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Tuesday, 06 October 2009

Guarding Innocence

A delicate flower, a tender bloom
Purity is its color, Grace its perfume
Full of life and laughter, Gentle with its tears
Vulnerable in its innocence, Yet open without fear
Guard your heart, dear daughters
Let your affections be above
Don't let desires rule you
Let God be your first love

I've been thinking today about innocence and purity, the beauty God finds in one whose heart is fully His. I see people with an openness and innocence in their lives, and it breaks my heart to know that many allow it to be robbed by spiritual compromise. Purity of heart is so beautiful, so precious, yet it is so easy for us to allow things to turn our hearts from God, and so often we do so without even realizing it. Compromise can be hard to detect when it comes at us in seemingly innocent forms.

God wants us to be passionate about Him, passionate about what He wants us to stand for. How often do I let my testimony be watered down because I am unwilling to give up my own pride to stand for Him? How often do I miss His best because I am lured away by what is permissible? Innocence can fade away just one petal at a time, but the end result is no longer a flower, only a stem reminding us of what once existed. Do I do things just because I feel I am allowed to or even have a right to do them, or do I do things because I know they are what God wants me to do?

Why are we so hesitant to be labeled radical? We want to straddle the fence because that's where we feel comfortable, and yet often fail to realize our own lives bear the mark of lukewarmness.

It was said of Christ that He did nothing of His own initiative, only what He saw the Father doing. Do I really want to be like Him? Am I really desirous of having no initiative of my own, no self-will, but being completely crucified? I think we recognize that taking up the cross is our duty as Christians, but often forget that the cross is intended to end in crucifixion. As A.W. Tozer brought out, the message of the cross loses much of its power when it is no longer viewed as an instrument of death, but simply a religious icon of beauty. We are not supposed to get down off our cross and walk around seeking our own desires- We are supposed to die to our own desires, to completely surrender everything that identifies us as ourselves to the will of One who created us. Does this mean we have no desires, that life no longer holds any pleasure? Not at all- The Bible says that if we delight ourselves in the Lord He will give us the desires of our heart. If I learn to truly find my delight in the Lord, perhaps I will find my desires will be different as well... In any case, my desires alone shouldn't rule me or lead me. Does this thought scare me, make me want to shy away from the cross, maybe follow the path only to the foot of Golgotha? God give me the grace to press on, to not be held back by any fear.

What is the message on my heart that I wish people could hear? Guard your heart at all costs, and I'm not speaking just in romantic terms, but guard your heart from all things that would turn you aside from pure devotion to Christ. When God leads you to walk through a door that has been your desire, embrace it and rejoice in it! But do not let your desires lead you to walk through a door that God has not led you to, lest you miss His best. God's best is always worth waiting for. Innocence is so precious; It is also very fragile. If you desire to keep a rose beautiful in its entirety you must handle it with much care; How much more our hearts...

Saturday, 12 September 2009

Great truths are dearly bought...

Here is the Streams in the Desert devotional that was posted online today- Thought it was really good! You can find these devotions online at: http://www.crosswalk.com/devotionals/desert

It Must Be Bought

"On all bare heights shall be their pasture" (Isa. 49:9, RV).

Toys and trinkets are easily won, but the greatest things are greatly bought. The top-most place of power is always bought with blood. You may have the pinnacles if you have enough blood to pay. That is the conquest condition of the holy heights everywhere. The story of real heroisms is the story of sacrificial blood. The chiefest values in life and character are not blown across our way by vagrant winds. Great souls have great sorrows.

"Great truths are dearly bought, the common truths,
Such as men give and take front day to day,
Come in the common walk of easy life,
Blown by the careless wind across our way.

"Great truths are greatly won, not found by chance,
Nor wafted on the breath of summer dream;
But grasped in the great struggle of the soul,
Hard buffeting with adverse wind and stream.

"But in the day of conflict, fear and grief,
When the strong hand of God, put forth in might,
Plows up the subsoil of the stagnant heart,
And brings the imprisoned truth seed to the light.

"Wrung from the troubled spirit, in hard hours
Of weakness, solitude, perchance of pain,
Truth springs like harvest from the well-plowed field,
And the soul feels it has not wept in vain."

The capacity for knowing God enlarges as we are brought by Him into circumstances which oblige us to exercise faith; so, when difficulties beset our path let us thank God that He is taking trouble with us, and lean hard upon Him.

Thursday, 10 September 2009

Lord, Hold My Heart

Lord, hold my heart, for none other can see
The ways that You’re testing and trying me
When questions at times cause me to doubt
Help me press further in, not seek a way out
Lord, guide me I pray, and help me to see
My heart is so safe with You holding me

Saturday, 22 August 2009

The Crucible

The Crucible

When God wants to drill a man,
And thrill a man,
And skill a man
When God wants to mold a man
To play the noblest part;

When He yearns with all His heart
To create so great and bold a man
That all the world shall be amazed,
Watch His methods, watch His ways!

How He ruthlessly perfects
Whom He royally elects!
How He hammers him and hurts him,
And with mighty blows converts him

Into trial shapes of clay which
Only God understands;
While his tortured heart is crying
And he lifts beseeching hands!

How He bends but never breaks
When his good He undertakes;
How He uses whom He chooses,
And which every purpose fuses him;
By every act induces him
To try His splendor out-
God knows what He's about.

-Author Unknown

God’s ways are definitely not our ways, but much higher and more powerful. When we would seek to avoid suffering, or to alleviate it in the lives of others, God is often seeking to use those very things to mold and shape us into what He desires us to be. We would often seek to be Christians without the cross (in the sense of us carrying it and suffering), but we find the cross was the very moment of triumph and power for Christ. If we embrace the difficulties God sees fit to send our way, and choose to honor Him in the midst of them, we will find our moment of victory in the midst of them. God’s strength is made perfect in our weakness.

What things in my life do I view as burdens? Are there obstacles and things I wish I didn’t have to deal with? Perhaps God is calling me to stand, and I find the call uncomfortable, impractical? Maybe I am standing alone, or learning to trust Him in deeper ways where I have to learn to truly lose faith in sight and rather learn to commit myself unreservedly to Him in the midst of circumstances which would seek to say He is nowhere to be found? Am I tempted to doubt His word, questioning what I have believed Him to have spoken? Stand firm- He is using these very trials to work His perfect will in my life. It is not in comfort and ease that we are made to reflect Christ, but in the purifying heat of the fire. If our hearts are completely His, we have no need to fear- He will show us the way He wants us to walk in.

One thing I read in a devotional, which has been such a blessing and encouragement to me as I have sought to honor God, but have sometimes questioned His voice, is this (And I paraphrase): “As long as we are fully committed to Him, and truly seeking to honor Him in the place we are, He will count Himself responsible for the consequences of leaving us in that same place.” Do I think He has spoken to me, but now am tempted to doubt His voice and back down since the way has become difficult? I must keep myself open and pliable before Him, but also continue down the path I believe He has placed me on, unless or until He shows me otherwise.

We serve such a powerful God, and until we become completely convinced of His presence in our lives, and of His ability to speak directly to us, we miss the blessing of the fullness of what He would do in and through our lives. Let’s not be content with our own reasoning, but let’s press in to know His voice and seek His face with all that we are. If we determine to listen and wait, however long it takes- hours, days, months- in stillness, we will hear His voice. The days ahead will require that we know His voice, lest we fall away and are led astray...

Saturday, 15 August 2009

An Amazing God; An Amazing Week

Wow, my mind has just been overflowing with thoughts of God and the things He has done this week. I went to North Carolina to the youth retreat not knowing at all what to expect or even knowing if I really was interested in being there, but God totally caught me off guard in the mighty ways He moved and completely exceeded all my expectations! We have an awesome, powerful God, and His Spirit is living and active!

My eyes have been opened this week to see how small this physical realm is that we see and how much more important and huge are the battles taking place in the spiritual realm. There were just under 250 youth at the conference, and many youth were freed from the bondage they were in. Some were freed from demons that would trouble and control them, set free from drugs, bitterness, unforgiveness, convicted of selfish love and the need for true agape love. Some had visions, prophesies, the gift of tongues, and some came to know Christ for the first time. I have never sensed the Spirit of God so strongly for that length of time- It was a packed week!

I have felt impressed with the great power of and need for prayer in our lives, not just “normal” prayer, but true, Spirit-led, believing prayer. God is present, and He is much more real than any of the physical circumstances we face. There is nothing that comes our way, no battle that we come up against, that He is not able to conquer. Our God is not hindered by impossibilities; He triumphs over them! But He is wanting to see how serious we are about seeing Him move, how desperate we are for His Spirit, or if we will be content to carry on without Him. So often we settle for our own strength, for relying on the arm of the flesh, rather than casting ourselves fully over to our God in complete trust.

Thursday we went on a hike up to a waterfall in the mountains. We were asked to spend the first hour in prayer and just soaking in God’s creation and turning our hearts towards Him. As we got near the waterfall, we reached a point where we could catch a glimpse of it through the trees and hear the roar of it. It was so beautiful, and I think I could’ve stopped where I was and just enjoyed taking in what I could see from that spot for the rest of the afternoon. I really felt like God challenged me as I began to think of this, that our walk with Him is often that way; We reach a point where we catch a glimpse of the Spirit, see it working and begin soaking it in. We could easily find ourselves staying right where we are and just delighting in that small portion of it, but the full view is just ahead. We have to continue down the path, and eventually we will find ourselves standing at the foot of it, able to take in its splendor in a much fuller way. Even then there is still more; We can actually stand underneath the mighty falls until we feel them overtake our very being. How often am I content with a small glimpse, when God wants me to be completely soaked with His Spirit? We need to press in. We need to not hold back. Are we completely dependent on it? Do we recognize our need? That need is there until we are completely led of the Spirit in our lives, whether we acknowledge it or not. I am acknowledging it and longing for it.

There was so much more that took place this week, but to write of all of it would take a very long time. Let me just say that God touched me in many ways; He brought so much conviction to me, showing me areas I needed to be set free from, challenging me to walk in greater love, forgiveness, prayer... I am so blessed to be a child of God, and am so thankful for all that He has done. We are so undeserving, and yet He has called us from the farthest corners of the earth, calling us His own, redeeming us by His blood...

Lord, may I live my life in true worship of You, living as You desire me to, seeking You with all that I am. Help me to hold nothing back, and to be constantly aware of my total dependence on You... You are awesome, God.