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Thursday, February 21, 2013

The Underlined Words

Genesis 1:1 - "In the beginning God [Elohim, All Powerful]." That's what it all comes down too...

Exodus 6 - "Go." You can't stay where you are and go with God.

Psalm 37:4 - "Delight yourself in the Lord." In whom does my heart delight?

Matthew 5:13 & 14 - "You are the salt of the earth...you are the light of the world." I am...there's no ifs, ands or buts about it. I am, we are, the salt and the light.

Ephesians 3:17-19 - "So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know [have experience] the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God." To know, to [have] experience[ed], the love of Christ, and then to live in light of that knowledge.

Colossians 3:15-17 - "Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful. Let the word [expression] of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teach and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name [the character] of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father." Stop holding back. Let go and let God.

Sometimes it's the little words...let...go...know...you are...that can stop us in our tracks. Sometimes it's the words that we hear all the time...light...peace...thanks...love...that can take your breath away if you let them.

Sometimes all it takes is closing your eyes, and being still, for words that you've heard a thousand times to wash over you anew. Sometimes when we stop, and be still, is when God gets loud. And sometimes the quiet ebbs on and God never gets loud and it seems so eerily quiet. And sometimes that's ok.

"Sometimes He calms the storm and sometimes He calms His child."

Sometimes we have to be ok for the world to be raging all around us and to find peace in the only place that it can truly be found, at the feet of Christ. Sometimes we are blessed with quiet moments and days when hours with Jesus are what fills our days. Either way...God is good. In the calm and in the storm, God is good.

Grace, thankfulness, joy...are here for the taking. Peace, patience, gentleness...are waiting to be chosen. Love, above all else love, is always overflowing if I will but partake.

He is waiting, waiting in the wings to be chosen, to be given back the life that He so freely gave for me. When I hold back, thinking I can live in my own strength, my fountain of life runs dry because He cannot fill what I have decided to try and fill myself. I must empty myself of all that I think I know, and let Him fill me with everything that He is. 

Father God, You are wonderful. You are gracious. You are loving. You are good. Thank You for your peace that surpasses all understanding. Thank You for never changing. Thank You for Your love that knows no boundaries. Thank You that in the calm and in the storm You are there. Amen [let it be].


Monday, February 11, 2013

Stumbling Over Keys

My fingers stumble, they stumble over these keys. Not knowing how to bring forth the thoughts that can't seem to make their way on paper...or onto this screen. They twist and turn inside my brain and I can't seem to form the thoughts that so desperately need to be poured out.

About love, about life. About faith, about failure. About grace, about hope. About God, about Satan.

"Put on the full armor of God...for our struggle is not against flesh and blood...but against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places."
Ephesians 6:11 & 12

Satan strives so hard to rob us of the life that Christ calls us to live. Whatever angle he can find, he goes after it with a vengeance, just to pull us a little bit farther away from LIFE, from God, from Jehovah. 

And yet in that moment, when we feel the pull of the devil, all we have to do is cling to the One that has already won the battle of that moment, and every battle before and after that moment. Unfortunately that is easier said than done. Why? Because we choose to believe Satan's lies, just like Adam and Eve did in the garden, rather than cling to the life giving promises of our Almighty God.

I have always had a hard time with hope. I want to cling to it with all my heart and yet at the same time I want to run as far away as possible. Because I have always seen hope as relative. But I was challenged several weeks ago to see hope as what I know will happen because it has been promised. To hope that God is good, because He is. To hope that His plan is perfect, because it is. To hope in His love, because He is love. To hope in His molding of me, because He is the Potter and I am the clay. These are truths, promised by a God that never fails. I can hope in that.

I cannot begin to imagine my life without this hope. Without the love of my Savior. Without His forgiveness that I daily seek. Without His grace and mercy that are poured over my weary soul before I even know I am in need. Without His patience that I seem to push to it's limit (though there are none) at every opportunity. 

Father God, I am grateful and so very humbled by Your grace. By Your desire to pursue me. How You long to mold me into the woman You long for me to be. May my heart be open and willing to be challenged and moved by Your touch and direction. I am Yours. May You be seen in me. Let Your light, Your peace, Your life shine through me. Amen.