January 12, 2016
"He would speak the Word to them with many parables like these as they were able to understand. And He did not speak to them without a parable. Privately, however, He would explain everything to His own disciples."
(Mark 4: 33-34)
Just like with His disciples, Jesus has both public and private conversations with me. In church, in Sunday School, and even in my daily study Jesus speaks to me, giving me things to ponder and consider as I am able to understand them. But there are those not-so-common times when in the privacy of my quiet time or other alone times, He seems to come into the room, pull up a chair beside the fire, lean in closely and explain the deepest of things with me that I had not been able to understand before.
Sometimes those are the nooks and crannies of theology, Hebrew, Greek, etc. You know what I am talking about...the "Ah-Hah!" moments of conversation. I enjoy that greatly when I come to fully understand something that has been standing aloof for awhile. But there are so many other times when Jesus comes to speak privately to me that are not nearly as enjoyable. In those times He draws near to open my eyes to my sin. He comes to make me connect the dots from behavior and attitude to my sinful heart. These times are even more necessary than the times of enlightenment of the Word, for it is these times that are intended to transform me into the greater likeness of my Lord. Dear Oswald speaks the necessity of these times in this way:
PRAYER
Lord Jesus, how I have run from these close encounters with You, fearing what will come forth as well as struggling with surrender on Your anvil. But I pray that this year, 2016, will be the year that our private meetings will increase, that the sin in my heart and the attitudes and actions that follow will be brought under Your authority. I pray for transformation by the Spirit after You talk with me. Open my ears to hear all that You would speak to me, but not only hear, but act upon them in alignment with Your purposes. Mold me into a woman that looks like what You described in Luke 6:47 . . . "I will show what someone is like who comes to Me, hears My words, and acts on them."
"He would speak the Word to them with many parables like these as they were able to understand. And He did not speak to them without a parable. Privately, however, He would explain everything to His own disciples."
(Mark 4: 33-34)
Just like with His disciples, Jesus has both public and private conversations with me. In church, in Sunday School, and even in my daily study Jesus speaks to me, giving me things to ponder and consider as I am able to understand them. But there are those not-so-common times when in the privacy of my quiet time or other alone times, He seems to come into the room, pull up a chair beside the fire, lean in closely and explain the deepest of things with me that I had not been able to understand before.
Sometimes those are the nooks and crannies of theology, Hebrew, Greek, etc. You know what I am talking about...the "Ah-Hah!" moments of conversation. I enjoy that greatly when I come to fully understand something that has been standing aloof for awhile. But there are so many other times when Jesus comes to speak privately to me that are not nearly as enjoyable. In those times He draws near to open my eyes to my sin. He comes to make me connect the dots from behavior and attitude to my sinful heart. These times are even more necessary than the times of enlightenment of the Word, for it is these times that are intended to transform me into the greater likeness of my Lord. Dear Oswald speaks the necessity of these times in this way:
"The only way we can be of use to God is to let Him take us through the crooks and crannies of our own characters. It i astounding how ignorant we are about ourselves . . . How many of us have learned to look in with courage?"It is those very crooks and crannies in my needy heart that will take God all time and eternity to make me after His purposes. I must see myself as I truly am, without God, in order to see how unworthy I am. God must bring me to this place, because it is there that I am stripped of all pride and conceit. He does this by "narrowing" me to the place where it is just Him and me--so private that nothing else exists for me--the place where my pride, conceit, intellect, worldly affections, and a dirty heart no longer exist.
"We listen to many things in classes, but they are noT an exposition to us yet. They will be when God gets us alone over them."
PRAYER
Lord Jesus, how I have run from these close encounters with You, fearing what will come forth as well as struggling with surrender on Your anvil. But I pray that this year, 2016, will be the year that our private meetings will increase, that the sin in my heart and the attitudes and actions that follow will be brought under Your authority. I pray for transformation by the Spirit after You talk with me. Open my ears to hear all that You would speak to me, but not only hear, but act upon them in alignment with Your purposes. Mold me into a woman that looks like what You described in Luke 6:47 . . . "I will show what someone is like who comes to Me, hears My words, and acts on them."
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