The Strong, Calm Sanity of Intimately Abiding

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January 7, 2016

Jesus said to him, "Have I been among you all this time without your knowing Me, Philip?"    (John 14:9)

Philip was not being chastised by Jesus, though it appears as such.  Jesus was teaching Philip that there was a still more intimate way of knowing Him.  As a disciple, Philip had known personally what it feels like to walk along side of Jesus, to watch Him heal the sick, to experience the miracle of Him feeding the 5000 and the 4000, to listen to the voice of Jesus speaking words of life.   But to be blessed by His blessings and to know His word is not the most intimate of relationships with Jesus.  The most intimate relationship with Jesus is to abide in Him.  Such intimacy is the result of identifying with His thoughts, His heart, and His spirit.  

For the rest of my life, this is my calling:  to abide in Christ so intimately that His thoughts, heart, and spirit are so alive and active in me that nothing of me can be seen; Jesus is the only impression left on those I come in contact with.  The fruit that is born out of me when I abide in Him grows effortlessly, unlike the fruit I try to bear with great labor and intensity.  The fruit looks like Jesus, not like me.  

As Jesus and His Spirit continually work in me to bring me to such intimacy, their impression is left on the world they encounter through me.  As They are given the freedom to press out of me (through my humility and surrender), they press into world that is like clay.  As I come in contact with others, the indentation, the impression that is left will resemble Them, not me.  The only thing that others should see in me is the impression of Them in me.  

My life's impression on others is not intended to be impatience, shortness, spiritual superiority, irritation, or any of the like. If I am making any impression at all, it should look like strong, calm, sanity!  And that is the picture of Jesus in one who is abiding intimately in Him.

Hoarding My Blessings

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January 6, 2016

"From there he (Abram) moved on to the hill country east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east.  He built an altar to Yahweh there and called on the name of Yahweh."    (Genesis 12:8)

Abram had been called out of his country to a new place that was given to him by God.  The land was a blessing and a gift from God. As Abram arrived in the land of inheritance, he began to build altars of worship to his God, Yahweh.  It was not simply a monument to God, but a chance for Abram to give all glory back to God for the incredible blessings God had bestowed on him.  Abram was giving his blessings back to God.  It is in doing this that Abram refuses to hoard up his blessings of God for himself, but instead return it to the Giver of the blessing.  In this way, by not clinging to it for himself alone, Abram opens the door for God to use this blessing for others as well.  The altar built stood in direct opposition to that attitude of feeling blessed and selfishly holding onto the blessing for himself.  Had he done that, he would have likely become proud and arrogant in his blessing, and he would have robbed others (all of God's chosen) of experiencing the blessing.

This causes me to stop and consider the many blessings that I have been given, and whether or not I am guilty of robbing others of enjoying the blessings too.  Have I been hoarding up my blessings for myself?  Have I been unwilling to share what You have so richly blessed me with?  Oswald Chambers says this about hoarding up your blessings:

"If you heard a thin for yourself, it will turn into spiritual dry rot, as the manna did when it was hoarded.  God will never let you hold a spiritual thing for yourself; it has to be given back to Him that He may make it a blessing to others."

My blessings are like blessings of all of God's children:  the blessings of time, the blessings of talents and gifts, and the blessings of treasure.  All of these must be returned to God in order for them to bless others.  And isn't that the primary reason God gives them to us?  Have I truly given all of my blessings back to my Yahweh?

PRAYER
Lord Jesus, I confess that I have not always given every blessing back to You.  I have hoarded up in my heart the blessing family, pridefully stroking it and parading it before people who do not have a family like I have been blessed with.  Forgive my insensitivity; cleanse me from all unrighteousness; teach me ways that I can share the experience of family with those less fortunate than me.  And thank you for blessing me this way.

Lord Jesus, I confess that I have not known how you want me to share Spiritual Healing with others.  Because of my insecurity and lack of know-how to spread its word to others, I have left the books hidden away in a cold storage unit.  I desire greatly for You to use this "talent" You gave to me to bless others.  Open my heart to receive Your plan for the distribution of these books.  I want to see them go out and be fruitful, but I have not know how to accomplish it, and I never asked You.   Forgive me for that, and thank you for blessing me this way. 

Lord Jesus, I confess that I have not been a wise user of my time.  You have blessed me to be at home all these years, rather than be in the work place.  Thank you SO VERY MUCH for such an awesome blessing.  I know that I have often used this blessing of  time for good.  But I also know that I waste a lot of precious time on ridiculous and foolish endeavors.  I want you to have all of this time back, because I truly want to be a blessing to others in 2016.  Help me know how to do that to a HUGE degree!

Following the Lodestar

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January 5, 2016

"Jesus answered, 'Where I am going you cannot follow Me now, but you will follow later."    (John 13:36)

Ancient mariners were well familiar with the value of a lodestar.  It was any prominent star in the night sky over the ocean that was their guiding light, long before the days of GPS.  They looked to the stars to navigate their journey accurately.  Spiritually speaking, Jesus and His Spirit are the Lodestar I am to be looking to . . . for inspiration, for a model to emulate, and as a guide in all the moments of my life.

In the first half of my days "in Jesus", I was following my Lodestar, but from a very external place.  It was out of my flesh and my will that I began to follow.  But I am finding in this second half of my journey "in Jesus", it is becoming a following that flows out of acts of 'internal martyrdom'.  It is the kind of following that comes from keeping my eye on the Lodestar in everything in each day.  It is a following that comes from continual crucifixion of my flesh in order to partake of the inspiration of the Spirit, to imitate the life of Jesus modeled before me in the Word, and to obey the directions of my Lodestar Guide.

If that is to be the case, then I can depend and rely on nothing but the Lodestar.  I must lay down every other form of lodestar, primarily me!    Jesus and His Spirit must be the ONLY Lodestar.  My vows, my resolutions for the new year, my determination and will can never execute transformation in me.  There is no power in me that is not the Lodestar at work.

PRAYER
Jesus, my Lodestar, come and invade me by Your Spirit.  Let me no longer trust is past changes, but instead, let me look always forward and upward to the new changes You desire in me.  Let me this year come to the full end of myself and all of my wicked self-sufficiency!  I want to simply follow You, my faithful Morning Lodestar.   The 'later' has now arrived for me.  It is time to follow only You!

Where there is Doubt---DON'T

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January 4, 2016

"Lord," Peter asked, "Why can't I follow You now?  I will lay down my life for You!"   (John 13:37)

Impulsive Peter had a big feeling inside.  Jesus was going away, and he wanted to follow Him wherever He might go. But Jesus had just said, "Where I am going, you cannot follow Me now, but you will follow Me later."  Doubt crept into Peter's heart as he questioned why he could not follow right now.  His own impatience with Jesus' plan caused Peter to  questioned Jesus' timing, and he continued to press Jesus for an answer by declaring what he would do for Him.

It is always my default to look at how bold, headstrong and brash Peter was.  His feelings always seem to flow into overly zealous words and actions.  It is easy to see Peter's pride and arrogance even though I can clearly see his great love for Jesus as well.  What is not so easy to see is how often I am guilty of the same kind of responses.

Big emotions drove Peter to be rash.   They catapulted him into actions that were not within the call of Jesus.  Here, he said that he would become a martyr for Jesus, and while that became reality, Jesus knew that Peter would be pressed long before that day.  Jesus knew that when He was being led away to trial, Peter would not die for Him, but instead would deny Him, not once but three times in a row!  Jesus also knew that Peter would surely become a great follower, but not before doubt, depression and great sorrow would be his path.  Peter's natural and fleshly devotion to Jesus, would never make him a disciple.  Neither will it make me one.   To be a disciple, one must simply trust and obey all that Jesus says, not questioning anything at all.

I, too, have been so guilty of feeling something is distinctly in God's will for me, and have made that feeling what drives my decision.  I have turned my eyes from His timeline and have jumped in, only to discover that there will be great trials and difficulties now because I have been impetuous.  My forecast and timing will never be perfect, and never based on my great omniscience.  That must be left to the God who knows everything.  To question His always-perfect timing is to have a seed of doubt in the plan.  If I am doubting, then I should never move forward until God says go!  To do otherwise is to open a door to disaster that may take the rest of my life to correct.  "When in doubt of the providential will of God, wait for God to move."   (Oswald Chambers)  It must always be God's plan that I follow, not my reinvented idea of His will and command.

PRAYER
Lord Jesus, so often You are not LORD of all I do.  Even when You are so specific, I tend to "readjust" what You have just clearly said.  I confess my impetuousness and my arrogant pridefulness to You.  I agree that I am doing this wrong, and can see that becoming Your disciple will take much longer going on my path than it will on Yours.  Teach me, show me, guide me, HELP me!  I long to lay all of my life down for You, but I keep trying to do that in MY way.  I humble myself in Your presence and wait for You today!

Blind Faith

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January 2, 2016

"By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed and went out to a place he was going to receive as an inheritance.  He went out, not knowing where he was going."    (Hebrew 11: 8)

"Come to the land that I will show you."  (Acts 7: 3-4)

"Go out from your land, your relatives, and your father's house to the land that I will show you."  (Genesis 12: 1)

Abraham operated with blind faith when he was called by God.  He obeyed God by doing what He had said, without knowing the faintest bit of where he was going or what he would do when he got there, or what God Himself would be doing!  This, at first blush, seems to be a strange story, but as I contemplate it, I can see that Abraham was not a special case; he is my example.

God wants me to walk with that same kind of faith, a faith that doesn't have to have all the answers and insights.  I don't have to know what God is doing, nor do I have to know what I am supposed to do.  When I operate that way I work out of my self-reliance.  But God waits for me to come to a place where I rely solely on Him, and more specifically, who He is.  

Each day should be for me an brand new "going out", going away from my need to know and my need to figure out.  It should be a "going out" away from my reliance on me.  Today, in My Utmost For His Highest, I am challenged by these 2 questions:

1. Do you believe in a miracle-working God?
2. Will you go out in surrender to Him until you are not surprised an atom at anything He does?

PRAYER
Oh, Lord, so often I have great faith because I can see what You are doing.  But You are challenging me now to learn to walk with blind faith in You, in every detail of my life.  Teach me Lord, to leave my own strength, my self-reliance and my self-dependence in order to come into full reliance and dependence on You.  Teach me to go out from my personal convictions, experiences, fears, and logic, so that I can live in Your inheritance . . . the abundant life that is saturated with You and devoid of everything "me".   Though I may not know where You may take me, help me to obey Your calling by letting You lead me where You want to take me.  Holy Spirit, guide me to the place where I go out from everything and my trust is entirely in my God.

Entering By the Clouds and Darkness

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January 3, 2016

"Clouds of thick darkness surround Him; righteousness and justice are the foundation of His throne."  (Psalm 97:2)

" . . . Faithful love and truth go before You.   (Psalm 89:14)

When I came to the throne of God, I came to Jesus, the God-man who would save me and correct the course of my life. But as I began to grow, and for all the days since I was saved, I have, by necessity, had to move beyond knowing what my God could do in my life to a place of coming to know God and His character.  It is on this particular journey that I have come to know, first-hand, the "clouds of thick darkness that surround Him."  As I have walked closer and closer to His throne, I have experienced both His righteousness and justice and discovered that these character traits are clouds and darkness to my soul.  I do not mean that they are bad or depressing, as clouds and darkness can be.  I mean that they are traits that I have had to wrestle with.

Righteousness points to His holiness, and justice to His right to judge my unholiness.  My God is both loving and just.  He is a Father to me, not a doting grandparent!  I loved my children when they were growing up with a guiding, yet disciplining hand;  I love my grandchildren with giddy love.  Yes, I know there will be times when Jeremiah and Juliana are in my care, and I will have to discipline them in some way, but it will be different from how their parents discipline them.  God is my righteous standard, and He will judge my every work and action....Just like a Father!  He must! Righteousness and justice are the basis of who He is.  These are the very foundation of His throne, the entire, worldwide realm of his kingship.  They are the very platform that the majesty of God is built upon.

From the platform of righteousness and justice go forth the other two attributes of God that round out His character:  faithful love and truth.  All other character traits flow from these four.  And no matter how you live your life in Christ, these four traits of God are clouds and darkness to the soul who is drawing closer to Him.  This "darkness" surrounding the "Light" is what separates God from man, though He dwells within us.  It is the "clouds" of God that further draw us in as learn to know who our God is.  And they point us to a God who is our final judge and jury, as can be seen in Isaiah 60:2 and Joel 2:1-2.

God must teach me, by His character, who He is.  And who He is surrounded by clouds and darkness.  How can I continue to approach Him with a flippant or overly familiar attitude, making Him so commonplace?

PRAYER
Oh Lord, how guilty I have been in being more cavalier in my approach to You, as I come boldly to Your throne, when what You desire is humility!  I have focused more on Your love for me than on Your utter majesty.  You are so much more that "Jesus, the friend of sinners".  You are the Holy and Righteous, Just and Merciful God!  Holy Spirit, lead me into greater and greater understanding of WHO the Godhead is!

Let me not run away from Your thick darkness and clouds, but instead to enter through them in humility.

Hope and Bold Living

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January 1, 2016

"My eager expectation and HOPE is that I will not be ASHAMED about anything, but that now as always, with all boldness, Christ will be highly honored in my body, whether by life or by death."     Philippians 1:20

Hope--my hope is in my resurrection (Acts 23:6), yes from the dead, but also the resurrection in me that takes place through the transformation power of the Holy Spirit in me in LIFE!  My hope is also in You, my Lord Jesus Christ!  (I Thessalonians 1:3), for all things are possible in You!  (Matthew 19:26)

As 2016 is just a newborn, I have great HOPE, not in myself and what I might accomplish in my flesh, but HOPE in Jesus and the Holy Spirit in me, that I can live a life that glorifies and highly honors my Lord.  My HOPE is in the reality that I can do this because You make it possible.  I do not have to end another year with regrets for my fleshly behavior.  I can finish 2016 knowing that I have done nothing by which to be ashamed.  I can live each day expecting Christ to be honored in me!

PRAYER
Lord, Oh how I have failed to let you be in control of me.  But today is a new day and a new year.  I greatly desire to live this year in such a way that you will be highly honored in me.  But in order for that to happen, I must  live each moment in such a way that I will have nothing to be ashamed about.  Holy Spirit, be my guide today and throughout this year.  Show me where I am being put to shame, where I am running from the spiritual battle instead of fighting it, and where I am cowering in the corner instead of walking by faith.  Then comfort me and strengthen me to live as Christ would live. I want to live BOLDLY for You! 

May this be a brand new journey, and may I grow in such a way as to bring glory and honor to You in all of my life.  You are my HOPE and BOLDNESS.