The Holy One calls to me this morning. The time change has challenged my biological alarm clock and waking up is so hard in the revised early morning "watches of the night". The Counselor bids me "good morning", as I try to pull myself out of the fog of having slept too hard and too long.
I have been in the course of a study, called "trusting God's ways". Over the years the Holy Spirit has had me in a place of learning the things of faith like taking courses, compressed into periods or seasons not unlike semesters of college. They all come with a teaching and a series of tests.
My human mind might fight the thought that the God of all Creation has me under His Divinely appointed Holy Tutor or that the God of all eternity since the beginning of time has orchestrated each event in each day I face, for the sole purpose of my personal intimate training and advance in learning about His ways. That is a brain buster to me, but my Counselor presses on.
Jesus, when He left earth said that He would send the Holy Spirit, Counselor and that I would "know Him for He lives with you and will be in you" John 14:17.
I have learned to recognize that internal voice as quiet as He speaks. While I can now hear and know the Spirit's voice, I am still required to "surrender" in obedience to Him against the loud and desperate demands of my flesh, that always seem to run counter to His commands.
For years I failed to comprehend the Holy Spirit's role and companionship and therefore followed an agenda dictate by my flesh to my great sorrow and heartache. I am different today, thanks be to the Lord, who never gives up on us even when I, like Peter, offered Him my brand of betrayal.
The Holy One waited quietly until the heat of my rebellion got so intense that I cried out for rescue and relief. He came, He quenched the fire, He set about to claim His Throne in my heart.
Today the Holy One is my Beloved Companion and He continues to lead me into all Truth.
As I ponder God's ways, the mystery of His Sovereignty brings so many questions. I wonder the "whys" not so much in unbelief like I did at first, but more to delight in understanding His ways.
One of the first things I learned in this school was that our amazing God does not operate on a formula that we can learn and therefore anticipate His next move. Moment to moment trust in Him is the only absolute to the greater grasp and understanding of His mysterious ways. In fact He is enshrouded with mystery and it is the mystery that intensifies my fascination in our Sacred romance. There is so much to learn about my Beloved Savior and God, eternity is the time I need to process all that He is.
The subject of decision making and discernment, is the hot topic of this morning's meeting. While Truth comes with the Indwelling Holy Spirit because He IS Truth, the enemy is always at work barraging my mind with lies and half truth and therefore discernment becomes a critical component in every decision I need to make. I ask the Holy One for His discernment.
I rejoice in the fact that I can ask and trust in the fact that He answers. Situations I face today come with a lot of nuances. The lines between right and wrong can get muddied by political correctness, and evil clamoring for speedy decisions, tempting me to knee jerk reactions.
Then there are those issues offensive to decency, being swept under the carpet for so long, apathy sets in, and a new status quo gets established just a little further away from Holiness so that we don't feel the shift.
The Holy One takes me back to the Garden for the lesson today. He reminds me that in the Garden were all kinds of trees bearing wonderful fruit. Yet there was in the Garden of Creation, the one tree forbidden. This is common knowledge for it is written in the Genesis account of our origins.
As Holiness walks me back to the Garden, He begins to fill in some of the banks for me.
"As you were created to be a companion of the Creator, you were "wired" for eternity." Meaning we were never meant to die and I know this to be true.
But then comes the blast of truth, "you were also wired to be innocent, without the hard burden of judging between good and evil. In your humanity and in your mind, you don't have the tools to be God."
Simply stated we were not wired at creation be be able to make accurate judgements between right and wrong, good and evil, because God created all and said it is Good. Our pure minds became polluted at the fall and when those decisions are presented, a great confusion ensues.
"Oh wretched man that I am", Paul articulated it well.
What then is the answer to our day to day dilemmas where evil abounds and our minds are confused by what we see and need to react to? The Holy One takes me back to Himself, and my need for Godly wisdom and Divine Discernment. We simply cannot survive and thrive on this fallen earth under the cloud of our exile from the Garden of our Creation without a deep and abiding trust relationship with the Holy One sent as our Counselor and friend.
Absent the Holy Spirit's wisdom and discernment I cannot trust myself to judge between right and wrong, good and evil. But under His authority and the written Word of God, I can move through my circumstances confident that Christ nullified the curse of the fall and provided the antidote for the toxic poison of that forbidden fruit.
James 1:5 exhorts us to ask for wisdom with the promise that God who is faithful will provide it and provide it generously. What in my life circumstances needs a generous dose of His wisdom and the discernment that comes from His Spirit? What in your life needs the same?
The Spirit is calling. Can you hear Him?
I have been in the course of a study, called "trusting God's ways". Over the years the Holy Spirit has had me in a place of learning the things of faith like taking courses, compressed into periods or seasons not unlike semesters of college. They all come with a teaching and a series of tests.
My human mind might fight the thought that the God of all Creation has me under His Divinely appointed Holy Tutor or that the God of all eternity since the beginning of time has orchestrated each event in each day I face, for the sole purpose of my personal intimate training and advance in learning about His ways. That is a brain buster to me, but my Counselor presses on.
Jesus, when He left earth said that He would send the Holy Spirit, Counselor and that I would "know Him for He lives with you and will be in you" John 14:17.
I have learned to recognize that internal voice as quiet as He speaks. While I can now hear and know the Spirit's voice, I am still required to "surrender" in obedience to Him against the loud and desperate demands of my flesh, that always seem to run counter to His commands.
For years I failed to comprehend the Holy Spirit's role and companionship and therefore followed an agenda dictate by my flesh to my great sorrow and heartache. I am different today, thanks be to the Lord, who never gives up on us even when I, like Peter, offered Him my brand of betrayal.
The Holy One waited quietly until the heat of my rebellion got so intense that I cried out for rescue and relief. He came, He quenched the fire, He set about to claim His Throne in my heart.
Today the Holy One is my Beloved Companion and He continues to lead me into all Truth.
As I ponder God's ways, the mystery of His Sovereignty brings so many questions. I wonder the "whys" not so much in unbelief like I did at first, but more to delight in understanding His ways.
One of the first things I learned in this school was that our amazing God does not operate on a formula that we can learn and therefore anticipate His next move. Moment to moment trust in Him is the only absolute to the greater grasp and understanding of His mysterious ways. In fact He is enshrouded with mystery and it is the mystery that intensifies my fascination in our Sacred romance. There is so much to learn about my Beloved Savior and God, eternity is the time I need to process all that He is.
The subject of decision making and discernment, is the hot topic of this morning's meeting. While Truth comes with the Indwelling Holy Spirit because He IS Truth, the enemy is always at work barraging my mind with lies and half truth and therefore discernment becomes a critical component in every decision I need to make. I ask the Holy One for His discernment.
I rejoice in the fact that I can ask and trust in the fact that He answers. Situations I face today come with a lot of nuances. The lines between right and wrong can get muddied by political correctness, and evil clamoring for speedy decisions, tempting me to knee jerk reactions.
Then there are those issues offensive to decency, being swept under the carpet for so long, apathy sets in, and a new status quo gets established just a little further away from Holiness so that we don't feel the shift.
The Holy One takes me back to the Garden for the lesson today. He reminds me that in the Garden were all kinds of trees bearing wonderful fruit. Yet there was in the Garden of Creation, the one tree forbidden. This is common knowledge for it is written in the Genesis account of our origins.
As Holiness walks me back to the Garden, He begins to fill in some of the banks for me.
"As you were created to be a companion of the Creator, you were "wired" for eternity." Meaning we were never meant to die and I know this to be true.
But then comes the blast of truth, "you were also wired to be innocent, without the hard burden of judging between good and evil. In your humanity and in your mind, you don't have the tools to be God."
Simply stated we were not wired at creation be be able to make accurate judgements between right and wrong, good and evil, because God created all and said it is Good. Our pure minds became polluted at the fall and when those decisions are presented, a great confusion ensues.
"Oh wretched man that I am", Paul articulated it well.
What then is the answer to our day to day dilemmas where evil abounds and our minds are confused by what we see and need to react to? The Holy One takes me back to Himself, and my need for Godly wisdom and Divine Discernment. We simply cannot survive and thrive on this fallen earth under the cloud of our exile from the Garden of our Creation without a deep and abiding trust relationship with the Holy One sent as our Counselor and friend.
Absent the Holy Spirit's wisdom and discernment I cannot trust myself to judge between right and wrong, good and evil. But under His authority and the written Word of God, I can move through my circumstances confident that Christ nullified the curse of the fall and provided the antidote for the toxic poison of that forbidden fruit.
James 1:5 exhorts us to ask for wisdom with the promise that God who is faithful will provide it and provide it generously. What in my life circumstances needs a generous dose of His wisdom and the discernment that comes from His Spirit? What in your life needs the same?
The Spirit is calling. Can you hear Him?
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