The Desires of Your Heart

The Holy Spirit calls to me this morning.  "Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart".  He is quoting Psalm 37:4 to me.  What an amazing promise and I cannot wait for our morning meeting to unfold.

I come armed with my "wants" and since I know how much I delight in Him, this invitation and promise confirms that this is going to be a wonderful day.

The Holy One speaks again, "Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart."  I wonder what about that verse needs more and deeper thought?  As I ponder, my mind gets a kind of a "red flag".

What if my desire is a pink Cadillac?  Will the Lord send one my way?  What if my desire is something at cross purpose with His will for me?  Will I get it?

I think about the operating words, "delight yourself" in the Lord.  The thinking becomes a little more narrow and I sit and ponder if perhaps that is a qualifier.  How much delight is enough to hone my desire into being eligible for the fulfillment of this promise?

The debate continues.

I repeat again that verse and then the light goes on.  Oh, so that's what You are trying to show me.  I see a big smile cross His face as I begin to comprehend.

Once again the Holy One takes me back to His verse with this understanding:

As I delight myself in the Lord, sit at His feet, relish my relationship, He is about the business of giving me "the" desires.   Not as I had assumed that He was giving me,  I.E. those desires I conjured up in my mind and  misidentified as being from  my heart.  But more basically, He will give me "desire" itself.

Gone are all the thoughts of having to wrestle out how much delight is enough.  Gone are all the "things" that I might gain in the fulfillment of the promise.  Gone is the guilt over whether or not my desires are good and worthy of having them given.  Holiness has just clarified the entire issue for me.

As I delight myself in the Lord He will take over and place proper desire within my heart.  In a sense the Lord will place within my heart His desires for me to desire.  My desires will line up with His will because He is the One who will deliver desire into my heart.

What an amazing new perspective of that often quoted scripture and promise.  Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you (form up, place within, create in your being) the (very) desires (that are to be) of your heart.

I want to desire the right things.  What a relief to know that, by His Holy Spirit within, I will have the "desires" the Lord has for me as the desires of my heart.  I will have those things He has set up to be given me and I can know that they are the desire of my heart and His.

As I delight myself in the Lord and the relationship we have together, I can be confident about what I desire and assured that those things will be given.

Even now as I ponder this great Truth, I realize that above all things, He is the overwhelming desire of my heart.

The Spirit is calling.  Can you hear Him?

Where Does Your Faith Rest?

The Holy One calls to me this morning.  This is a big week on the calendar of my life.  There are times and trials so intense, leading up to a decision to be made by others that will impact this life we are living.

The adrenaline flows, heart pumps, anxiety fills the air around and the fear of the unknown tries to drive faith out of the equation.  Ever notice how the enemy tries to gain a surrender before the judgement of the case or trial has been rendered? 

As a believer in Christ, I know that God will always have the final word.  He is Sovereign.  But the enemy manipulates all the "evidence" to support his lies in an effort to get God's people to lose heart, and hope and faith.

The world operates with a different reality than Heaven.  The more I engage in seeking the Will of My Father in Heaven, the more acutely aware I am of the discrepancy between the two realms of Heaven and Earth.

The Word says of the Creator in Isaiah 55:8,  "For My thoughts are not your thoughts and your ways are not my ways, declares the Lord.  As the Heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my  thoughts than your thoughts." 

The Holy One knows how I have been taunted lately by the enemy as we approach the day of decision in a year long battle that seems to favor the ungodly, the unholy, the things that defy righteousness.

There is a saying that declares that, "the darkest hour is just before dawn" and I understand that so well.  The enemy of our soul puts forth the greatest attempt to destroy our faith right before the moment when faith will be seen to prevail.

Today the evil one mocks me with a staggering statement: "Faith is not enough.  With all I have stacked against you, faith is not enough to gain the victory".

The Holy one sees the blow and comes to my defense, but I am shocked by what He speaks:  "He's right, you know."  My heart sinks but He continues,  "your faith in faith will never be enough, just like your faith in human nature is not enough to change it nor make it right.  Focus on the One your faith rests upon."

This must be why the Holy One has had me pondering the account of the faith of the centurion, in Matt 8, for days now.  We must fix our eyes upon Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.  The centurion placed his faith on the person, the One he believed called all the shots. Then he trusted that whatever Jesus "said" would come to pass.  "Just say the word and my servant will be healed."

The centurion didn't have a degree in theology, and wasn't even a Jew, yet he reckoned in his heart and mind that Jesus was in command of all things and held power even over sickness, and he sought him out.  His faith was placed in the One he believed to be in command of all things.  His faith in Jesus, God in the flesh, was revealed and even held up as a model and standard for those standing around.

The centurion also had deep respect for the chain of command that he believed Jesus operated within.  He was a man under authority and had soldiers under him.  He understood that his commands and orders were followed and his word was accomplished.

Here we have a picture of the Heavenly structure of authority and chain of command through the eyes of a Roman military officer.  He understood that his military structure ended at the power seat of Rome.  And he also understood and believed that the Heavenly structure of authority ended at the power seat of Jesus.

The point the Spirit made to me today is that faith in and of itself is not enough.  Unless faith is in the One who created and controls, and sustains all things, it will never be enough to see Heaven's reality here on earth.

"Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven," as our Lord taught us to pray, requires  faith like that of the centurion.  A faith that rests in the One who created and commands the universe: Jesus Christ, King of Kings, Lord of Lords, the Resurrected Savior who sits at the right hand of all power and authority. 

The centurion knew that one word from Jesus and it would be done, without a doubt.  The reward for the centurion's faith in Jesus was the granting of his request.  He saw Heaven's reality over rule earth's reality with a word from Heaven's King.

So where does your faith rest?

The Spirit is calling.  Can you hear Him?

Comfort for the Lord's Grieving Heart****

The Holy One calls to me this morning.  Life is like a roller coaster ride while wearing a blindfold.  I feel but I can't really see the track or trajectory of my car.  There is the steep climb, the tippy top of a mountain, the sense of free fall and the jerk of finding the bottom, waiting for my heart and breath to catch up to my body.

These days the pace is so fast I can barely process one round on life's roller coaster before I am brought speedily into another.  The Holy One broke into my visual with sobering words, "you are speeding toward eternity. The time and pace will get shorter and faster".  And He says, "the distractions will be greater and greater that separate people from the Truth."

The grief in His heart is so apparent to me, yet I feel helpless to bring  my Lord any comfort.

It is here, that I begin to realize the depths of His sorrow.  I constantly bring my thoughts, my feelings, my hurts, my pains, my sorrows to Him without understanding that through my heart and mind, these sorrows are His and yet they are multiplied out over all the days and countless numbers of lives He has claimed and lost over all the generations of man.

The fact that God established free will does not lessen His sorrow when men and women take it and reject the One who gave them the freedom in the first place.

The Holy One speaks, "you can and do bring comfort to the Lord's grieving heart".  He tells me that "when Jesus walked the earth, He was confined to one place in a physical body that could only influence a small group of  people.  Only the people He met in person or touched with His hands or who heard His powerful words spoken were impacted by His life while He was constrained to a physical body.  This is why He had to leave earth."

He paid the price for sin that separates us from a Holy God, but in an outrageous plan to truly unify us with Himself,  He sent His Holy Spirit  to indwell our person, to unify us with Him in an unexplainable and mysterious way.

Now the Lord can influence the masses because believers, infused with His Spirit carry His life within to be lived out, complete with the ability to touch and heal and speak powerful word to convict the hearts of people everywhere as to the truth of the Gospel and the salvation it brings.  Now, by the outrageous outpouring of His Holy Spirit, Jesus has many, many bodies He can use to touch the world of men, and thereby draw people unto Himself.

Talk about mass media.  Every believer is a walking, talking billboard of their unique testimony of God's love and their personal relationship with Jesus.  Each one of us who calls Jesus, our Savior and our Lord is a representation of His life to our world.  We bring comfort to the Lord's grieving heart when we allow His Spirit to touch other's through us.  So how does my life read?

John 15:8, Jesus said, "I am the Vine and you are the branches.  If a man remains in Me and I in Him, he will bear much fruit;  apart from Me you can do nothing."  Jesus said this before departing earth to set the stage for the phenomenon that was to follow His Resurrection and Ascension:  the sending of the Holy Spirit into the being of the obedient servant.  John 14:15, "If you love Me, you will obey what I command and I will ask the Father and He will send you another Counselor, the Spirit of Truth who will be with you forever."

This reality of His indwelling Presence is the only way we humans can actually be and represent His life.  The day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit came, is the only explanation and reason as to how and why His words make sense, "apart from Me you can do nothing" spoken when He was poised to leave.  "I will not leave you as orphans, but I will come to you".  I'm guessing that those words were mightily confusing to the Disciples before the day of Pentecost. 

Now we recognize that by leaving the physical realm and sending His Spirit to take up residency in the being of true believers, Jesus' legacy is being lived out in the world generation after generation.  As we yield to His Spirit and surrender to His life, we identify with His grief for the lost and He uses us to draw them unto Himself.  By and through His Spirit alone do we have the power to live a Holy life as He did, representing God to a lost and dying world, being a conduit of His life changing works.  "Make every effort to live in peace with all men and be Holy: without Holiness no one will see the Lord"   Hebrews 12:14

His plan is ingenious, but it requires our co-operation.  Are we willing to allow Him to control our days and times and appointments?  Or are we too stuck on our own life goals. Are we willing to sacrifice our agenda to live out His?

Eternity is drawing close for all of us.  The end of life as we know it today.  Time is short for us to be the physical dwelling places of the Holy One whose Presence can  impact the world and final destination point of people the Lord died to save.

Will we be a source of comfort to the Lord's grieving heart? 

The Spirit is calling.  Can you hear Him?

The Call To Disciple

The Holy Spirit calls to me this morning.  He provokes me to think, as He poses the question "what does it mean to be a Disciple of Christ?  What does it mean to disciple another?"

I was taken back to the days revealed through the Scriptures when Jesus called the twelve.  He chose them and then said, "Follow Me".  The Holy One continues to speak,  "Imagine what would have happened if Jesus just told them, "I am your Messiah, know this....I am going to take you to the river, get you wet and then I want you to go out and tell others what I just told you."  How much of the world would have been changed with that form of evangelism?"

Jesus chose the twelve, then lived with them, ate with them, and revealed His power and authority to them personally in relationship.  For 3 years He lived with them for 24/7.  His method of making disciples was to bring them into His life.  He opened the doors of His daily existence and invited them in to see and participate.

Jesus showed the disciples by way of example what a relationship with God, is to be like.  His relationship to His Heavenly Father and with each one of them set the standard for our relational responsibility to Him and to others in our world today.  Jesus did not have a one hour encounter with the 12 individuals and tell them to go out and proclaim Him as God.  But isn't that what our modern day evangelism looks like? 

In this fast paced world, we have been diverted from the Lord's methodology for changing it one life at a time.  Mass evangelism through crusades may bring a man to conversion of the mind, but most on the fields are left with a momentary exhilarating or heart breaking experience with no clue about the depths of  a relationship to be had, with the One they just heard loves them so much, or where to go from there. 

With no one to disciple them, to come along side of them, to teach and share Truth or invite them to share their new "saved" life and all it represents,  new "believers" are at risk of returning to their old life but with a false sense of security for having been "saved" and told they will now go to heaven when they die.

Some find their way to a church, but did that "experience" make a life changing, course changing difference?  Maybe it would be better to have more retreats and less crusades,  more saturated time spent in learning what the commitment entails and how to process their internal changes.

When it comes to discipleship, the apathy of the "saved" is shocking.  The inconvenience and fear of bringing strangers into our lives is inexcusable.  The Holy One knows I am guilty as charged.  How many opportunities did I reject over all the years to disciple, mentor, to share what life with Jesus is all about.

I repent for this indifference and ignorance and apathy.  The Holy One comforts me with the forgiveness of My Savior, but makes it clear that time is short, the fields are white unto harvest and the laborers are few.

When Jesus comes back for us will He find us silent about our relationship with Him?  Will He find us  telling people about Him but making no effort to represent His life? Or will He find us actually doing the  work of modeling what life with Him is all about. Will He find us investing what we know of Him into other lives so they can know Him too?   

The challenge is great.  We must sit at Jesus feet ourselves and surrender to His life and His will just as He modeled for us when He surrendered His life to the Father's Will.  The challenge doesn't stop there.  The challenge to our obedience in following Him and surrendering our life will inevitably move us on to meeting and mentoring and discipling another person to do the same.

If you are among the saved, who are you discipling?  The delightful reality is that as we open ourselves up to the will of the Lord, He will bring people to us who flow into our lives by His grace and then He will give us the ability to fulfill His great commission: 

Matt. 28:18  All authority in Heaven and on earth has been given to Me.  Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you."

The Spirit is calling.  Can you  hear Him?

2012: Peace????

The Holy One calls me this morning.  So many subjects to discuss with the God of all Creation. There is literally no end to the myriad of things He might bring to my attention.  I guess that is what makes Him the most exhilarating conversationalist ever. 

Today is a mentally meandering day.  It's the beginning of a new year, with endless possibilities.  Right out of the starting gate is news of our Ethiopian grandson and the amazing piece he represents to the picture of our global family.  A beautiful start of wonderful things to come.

The last three years, however,  began with heartburn, as the warfare was skin to skin, too close to not be injured in the battle.  But looking back, the Holy One reminded me that He never left me.  For all that has been scorched in our life, there was a shield of protection, a promise kept that somehow against all the apparent odds things did and will work together for our eternal good. 

These were not easy things.  Not easy to experience, not easy to get through, not easy to understand...

BUT GOD.......WAS THERE......IS HERE.......ALWAYS.......

The Holy One speaks to my heart.  He has me think about the speakers I heard on the T.V. a few days ago as the the New Year was kicking off.  Each brought  their brand of hope for the New Year.  They seem to have the message of "peace" and tried to justify it in different ways with really flimsy evidence.  The power of positive thinking is a really great philosophy until you realize it doesn't work.  Pollyanna was a delightful child but in real life there is real pain.

Who would stand up to contradict these spokesmen for peace.  Why rain on their parade or the parade of millions of people who are  desperately looking for "peace" and hope unless you recognize the pattern.

Spoken through the prophets of old, The Holy One takes me to His Word.  Jeremiah 6:14, "From the least to the greatest all are greedy for gain, prophets and priests alike all practice deceit.  They dress the wounds of my people as if it were not serious. "Peace, Peace", they say when there is no peace."

This Scripture exposes the anger in the heart of the God of the Universe against the idolatry being committed in worship of the "Queen of Heaven".  In the history of God's people there was a woman who symbolized this demon principality and her name was "Jezebel".

Looking at her claim to fame, she was credited for leading God's people into idolatry and the worship of foreign gods.  In Jeremiah's day, they were declaring peace while rebelling against their God and duality of worship was the offense.  Claiming to be God's people, they danced around the altars and asherol poles devoted to pagan gods.

I guess I might be able to find comfort in the thought that I do not go into temples erected to foreign gods, but Holiness asks me to ponder what altars do I bow before in my heart and mind?  What deities exist that have priority over the Savior of your soul?

The Holy One stops my heart on these deep and penetrating questions.  Psalm 139:23, "search me Oh God and know my heart.  Test me and know my anxious thoughts.  See if there is any offensive way in me and lead me in the way everlasting."

The Holy One brings me to my knees yet again.  But then I see that it is here, in His Presence, under His scrutiny, that real peace is found.

The spokesmen of the other day pointed to the idol of human ingenuity and capability in of of itself suggesting that somehow peace will come from finding it's own fix.  Or the seductive comfort that "God wants us happy" in spite of our rebellion and sin. Somehow the prophets and priests spoke of a "peace" without repentance.  They alluded to a euphoria that cannot be found outside a personal relationship with the Savior of our soul, Jesus Christ, the only Source of true peace.

Living in an open relationship with the Holy One, who has and takes liberty to correct me, I find that amazing peace knowing things are right between us.  He will expose what grieves Him and then give His courage and strength to overcome the offense.

I am thankful to be reminded that peace is not dependent upon my circumstances, but rather it is found to be dependent upon the One who absolutely controls them.  "Jesus said in John 14:27, "My peace I give you, not as the word gives.  Do not let your heart be troubled and do not be afraid".

The Holy One tells me, "Yes, it is going to be a good year, not because of earthly pleasures, but because I promise I will never leave you nor forsake you and that I will be with you always."

Now that is the true peace that passes all understanding.

The Spirit is calling.  Can you Hear Him?

The Power of Words and the Joy of Repentance*

The Holy One calls me this morning.  There is more than one issue we need to discuss. For a long time, He has been teaching me the power of words in Creation and in my life on earth today.  Genesis 1 expresses Creation as, "God said" and it was so.

Jesus said, in John 14:11-14, "Believe Me when I say, I am in the Father (Creator) and the Father is in Me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves. I tell you the Truth, anyone who has faith in Me will do what I have been doing.  He will do even greater things than these because I am going to the Father.  And I will do whatever you ask in My name, so that the Son may bring Glory to the Father.  You may ask Me for anything in My name and I will do it. "

Point #1.  The Holy Spirit has been working Truth deep into my heart and mind about the God-ward use of my words in intercession and the man-ward use of my words in proclamation.  Spirit-lead thoughts become words and Spirit-lead words are power.

God-ward words otherwise known as prayer is the call on the life of every believer in the Lord Jesus Christ.  He is the Savior of mankind, Creator of the Universe and all that exists, and the One from whom all blessings flow.

Since the Garden of Eden, the Creator has ordained and delegated to His creation AKA man, the privilege and responsibility to co-govern His world.  The fall of man broke the relationship but not the Eternal plan of Holiness for His beloved. 

Since the Cross, a form of restoration back to the Garden of Eden is possible.  Through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, man has been redeemed for all eternity.  The restoration of relationship with the Creator of all that exists is available.  In and due to  this restoration comes the delightful privilege to once again participate in the government of our earthly life, with the powerful authority (in our words) delegated to and through the Holy Spirit of Christ within us.

The corner of the world that my life represents is my assigned place to manage and co-govern with the Creator. I am not to govern alone or all by myself, but rather I am to co-govern my life and it's complex situations in partnership with the Lord Jesus Christ to whom I am accountable as His servant in this restored co-management relationship.  He has given us language and speech and words that He Himself used to create all that we know. There is something very important that the Holy One wants me to realize about the power of our words.

Each and every situation we encounter as a believer has purpose and that purpose is to bring us into the individual and personal conforming image of our Christ.  With all our unique personality traits, the Holy Spirit's ruling force will meld our character into the character of our Savior as we make our earthly journey with Him.   We don't lose ourselves in the process but rather we gain the better "us" in the exchange.  As we give up the garbage of our flesh, the Holy One gives us His Divine fruit. 

Point # 2.  Today, the Holy One catches me uttering "worthless words" at first light.  His command to me has been to utter "worthy not worthless words".  I have been taught that worthless words can be any words  that do not have Heavenly purpose, but also words that state a reality that Holiness wants to change.

As the conviction sets in and I repent for the careless words that came out and are now blowing in the wind, I hear Him speak grace to me.  Once repentance is executed and forgiveness received, there comes a sense of "joy".  Joy is not something I have felt in past times of repentance.  There has been a sense of relief, but I would not describe it as joy.

The Holy One speaks of a new perspective of repentance:  rather than to see myself as a hopeless case of perpetual failure, He tells me to rejoice that I am brought to conviction and that He is cleaning me out.

I see His point that if I refuse to bring all my failures to Him both big and small, they will remain, along with the bondage to them.  But if I repent for the failures, one by one, I am being set free.  He encourages me to realize that in the process of sanctification, being brought into the conforming image of Christ, the conviction and repentance of any sin or failure is cause for celebration. 

It is in this place of the acknowledgement of sin that transformation can take place, sin forsaken and I can see it exchanged for a new measure of Holiness.  Rather than be depressed at my failure, I can celebrate the  move toward Holiness and be assured of His victory over my flesh weakness.

The bad news is that we were all born in sin and subject to the conditions of the fall.  The Great News is that Jesus, The Son, lived, died and rose again providing restoration, not just in theory, but by blood payment for sin, bought  powerful, eternal reconciliation between us and our Creator God.  And through His Spirit, brings the ability to live and be Holy as He is Holy.

Conviction of sin comes not to defeat us but to free us. Today I realize even more that my worthless words cannot be taken back, but after repentance, I know that more powerful, worthy words can overtake them.  Humility and joy.  Only in Christ can we have both at the same time.

The Spirit is calling.  Can you hear Him?