Category: joy

Jeweled Crown

And so what appears to be death of self is actually the resurrection of self in new glory

Meditation Thought: “Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.” (Psalm 37:4)

When we place our delight in the Lord, we will have constant delight – for the Lord is always loving, caring, helpful, dependable, powerful – and willing to fulfill the desires of our heart. When we learn to be adept at taking our delight in the Lord, we will rejoice in the fulfillment of our desires as a natural consequence.

The ability to become adept at taking our delight in the Lord, however, is one which must be rigorously developed and practiced. There must be time to learn His Word, to listen to His Counsel. There must be courage to act upon His instructions – and His instructions may well bring the ridicule of the world, and most devastatingly, even our loved ones. We must learn to seek truth and not accept face values, we must “fight city hall”, we must be active and not passive, we must put duty above pleasure, we must sacrifice ego to become God’s weak vessel into which He pours His strength.

When we are able to submerge ourselves into what we thought was a swallowing up of our identity into God’s will, we learn that miraculously the very burying of ourself in Him crystallized us into all we were meant to be: we are fulfilled in an unsuspected joy as we emerge more totally individual than ever before – a new creature in Christ, a jewel set off more brilliantly because of our placement in His crown. And so what appears to be death of self is actually the resurrection of self in new glory, the clay reworked by God into a new and beautiful vessel to be used by Him, to be delighted in by Him, a completion of His creative process.

 

Atmospheric Conditions

…as we move into the atmosphere of God rather than the atmosphere of the world. 

Meditation Thought: “Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.” (Psalm 37:4)

The closer we are to the sun, the more we receive of its light and its warmth. It is always there, but if we have clouds between us, or our situation isn’t right (our side of the earth turned from the sun), or the season is one where there is more distance between us and the sun, then we receive less light and less warmth than we do under ideal conditions.

God wants us to be in the ideal conditions to receive the most of His light and His warmth – and unlike the sun, He influences conditions to provide improvement – if we are perceptive enough to see the truth of the conditions and to act in a way that will bring us His light and His warmth to the fullest extent.

We can think, we can act, and we can change our position relative to God. As we move more closely to God, we move more closely to the desires of our heart, for the desires of our heart originated from God. Sometimes we have some desires which are counterfeit and get between our God-given desires and us, but they do not thrive well in the atmosphere of the Spirit of God, and will die out and disappear as we move into the atmosphere of God rather than the atmosphere of the world.

 

Rays of Hope

Who is with us every second of our lives; who is constantly concerned for us; who seeks to help us? Our dear Lord –

Meditation Thought: “Rejoice in the Lord always; and again I say, Rejoice.” Philippians 4:4

Who is with us every second of our lives; who is constantly concerned for us; who seeks to help us? Our dear Lord – when we rejoice in Him, He is always there – no disappointment that the one we wish to rejoice with and in has disappeared.

The Lord is our source of rejoicing – pouring out “rays” of love, peace, help, guidance; rescuing us in times of trouble with His energy and wisdom. But unlike the sun, which sends out heat and light, but receives nothing in return; we send our “rays” back to the Lord – rays of hope, of trust, of love, of obedience. There is constant exciting movement from one to the other; an inter-changing of rays to make the other glow with love and gratitude, and a sense of fulfillment. All of the rays are needed to make the relationship whole, to make both God and His creation whole, totally as we were intended to be when He created us to complete the outpouring of the love which He needed to express.

 

Blessed, Beloved, Pampered

So, too, we enjoy our early party here on earth, as our Father lavishes His care and gifts upon us, but it is only later that we will come to know what a truly great celebration He has for us with Him.

Meditation Thought: “Beloved, we are God’s children now, it does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he appears, we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is.” 1 John 3:2

We are God’s children now. This moment. I am His blessed, beloved, pampered daughter. And yet what He does for me now is only a preparation for even greater joys later.

I’m thinking of the excitement of a child’s birthday. The child is so excited and happy at breakfast when the family gives him special attention and also gifts. He knows there will be a party later, and he anticipates it eagerly, but it is only during the party, that he truly realizes the difference in the quiet celebration in the morning, and the more intense one in the later hour.

So, too, we enjoy our early party here on earth, as our Father lavishes His care and gifts upon us, but it is only later that we will come to know what a truly great celebration He has for us with Him. We are forming, growing, while we are here – but when we join Him we will be His matured believer, having changed from sinners to forgiven sinners to His own beloved children formed new in His image, grown to be like Him.

 

 

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