but didnt truly know Him. You see, you can do things for God and you can even be very successful at it, yet be completely distant from His heart. Matthew 7:21-23 confirms this; it talks about a people who cast out demons, prophesied, and did many wonders in His name. But Jesus simply said to them, I dont know you.

That word know means intimate knowledge. Doing things for people does not equate to knowing or being connected to them. God is not just looking for workers or servants. He is looking for affection-based, intimate lovers who do things out of a deep well of love for Him, not out of duty or fear.

When what we do for God comes out of our relationship and love for Him, it isnt hard anymore to put aside our own desires and agendas for His. I agree with Bill Johnsons statement: The impulse that drives the life of the believer isnt the need to perform for God but to commune with Him. You are most intimate in the natural sense with those you know the best. When I speak about knowing people, it is not just knowing facts about them; it is experiential knowledge of what moves their hearts. The substance of intimacy is growing in the experiential knowledge of a person. Intimacy with God is synonymous with the knowledge of God. As we grow in the experiential knowledge of what He feels and thinks, we grow in intimacy with God.