Jesus, Light of the World (11-30-12)

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~For the next 26 days I will be sharing some Christmas thoughts with you from a devotional I wrote for our church 9 years ago.  It is based on the Advent Candles that we use each year in our church to prepare our hearts for Christmas.  I pray that you will be blessed by them in such a way that you will be able to experience the Christmas season with joy in your heart.  May the Light of Jesus shine brightly on your world, and out of you as well, so that the world might see Him.~

Isaiah 60: 1-3
This Sunday is the first Sunday of Advent.  Traditionally, the Prophecy Candle is the first candle lit in the Advent Wreath.  There are so many prophecies in the Old Testament that foretold the birth of Christ and all who He would be to us that I will only choose a couple to share with you these two days leading up to the first Sunday of Advent.  The verses I have chosen should help us understand more clearly how much our hearts are in need of preparation, as we typically tend to fly into and through Christmas, only to be completely worn out as the sun sets on Christmas night. Begin to open your hearts now to the messages of the prophets, and the Holy Spirit will surely come to speak to you.

In today's reading God, through Isaiah, prophetically tells us of the coming Messiah.  Did you catch the references to light?  "Arise, shine, for your LIGHT has come . . ."  Jesus is the Light of the world.  When He came to earth, God's glory appeared upon Him.  Why would God want His glory to appear on Jesus?  That was the very way that God would draw the nations to Himself.  You see, if humans could just see  what the nature of God looked like, then the Spirit could draw them to Him.  What an awesome plan!  But when Isaiah penned these words in the spirit of God, did he know that it was Messiah that he was writing about?  And did he also know that he was writing about us, believers in Christ the Messiah?

We stand in an interesting place in history.  In Isaiah's day the coming of Messiah was a future event.  In the days of Jesus, it was a current event.  But today it is a past event.  The Messiah, our LIGHT, has already come, and those of us who know Him intimately have that very blessing of the glory of God both in us and coming out of us!  That promised blessing of the glory of the Lord rising on us is His glory, His beautiful Light, in the form of the Holy Spirit dwelling within us!

God's incredible and outrageous plan is that Christ, the Light of the world, lives in every believer!  It is through His light in us that He will draw others to salvation and to a life of walking in the Light.  How amazing that the One who created both physical and spiritual light would choose you and me to be a part of His plan, to be the very vessels He uses to light up the darkness!  He wants us to "carry the Light" to the whole world, but more importantly, to those around us who need a Savior.  The ones who live in darkness must have the Light brought to them.

Have you looked in the spiritual mirror lately?  God ahead.  Take a look.  What do you see?   Is the Light of Jesus shining out from you?  Is there anything coming out of you (like the fruit of the Spirit) that God can use to draw people to Himself?  The Light inside of you is not just for other believers.  It is for the lost as well.  Remember, what you saw when you looked in the mirror might be the only Light some of the lost may ever get the chance to see.  Do they see Jesus, the Light of the world?  All other light sources will fail them.  Who will experience your Light today?

Thanksgiving Every Day

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Thanksgiving 2012 is now past, and just like every other once a year event, the next day brings the start of another 365 days until the holiday is celebrated again.  But with Thanksgiving we shouldn't wait until next year to be thankful.  Giving thanks is something we  should be doing countless times every day.  Many are the moments in a day for which we ought to be thankful to God, no matter what our current circumstances are.  But we typically are not a thankful people.  I know for a fact  that the area of 'thankfulness' is one chamber of my heart that the Lord trying to enter into as He is teaching me about living in His presence and His peace.  You see, without an actively thankful lifestyle, we can never truly experience the peace we all long for.

It is interesting to me that in America we celebrate Thanksgiving, the season of thankfulness,  just prior to Christmas, the season of peace and joy.  This particular order seems to perfectly align itself with precept that thankful hearts lead to peaceful and joy-filled hearts.  But in America we have 'traditional-ized' the day that follows Thanksgiving as Black Friday, the day in which we are no longer thankful for that with which we have been blessed.  Instead, beginning in the mid-evening of Thanksgiving Day, we jump in our cars and drive very quickly to every store that is offering us its big sales.  On Thanksgiving Day we are often caught talking out of both sides of our mouths, saying on the one hand, "We are so thankful for and blessed by everything we have," while on the other side of our mouths we can be seen by others, loudly proclaiming by our actions, "MORE!!!  MORE!!!  We must have MORE!"

On this day after Thanksgiving 2012, in my personal walk with the Lord (as I read through Jesus Calling by Sarah Young), I am challenged, not by prospect of gaining for my loved ones the perfect gifts to give them for Christmas, purchased at the Black Friday price; I am challenged by my Lord to see the beautiful flowers that He has placed along my path this very day, flowers that reveal His love, provision, protection, mercy, and grace.  The goal of this day, this day that I personally refuse to refer to as Black Friday, is to recognize the red roses of love that the Lord has planted for me today, to pick those roses, one by one, and to gather them into a beautiful bouquet that I can present to the Lord at the end of this day. This is the life of a thankful-hearted person who is grateful for the Lord, for all He is and all He has done.  This is Thanksgiving every day.

The world's Black Friday, the pushing and shoving, the needing to be victorious in our Christmas purchasing, the selfish attitudes, and the "me" mentality is like a 4-D sonogram picture of the heart of our nation.  As my family proceeds to the Holy Celebration of the Birth of Christ, we are choosing to do without, to share more with others to make their Christmas brighter, and not buy into the trappings of the newest, must-have rages this year.  We are choosing simplicity.  I personally am choosing to make several "thankful posts" a day on God's Heart-wall for God alone to see.  I want to give HIM the greatest gift this year, my grateful heart that will bless Him.  And I desire to do that everyday so that Thanksgiving 2013 will simply be the culmination of a year of thankfulness.

Will you join me in this rage?  Will you storm the doors of heaven this year by blessing God over and over for His blessings to you?

Choosing Joy

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Ever had one of those days?  You know the kind I am talking about.  The ones that are a truly "Murphy's Law" kind of a day.  From the moment you get up, the snowball starts rolling down the side of the mountain.  Everything you touch seems to fall apart.  And if that were not enough to try to handle, the constant interruptions and the "rearranging" of your schedule seems endless.  Then there are the feelings of not getting anything accomplished, and the realization that you are just "spinning your wheels."  I had one of those days last week. 

As a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ I was well aware that the Spirit was with me, residing in me with all kinds of power for me to overcome this day  in spite of how it was unfolding.  My Bible was available to me to be my moment-to-moment guide book for navigating through this already unsettling day.  But I soon learned as I sat down to read my devotional that both the Spirit and the Word would be useless to me unless I surrendered my "right"  to experience my feelings in full bloom, repented of them, and turned to face my God, bowing in His presence.  It would be in that posture alone that I could choose the joy of the Lord, the only strength I needed for my discombobulated day.

These are the words that the Spirit spoke to me in the midst of the waves that continued to sweep over me:

"This day is holy to the LORD your God; do not mourn or weep . . . Go your way.  Eat the fat and drink sweet wine . . . for this day is holy to our Lord.  And do not be grieved, FOR THE JOY OF THE LORD IS YOUR STRENGTH!"  (Nehemiah 8:10)

When I read those words a smile lit on my face, for in them I could see what my solution to my day would be.  If I would crucify my irritated flesh and surrender my right to be "grieved" by my day and to moan and complain about how much seemed to be going wrong, I would be able to celebrate in the day with joy.  Realizing my marching orders, I chose to receive the command to go and "eat and drink,"  the command to just continue through the day with a different attitude.

No matter what our days hold we will always have a choice in how we walk through them.  Frustration can become joyfulness; busy-ness can become joyfulness; being overwhelmed can become joyfulness.  Even sadness and mourning can become joy.  And when you choose joy, your inner man is strengthened.  Out of our inner being will flow rivers of joy, contagious joy, that will minister to those around you.  And through our emotional transformation from upset to joyfulness we will be strengthened with enough might to overcome even the hardest of days. 

Choose joy!  It will reverse the effects that a bad day can have on you and those around you!

This Is Your Eviction Notice!

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God's commandment was clear.  Moses would not be leading the Israelites into their Promised Land.  He would not be allowed to take them over the Jordan into the land God had promised long ago to Abraham and his sons.   Courageously he spoke these words to the enormous family whom God had placed in his care,

"The LORD your God Himself will go over before you.  He will destroy these nations before you, so that you shall dispossess them . . . And the LORD will give them over to you, and you shall do to them according to the whole commandment that I have commanded you.  Be strong and courageous.  Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the LORD your God who goes with you.  He will not leave you or forsake you. "  (Deuteronomy 31: 3, 5, 6)

Though these men would go into the land with the purpose of removing all the nations that lived there, it would not be by their own strength that it would accomplished.  It would be by the very hand of the Lord that these god-worshiping people would be run out or destroyed.  This would happen so that His people could possess the land.  The men of Israel were the agents who would present to these ungodly nations their eviction notice, but it would be by God's almighty strength that Israel would take possession of the land.  Both God and the Israelites had their part to do.

While this may seem like an unimportant Old Testament story that is completely irrelevant to the Church Age believer, I challenge you to take a closer look at these verses, and few more, with me.  All of God's word is relevant to us, and this passage is no exception.

We, as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, have ungodly "nations" that need to be evicted, even removed with force, from our hearts.  We, too, have a journey to make across the Jordan into the abundant life (our promised land).  It is only then that we will experience the life that awaits us.  It is the life that lies just on the other side of cleaning out those places in our hearts that are not in line with the "whole commandment" of God.

Whatever your sins are that remain in your heart, sins that are active in your life today, it will be the Spirit within who will drive them out, but you must be willing to serve them their eviction notice.  Without your compliance to serve notice to your sins, the Spirit is hand-cuffed in removing them from your life.  If Israel had not crossed the Jordan, had they stayed on the other side, God's mighty arm would have no reason to go in and annihilate the idol-worshiping Canaanites of the land.  But Israel did cross over, and through them, God gained the victory.  To the degree that Israel pressed in to remove all evil from the land, to that same degree, the land was purified.  Are you beginning to make the connection?

God will give us victory over our "enemies" (our sins) when we surrender ourselves to His commandments that tell us of the necessity of removing them from our lives.  If we align ourselves with His purposes, and take a step forward by telling our sins and idols that it is "time for them to go," and truly desire it and mean it, then the Lord Himself by the Spirit within us, will accomplish this.  This is how He purifies our hearts.

Consider these two verses as you contemplate your own need to dispossess and destroy the evil "nations" in your own heart.  They reiterate both your need to "cross the Jordan" to a purified heart, as well as how God has designed it to happen within you. 

"Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.  Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded."  (James 4:8, written to believers, not the unsaved)

"As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as He who call you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct. since it is written 'You shall be holy, for I am holy' . . . having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth . . ."  (I Peter 1: 14-16, 22b)

"Not by (your) might, nor by (your) power, but by MY SPIRIT, says the LORD of hosts."  (Zechariah 4:10)

Are you ready to tell your heart-inhabiting sins that it is time to go?  Remember, to the same degree that you press in to God to evict your sins from your life, to that same degree you will be purified.  No eviction notices served . . . no purification in your heart.  Serve your sins notice that it is time for them to go from your heart and life, and obeying God and His Word  . . . Victory over your sin!

Navigating The Rough Terrain

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Can you stand another quote from Jesus Calling, and my personal "take" on it?  In the past, I have spent the year reading (and re-reading) through the Word, always gleaning new insights and realizations as the Holy Spirit teaches me.  I would read 3-4 chapters a day and get up from the table utterly "filled up."  But this year the Lord called me to something different.  He led me to this little devotional, and it is the basis of my daily study and introspection.  I have to say that these little nuggets have been ministering to me in fresh and new ways.  And though it is just a "morsel" a day, compared to a Thanksgiving meal with all the trimmings, these little bits are boring giant holes in my sin-stained heart and sustaining me spiritually in the same way a "meat and potato" meal would.    If you desire, keep following me as the Spirit continues to conform me into the image of Christ . . . and let Him do the same in your life! 

"Learn to appreciate difficult days.  Be stimulated by the challenges you encounter along your way.  As you journey through rough terrain with Me, gain confidence from your knowledge that together we can handle anything.  This knowledge is comprised of three parts:  your relationship with Me, promises in the Bible, and past experiences of coping successfully during hard times."  (November 8, page 327)

I am struck by the fact that I walk through so much of my day, every day, with so few glances toward my Lord.  And on those days that are fraught with difficult moments, I find that I am more prone to grumble, complain, and do my fair share of whining as I tell my 'woes' to others.  It is my comfortable default, and it is so much easier than crucifying my own flesh in order to make the adjustment of my focus.  The root problem is that my 'self' wants the focus to be on me and my hard day, and just how irritated and frustrated I am.  In that mode of operation there is no room for "appreciation" of the issue at hand, nor am I "stimulated" by the challenges of the day.   When I am stuck in that mindset, I will likely never choose to turn my focus to the Lord.

But as I consider this little morsel, I am reminded that God always gives a way out.  I don't have to walk in sinful attitudes when the going gets rough.  He has clearly told me in His Word (Phil. 4:13) that "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."  I have know that to be true for a very long time, but just because I know it doesn't mean that I do it!  In this little devotional God showed me today that my true knowledge of this verse not only lies in being able to call it to mind or quote it, but this great knowledge in me comes from 3 other sources. 

1. My relationship with Him
2. All the promises of the Bible
3. Past experiences of coping successfully in rough times

I will grow in this area of dealing with the rough terrain by the godliness within me when these three things are in full bloom in my heart.  Today is the day to recognize (again) how important my daily time with God is.  It is the primary source of building my relationship with Him.  My personal, one-on-one, prayer time (a lazy area for me) and study of the Word (my soul's delight) must be working in tandem for me to become more intimate with Christ.  Both must be solidly in place. One without the other will leave my walk lacking.  There is nothing that grows this relationship more.  It is helpful for me  to remember that group studies and prayer times have their benefits for sure, but it is when it is just Jesus and me that intimacy grows quickly.

The first item listed plays right into the second.  I cannot learn the promises of the Bible, given to encourage me especially in the rough days, without spending lots of time in it.  The more time I spend in the Word, the more that its words will come to mind exactly when I need them.  "You can't know what you don't know" (a new Cherylism), so it is my responsibility to learn the promises of God so that the Holy Spirit can bring them back to my mind as necessary.  The work is not all His; I have to do my part as well.

The last point of the devotional is a challenge to my heart, and therefore a place for much work to be done.  When faced with the rough terrain, I often am forgetful of the countless times that God has brought me through by being the strength and wisdom that I have needed.  It seems to me that I am constantly "starting over" as if it is the very first time that I have been slammed with hard days.  I think that taking a moment to remember how God has previously helped me successfully navigate the rough seas would be a true spiritual breakthrough for me on those days.  Remembering those moments would be a very good way for me to initially shift my focus from me to the mighty works of God that I have personally experienced.

But even 'knowing' these three things is still not 'doing' them.  O Lord, I pray that by your Spirit you will remind me of these on my next hard day.  My heart's desire is to follow this godly pattern.  I pray that it will be my reality the next time it needs to be!  Then I can truthfully say from my heart, "To You be ALL the glory!"

Clearing Out Your Cluttered Heart

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To be quite honest, this picture offends me.  Not because messy homes offend me, but because I fear that this is what my heart looks like to God.  Can you relate?  I chose this picture for this blog based on two sentences I read in my devotional, Jesus Calling.  I needed to convey the idea of "clutter" through a picture that could speak a thousand words.  This is the one that jumped out at me, and then God continued to speak to my heart.  Here is what He spoke as I pondered this thought.

"My main work is to clear out debris and clutter, making room for My Spirit to take full possession.  Collaborate with Me in this effort by being willing to let go of anything I choose to take away."  (November 7, page 326)

"My child, you have allowed Me to remove so many sinful things from your life, yet your heart remains cluttered.  My Spirit is trapped inside your very messy heart.  He wants to be the Ruler of His home, but your sinful debris keeps Him from doing His job.  He desires to clear it all away and rule from a place of holiness, to clothe you in regal robes of holiness inside your heart .  This holy attire can be attained in no other way.  You must let Him clear  the unholy debris out of your heart.  This is surrender.  And this surrender is what leads to holiness in Me.

The act of putting aside your sin is one in which you must collaborate with the Spirit.  He will do the hard work, but you must be so surrendered to Him that you are willing to let go of anything that He says must go.  There is still much that must be cleaned out of your heart.  A bag of envy, a stack of anger, a mess of unkind thoughts and words, a heap of spiritual hypocrisy. [I Peter 2:1] Under the furniture you are hiding pieces of bitterness, and crammed in the boxes and bins of your heart are the evidences of quarreling with and railings about your own brothers and sisters in Me.  [Eph. 4:31]  These are the things that I  will require you, and you are the only one who can let them go.  

I desire to to complete what I have already begun.   Are you willing to let Me, my precious one?"

O Jesus, how short I have come of the mark.  How blind I have allowed myself to be when it comes to the reality of my heart, thinking I had done pretty well in letting you clean house.  But with scales removed I can clearly see that I have been housing the Holy Spirit in a filthy shack of a heart.  Forgive me for allowing such a thing! Today, I choose to be a willing collaborator with you, Holy Spirit.  What you say must go, I will surrender to You.  Take it all, anything that is offensive to You.  I desire not to just make a pathway in which You can walk through my heart.  I desire instead that You be able to move though my heart completely unhindered, with no obstacles around which You must maneuver. 

Oh, how I long to worship you in holy attire!  Beautify Your home, my heart, O Lord!  Dress me in robes of righteousness befitting a daughter of the King!

The Barriers That Separate Us From God

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Today, while reading my daily devotional Jesus Calling by Sarah Young, I was struck by the first two sentences.  God's voice seemed particularly clear and direct as my heart heard these words come forth:

"You can live as close to Me as you choose.  I set up not barriers between us; neither do I  tear down barriers that you erect."  (November 5, page 324) 

While reading the first few words my heart was shouting a big "Oh, yeah!"  But the jubilation only lasted a second.  My heart was pierced by the last part.  "Neither do I tear down the barriers that you erect."  Stopping myself from reading the rest of the devotion, I sat silently pondering those words.  God's direct approach this morning had caught me so completely off-guard, I knew that I could read no further until I had addressed His comment spoken so specifically to me.

"Neither do I tear down the barriers that you erect."  You see, I love the idea that you I can live in such close  proximity to God that I experience many intimate moments throughout the day.  And I also love the idea that I could never go so far wrong that God would build a brick wall between us.  God set in motion a plan of relationship with Him that involves me running boldly into His throne room, without hesitation or fear, so that I can jump into His lap and be encircled by His loving arms, and at any point during my day, frequently if desired.  But what I don't like about what He said is that if there are any walls that are put up between us, it will be of my doing.  And what's more, He will not be the one to tear them down.  If I build a wall, I will be the one to have to destroy it, if I want it down.  Even worse for me to hear, there seems to be the implication that I have erected and will erect these walls.

My convicted heart knew in that moment that there is still a wall of barrier between me and my Lord.  I have built this wall, brick upon sinful brick, as I walk in the disobedience of my own fleshly heart.  What stands between me and the Lord are my sins, and the only way those bricks of sin are coming down is if I surrender myself to the Spirit within me,  and I  begin to obey the commands of God's word.  In a nutshell, the wall will come down as I repent, turning completely and resolutely away from each individual sin that is a brick in my wall.

Once again, my Lord has brought me back to the same thing He has been addressing in my life for several months now.  It is the issue of the individual sins and idols that are still in my heart, and  they are  affecting my spiritual  life and walk with Jesus.  This has ramifications on my intimacy with Him, too.  The bottom line is this:  I can spend much time in the Word; I can learn all that it says to me by dissecting the words I study by defining them more correctly in the Greek and Hebrew; I can do endless cross-referencing that will support the concepts found in a single verse; I can sit in on multiple Bible classes and teachings each week.  But if I am not applying what I am learning, and if nothing really changes in my thoughts, words, and actions, then all my knowledge and understanding comes to nothing.

For years I have basked in the idea that "knowing" is a great blessing.  But the blessing only comes when we "do" what we say we "know."  Jesus told His disciples a powerful truth, just after He had washed their feet and challenged them to live spiritually higher and more intimately than they could completely understand.  These are the words He spoke to them, and to me today, "If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them."   I have coined a saying that is similar to what Scarlett O'Hara said in Gone With The Wind.  Here is my thought that seems to line up with what Jesus said to His disciples, "Knowin' and sayin' ain't doin'!"

In the end, my biblical knowledge on the topic of the importance removing sin and idols from my life, the verses I can quote about it, even teaching the Word's truth of it to others, will never equal the 'living it out' in my own life.  The wall I have created out of multiple bricks of sin and dependence on things other than God Himself must come down!  The difficulty of the task can never be my excuse to avoid tearing it down.  The state of the mortar that holds it together (whether hardened by years, partially solid, or still soft from its very recent application) is irrelevant.  The wall must come down if I want to experience life in the Holy of Holies.  My wall is the veil between the Inner Court Classroom on my spiritual journey and the intimate presence of God in the Holiest Place of All.   The wall, the veil in the Tabernacle, is my own flesh!

To turn away from the difficult work of rooting out all sins, idols, and wrong attitudes in my life through my surrender and repentance is to make a choice to live farther away from God than He desires.  It is a choice to live with my sin-wall between us.  Yes, my wall MUST come down!

Who Is REALLY In Charge?

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Do you ever feel like you are a stubborn child who goes your own way even when you know what Dad has said?  Me too!  I confess that I sometimes listen to my heart, instead of God when it comes to the multitude of daily choices that present themselves to me.  So often I use LOGIC to problem-solve, my best LIFE EXPERIENCE to counsel myself and others, and my EMOTIONS to respond to unpleasant occurrences.  None of these are sinful, but I am.  These 3 (and so many more) can so easily become the flesh gods that I default to.  When I turn to them instead of my Lord, I am choosing self-reliance and rejecting God.  Sounds harsh doesn't it, especially in light of the wisdom of the world that is so firmly and resolutely engrained in us?  The world says that when you are self-reliant you have a greater chance of success.  It tells us that the only one you can depend on is yourself, and that self-reliance is the only true road to freedom.  But God has a little something different to say about self-reliance.

"Ah, stubborn children," declares the LORD, "who carry out a plan, but not Mine, and who make an alliance (agreement), but not of my Spirit . . . who set out to go down to Egypt, without asking from my direction, to take refuge in the protection of Pharaoh and to seek shelter in the shadow of Egypt! . . . Egypt's help is worthless and empty!"  (Isaiah 30: 1, 2, 7)

Now, I don't know about you, but I don't have any plans to go to Egypt, and I certainly do not trust in Pharaoh, the Old Testament leader of Egypt.  I bet you don't either.  However, I have no problem at all seeing myself in this verse.  I merely need to replace a few words with a few things that are relevant to my life.  I can clearly see that I often "set out to go down to" the path of my own making.  I daily choose to go wherever I want (in planning, in conversations, in counseling, in arguments,  in ministry, in those countless daily decisions) with absolutely no direction from God.  My true heart reveals that I am far more reliant on myself than in my God, making me the lord of my own life so much of the time.  Can you relate to this?

God is speaking to my heart today, revealing to me that every time I act or think in self-reliance, I am rejecting Him and His counsel and guidance.  When I put my trust in anything other than God Himself, then I have left His protective path and shelter for something that is "worthless and empty."
So I must ask myself a couple of questions:  why would I choose to trust in the ways of myself, knowing that I am prone to come up with the wrong answers and conclusions, leading often to a disaster that could have be averted?  What is preventing me from submitting everything to God first?  I can tell you quickly what the correct answer is to both instances.  It is my PRIDE, a very vine-like sin problem that entangles itself in just about everything I do!

So what are we supposed to do, in order for us to move from being stubborn children to obedient and submissive children?  God tells us plainly just a few verses after today's reference.  Isaiah 30:16b says, "In returning (repenting, turning around from our sin) and rest (from being in charge of my life) you shall be saved (from all the poor decision I make and actions I take):  in quietness (listening to Him) and in trust (of His and the plans He spells out to me) shall be your strength."  Did you catch that the wisdom God speaks is completely opposite of the world's?  I don't need to be strong!  I merely need to trust in God's strength in me.  In His strength I can make the right decisions and take the right path through my day.

If you read the entire passage (1-17) you will discover that Israel did not comply with God's word, and He therefore, executed judgment upon them.  Will we comply and submit our every thought, word, and action to the guiding hand of our Dad, or continue in our self-reliant ways?   Our answers to the questions, and our actions that will surely follow (either way), will reveal who is really in charge of our lives.  Who we rely on most is who is in charge!

Finishing Strong

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(Excerpt from Cheryl Gnagey's Spiritual Healing:  The Surrender That Brings Victory, Chapter 12)

My dear readers, this will be the last post from my book.  I have enjoyed sharing its "highlights" with you, and I pray that the Lord has spoken to your heart regarding your own spiritual healing.  I will still be blogging, but on my daily reading instead of my book.  And then, at the first of the year, I just may return to posting from the book, to refresh all of our memories regarding this fantastic journey that we all are on as we seek the face of God.  I would love for you to continue to follow my blog, and post your comments too, because that is my very favorite part . . . having you share your journey with me!  Blessings to you all as you walk it out for Jesus!

"The burden to build the temple of my heart was never meant to rest on my shoulders.  But is will be brought to completion as I realize my daily sins, confess them, surrender to God, and obey whatever God tells me to do after that!  God's Spirit will complete the good work that the Father has begun in me!  Let this revelation minister to you and defeat the lie that is is up to you to change your own heart.  Be set free from striving to repair your  fragmented, and sin-ridden heart, as I have been in several areas of my life!  It is God alone who will restore your heart, the very Tabernacle of God!  Warren Wiersbe summed it up this way, speaking of how we might go about the rebuilding of our hearts:

Hudson Taylor had definite convictions about how God's work should be done.  We can make our best plans and try to carry them out in our own strength.  Or we can make careful plans and ask God to bless them.  'Yet another way of working is to begin with God:   to ask His plans and to offer ourselves to Him to carry out His purposes.'

My great desire is for you to be spiritually healed, healed from the division in your heart between flesh and Spirit that is evident in your thoughts, words, and actions,  and healed from your heart's brokenness caused by your sin.  This restoration of your heart is your spiritual healing; it is God uniting the chambers of your sinful heart.  And it is by your surrender to the Spirit that you will begin to discover victory in overcoming all forms of sin.  We wouldn't need evangelism teams sent into the world if Christians were walking in surrendered victory.  We would be living testimonies to them! 

 Now this is my prayer for each of you as you continue on in the process of having your heart, God's Tabernacle, spiritually healed:

I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what is the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe.  These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places . . . (Ephesians, 1:18-20)

Continue on, dear brothers and sisters!  Fix your eyes on the Holy of Holies while you walk through the chambers of the Tabernacle of your heart.   Keep moving, never stopping, until you reach the goal of the glorious presence of the Father in Heaven!  Run in such a way as to win the race!  (2 Corinthians 9: 24)

O God, unite all the pieces of our hearts now and restore them and transform us into the likeness of Your Son.   Teach us to fear Your name!  By this may You be glorified forever and ever, Amen!"