Category: journey

Graceful Yielding

‘There’ in the palm of His hand, close to His heart

Meditation Thought: “Is anything too hard for the Lord?” (Genesis 18:14)

Nothing is too hard for the Lord – but He has created in love creatures who can facilitate His works, or obstruct them and slow down His perfect timing if He chooses to allow them to do so as a means of teaching. And this seems to be Standard Operating Procedure.

“Seek first the kingdom and all these things shall be added unto you” (Matthew 6:33) is not only a wonderful promise to us – but a graceful yielding on God’s side to let us choose to seek the kingdom.

Nothing is too hard for the Lord – sometimes we just think it is because what we desire to happen when we desire it to happen doesn’t occur. But God knows our hearts, and all of the facets of the situation – including where He wants us to be, and what He needs to do to get us there – ‘There’ in the palm of His hand, close to His heart – willingly staying close and enjoying it and desiring it above all else.

Whether we perceive it early or late, or not at all, that is His aim – He states it in His Word, He works it in His will, He empowers it through His Spirit, and He implants it in our heart.

A Twist on Stem Cells

This is the reason that thoughts are critical to life – or death; to peace – or agony; to fulfillment – or discontent; to health – or to sickness; to richness of lifestyle – or poverty of lifestyle.

Meditation Thought: “So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace.” (Romans 8:6)

A thought is the tiny first cell of the growing expression which will take form in many mediums and influence many others. This original cell-thought has within it all the genetic features needed to multiply it into a huge far-reaching form.

This is the reason that thoughts are critical to life – or death; to peace – or agony; to fulfillment – or discontent; to health – or to sickness; to richness of lifestyle – or poverty of lifestyle.

God seeks to illuminate our understanding that we may recognize that thoughts seeking relationship with Him are the key to the fulfillment of our creation both spiritually and humanly.

To come to the realization that God- almighty, all powerful, all loving, all creating, all righteous, all beautiful, all orderly, all reconciling, all accepting, all encouraging, all giving of freedom to choose His offer of companionship, of fellowship, of fatherhood is our Father, is to be completely awed, completely, happy, completely obedient.

We do not expect to do as well as our Hero (Jesus) in expressing our life in our humanity, nevertheless, the determination to do our best to adopt the same thoughts, the same attitudes, the same type of language, the same type of actions, and the sure conviction that our Hero was and is real and is able, by our belief in His realty, to empower us to become more like Him.

Weight Lifted; Chains Loosed

He made the lifting of the burden and the breaking of the chains possible – not easy, not quick, but His example of the method is there for all who seek it.

Meditation Thought: “I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.” (Romans 7:18)

I feel the weight of sin, but my own power is insufficient to move it. I know that if only this weight could be removed, I could move places where I cannot go now. I am bound in guilt, in inadequacies, in the past. I cannot raise the energy to fulfil my dreams, but am frustrated by weight, by chains.

Only one man succeeded in avoiding the crushing weight and binding chains: by total obedience to the Father’s will; by willingly foregoing the pleasures anyway – He made the lifting of the burden and the breaking of the chains possible – not easy, not quick, but His example of the method is there for all who seek it.

My prayer: Lord Jesus, thank You for being willing to forgo the using of Your power for Yourself, that Your power might be used for my benefit. Enable me to, in my gratitude, in my desire to give you joy that your sacrifice was not in vain, but released me from much pain, to accomplish the very purpose for which You came. (See Matthew 18:18)

Enable me to become an expression of Your joy, and not an extension of Your pain. In Your Precious Name I pray. Amen.

Choose Your Storehouse Carefully

And the conscious decisions bring into your life the contents of the storehouse so that the unconscious decisions draw upon the stock within you, thus reinforcing either sickness of Satan’s stock or health of God’s stock.

Meditation Thought: “ Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness.” (Romans 6:13)

All manner of things are in the storehouse – you must choose what you will take from it and bring into your life. It is easy to walk into Satan’s area – for it is downhill, easy to just let the inertia of sin and self-will to almost propel you down the hill to his area.

God’s area is higher – more difficult to reach because you must take effort to remove sin and self-will by energy, time, and commitment before you can make the walk up the path to reach God’s storehouse. But for those who try – what blessings! The fruits and gifts of the Spirit are there: the storehouse is pleasant, commanding a beautiful view. (See Galatians 5:22-23)

Life is a series of trips to the storehouse: each conscious decision takes the path to either the storehouse area of Satan or of God. And the conscious decisions bring into your life the contents of the storehouse so that the unconscious decisions draw upon the stock within you, thus reinforcing either sickness of Satan’s stock or health of God’s stock.

Seek ye first the Kingdom – God’s area – and the joys of the Kingdom’s stores shall accumulate in your life. (See Matthew 6:33)

Deserts Bloom

Not every life will be recorded in history as world-changing, but every life is recorded in My heart.

Meditation Thought: “ Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God” (Romans 4:20)

“Take courage – and step out in faith. Though you do not see where your step will take you, I have prepared the path: it leads where the desires of your heart are fulfilled. But you cannot see this is so – you can only trust in Me. Do I not merit your trust? I created the universe. I did not remove Myself from My creations, but I nurture My creations, My beloved, and delight in an awakened response.

Not every life will be recorded in history as world-changing, but every life is recorded in My heart; I rejoice and commiserate with My loved ones, each is precious to Me. How I long for each spirit to respond to Me, to be an Abraham in faith and obedience, that I may rejoice in the blessing passed on from generation to generation, from parent to child by example that through faith in My grace, My love and My power, the enemy is overcome, and My responsive children shall inherit My Kingdom.

My Kingdom is the land of milk and honey – not the wilderness;
My Kingdom is beauty – not gloom and ugliness;
My Kingdom is love – not hate;
My Kingdom is nurturing – not repressing;
My Kingdom is light – not darkness;
My Kingdom is the sound of a great symphony – not the sound of discord nor the lack of any sound;
My Kingdom is the vast vista from a mountaintop – not the smallness of a cave.

Seek ye the Kingdom – it is within you – within the yielding of your will to My will;
the yielding of your tongue to words of love;
the yielding of your heart to compassion;
the yielding of your body to sacrifice for others;
the yielding of pain to trust in My purpose of the new life it will produce.

My Spirit shall bring the desert to bloom;
the storm to give way to the sun;
the winter to yield to spring;
and the world to be transformed into the Kingdom – wherever it is allowed to flow.”

Purposeful Transformation

You can do nothing with your own will hugged close to your heart compared to the releasing of it for Me to change it as it becomes part of My will.

Meditation Thought: “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.” (Romans 12:2)

“Give me your will – and I will transform it into My will. This turns your will from the world and its ego-selfishness to a new will of goodness and acceptance and perfection. This giving of your will must be an ongoing gift – a constant giving and receiving (of My will) – and then, for the next situation, a new giving and a new receiving. You can do nothing with your own will hugged close to your heart compared to the releasing of it for Me to change it as it becomes part of My will. It is no longer recognizable as the same will you gave Me – for it is transformed into a will of loving power. Instead of your will conformed to the world, it is our will transforming the world. This is my desire for you: our becoming one in will, one in purpose, one in action, one in the task of redeeming the world from sin and turning the world to Love.

My heart longs for My loved ones to come to Me, to rejoice with Me, to be with Me in a full, complete, mutually delightful relationship. When My longing becomes your longing, then your will becomes My will and the transformation begins.”

Choose Your Controller

They are drawn because this God-controlled life exudes Love – and everyone want to receive Love.

Meditation Thought: “For from him and through him and for him are all things. To him be the glory forever!” (Romans 11:36)

Whatever we filter through God becomes pure, clear, sparkling, useable. That is why we must develop the habit of never making a move without first filtering it through God by testing it with His word, with prayer, with circumstances, with His Spirit within us. This filtering process takes anything, any situation, and changes it into what God wants it to be. And that assures us that therefore, in the end, we will recognize that it has also become what we want it to be.

When this constant filtering becomes our habit, we find a life of peace, of joy, of purpose, of order. We know how to think, what to do, and are confident. What a contrast to muddling along on our own – or storming ahead on our own, and then being brought up short when we are thwarted with the results. This is the difference between a God-controlled life and a self-controlled life. When our lives become God-controlled inside, they become worth noting and emulating as they are observed from the outside by others. It is this God-controlled life that puzzles others – but also that draws them in fascination, for it is different. The reactions are different, the actions are different than those which are prompted by the people who react and act only dealing with the physical part of the world. They begin to perceive that there is a wisdom, a knowledge, a faith and a power of which they were unaware, and it draws them as a moth is drawn to a flame. They are drawn because this God-controlled life exudes Love – and everyone want to receive Love.

Family Metamorphosis

It is at this point that our lives take on a new fulness of meaning, a focusing of purpose, a completeness and sureness to replace confusion and frustration.

Meditation Thought: “For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.” (Romans 8:29)

How do we feel about the people who have the same father we do? We have a special relationship, a deeper concern, a more intense interest in them. So it is when we realize that our Father is Christ’s father, and our Father is the Father of many – in fact, of all. We might not be as fond of some of our brothers and sisters as of others – but the realization that we are all family changes our thinking about each person.

And when we truly perceive that Christ is our older brother, created as a model for us to imitate – created, trained and devoted to that very purpose – we feel a kinship , an interest that was lacking before. It is at this point that our lives take on a new fulness of meaning, a focusing of purpose, a completeness and sureness to replace confusion and frustration. And when we not only trust in faith, but come to know in fact that God did send the Counselor to us because of Jesus’ obedience to His will, that is the time that the meaning of the phrase ‘the Kingdom is within’ takes on real meaning. It is at the point that – for the first time – the world starts to recede into the background and the Kingdom comes to the foreground. As we walk with the Spirit, the two forces continue their juxtaposition, until our surroundings have made a total change. At first, we affected a change in our surroundings – now, our surrounding cause further change in us. Both we and our surroundings are interacting in a cooperative task: the completion of our metamorphosis into the image the Son, the Light of the world.

Level Up

Day by day we make exciting discoveries about all of life, and particularly our God and ourselves.

Meditation Thought: “In him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28)

Without God we would not exist! With God, not only are we existing, but are dynamic, causing change, excited as we learn more about this Father who created us. Day by day we make exciting discoveries about all of life, and particularly our God and ourselves. All of the discoveries may not come pleasantly – but nevertheless, with each day that passes, we are more complete, more whole, moving toward our goal. There are many levels of living – and when we allow God to live as He wants to in us then we move to a higher level. We are never bored, rarely depressed, always curious about what interesting event will next take place. We have love constantly, unconditionally, often gloriously. We have peace for we know that strength is in us when we free Him in us to do His work. We know that whatever happens, we can turn to Him and He will make everything right for us.

Seasonal Harvesting

…only a determination to allow God to work His will in us that His truth may be kept pure in us, His love may pour into and out of us, his power might be released magnificently through us.

Meditation Thought: “And as for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bring forth fruit with patience.” (Luke 8:15)

The condition must be met before the harvest can appear. The heart must be honest: no little deceits such as the world accepts – no half-truths, no glossing over, but the heart must hold only pure truth, God’s truth, uncorrupted. The heart must be good: no evil tainting it, no selfish motives, no rebellion at God’s purposes – only a determination to allow God to work His will in us that His truth may be kept pure in us, His love may pour into and out of us, his power might be released magnificently through us.

We cannot try to force the harvest before it is ready – for if we interfere, we will damage the seed and either delay the harvest or reap very little or nothing. we must be willing to allow God’s timing to become our timing, His seasons must be adopted by us as natural, as comfortable – even desirable.