How do we as Christians make sure we are “venturing forth into the interior” of our being in the time of winter, in the time of crisis? I believe it is by the ‘heart work’ we do as we love the Lord during the time of blossoming. When we are in a time of rest and non-crisis, as we develop the relationship with the Lord through the Spirit, we are preparing ourselves for a time when we must call on Him. We are preparing for a time when He is all we are going to have.
This may seem a little off subject, but hang with me. I have been bothered lately by songs of the faith which are asking the Lord to do something such as make me a vessel of your love. My problem is that He has already done everything needed to make this happen. All that is necessary for this to happen is for me receive His gift and let Him live in and through me. I was listening to a CD titled Songs by Rich Mullins (one of my favorite artists) the other day. As I listened to the song, Hold Me Jesus, I realized I was not bothered by this type of song anymore. I realized it is a way of calling to God in affirmation of what he has already done. As we as Christians love Him and cry out to Him in Prayer, Song and Worship we are building that relationship, because He is faithful and will hold us as we come to Him. Look at the words below or get a copy of the song, and see what I mean.
Hold Me Jesus by Rich Mullins
Well, sometimes my life just don't make sense at all
When the mountains look so big
And my faith just seems so small
So hold me Jesus, 'cause I'm shaking like a leaf
You have been King of my glory
Won't You be my Prince of Peace
And I wake up in the night and feel the dark
It's so hot inside my soul
I swear there must be blisters on my heart
So hold me Jesus, 'cause I'm shaking like a leaf
You have been King of my glory
Won't You be my Prince of Peace
More tomorrow or the next day.
Grace and Peace
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Monday, June 16, 2008
Winter in our lives - Part 3
Final Steps in Christian Maturity Madame Jeanne Guyon
Continuing on in the Chapter, “The Blessedness of Winter!”
“Grace operates in your life in exactly the same way. God will take away the leaves. Something will cause them to fall. The outward virtue will collapse. He does this that he may strengthen the principle of the virtue. The source of virtue must be built up. Something deep within the soul is still functioning. Somewhere within the spirit the functions that are the highest (in God’s estimation) have never rested. What is going on is exceedingly hidden. It is humble.
What is happening is pure love.
What is going on in the inmost parts is absolute abandonment and contempt of self. The inward man is making progress. The soul is venturing forth into the interior.
. . . If you dare the spiritual pilgrimage, you need to remember in times of calamity, and in times of what appear to be dry spells, in that time which men will call a spiritual winter: Life is there.”
Amen! Tomorrow I will provide my own thoughts on this writing.
Grace and Peace
Continuing on in the Chapter, “The Blessedness of Winter!”
“Grace operates in your life in exactly the same way. God will take away the leaves. Something will cause them to fall. The outward virtue will collapse. He does this that he may strengthen the principle of the virtue. The source of virtue must be built up. Something deep within the soul is still functioning. Somewhere within the spirit the functions that are the highest (in God’s estimation) have never rested. What is going on is exceedingly hidden. It is humble.
What is happening is pure love.
What is going on in the inmost parts is absolute abandonment and contempt of self. The inward man is making progress. The soul is venturing forth into the interior.
. . . If you dare the spiritual pilgrimage, you need to remember in times of calamity, and in times of what appear to be dry spells, in that time which men will call a spiritual winter: Life is there.”
Amen! Tomorrow I will provide my own thoughts on this writing.
Grace and Peace
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Winter in our lives - Part 2
Please review the comments from Part 1 for some refreshing additions to my writing.
We start with the question asked at the end of the last post.
“But has the tree actually changed?
Not at all. Everything is exactly as it was before. Everything is as it has always been! It is just that the leaves are no longer there to hide what is real. The beauty of the outward life of the leaves had only hidden what had always been present.
The same is true of you. The same is true of all believers. We can each look so beautiful . . . until life disappears! Then, no matter who, the Christian is revealed as full of defects. As the Lord works on you to produce purification, you will appear stripped of all your virtues! But, in the tree, there is life inside; and, as the tree, you are not actually becoming worse, you are simply seeing yourself for what you really are! Know that somewhere deep within the tree of winter there is still life that produced last spring’s beautiful leaves.
. . . That tree is actually undergoing and submitting to a process which preserves its life and strengthens the tree! After all, what does winter do to a tree? It contracts the tree’s exterior. The life deep within is no longer uselessly expended! Its life, rather, is concentrated within the deepest part of the trunk and in the hidden portions of the root. The life is forced deeper and deeper into the inmost part of the tree.
Final part tomorrow.
We start with the question asked at the end of the last post.
“But has the tree actually changed?
Not at all. Everything is exactly as it was before. Everything is as it has always been! It is just that the leaves are no longer there to hide what is real. The beauty of the outward life of the leaves had only hidden what had always been present.
The same is true of you. The same is true of all believers. We can each look so beautiful . . . until life disappears! Then, no matter who, the Christian is revealed as full of defects. As the Lord works on you to produce purification, you will appear stripped of all your virtues! But, in the tree, there is life inside; and, as the tree, you are not actually becoming worse, you are simply seeing yourself for what you really are! Know that somewhere deep within the tree of winter there is still life that produced last spring’s beautiful leaves.
. . . That tree is actually undergoing and submitting to a process which preserves its life and strengthens the tree! After all, what does winter do to a tree? It contracts the tree’s exterior. The life deep within is no longer uselessly expended! Its life, rather, is concentrated within the deepest part of the trunk and in the hidden portions of the root. The life is forced deeper and deeper into the inmost part of the tree.
Final part tomorrow.
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Winter in our lives - Part 1
I was reading a book I picked up titled Final Steps in Christian Maturity by Madame Jeanne Guyon and in Chapter 2, The Blessedness of Winter!, these words seemed to make me think.
“I see the season of winter as an excellent example of the transforming work of the Lord in a Christian’s life. When winter comes, the vegetable world, it seems to me, reflects the image of the purifying which god does in order to remove imperfections from the life of one of his children.
As cold comes on the wings of a winter storm, the trees gradually begin to lose their leaves. The green is soon changed into a funeral brown; soon the leaves fall away and die. Behold the tree’s appearance now! It looks stripped and desolate. Behold the loss of summer’s beautiful garment. What happens as you look upon that poor tree? You see a revelation.
Under the beautiful leaves there had been all sorts of irregularities and defects. The defects had been invisible because of the beautiful leaves. Now those defects are startlingly revealed! The tree is no longer beautiful in its surface appearance. But has the tree actually changed?”
Stayed tuned until tomorrow to read how this illustration becomes a matter of life for the believer.
“I see the season of winter as an excellent example of the transforming work of the Lord in a Christian’s life. When winter comes, the vegetable world, it seems to me, reflects the image of the purifying which god does in order to remove imperfections from the life of one of his children.
As cold comes on the wings of a winter storm, the trees gradually begin to lose their leaves. The green is soon changed into a funeral brown; soon the leaves fall away and die. Behold the tree’s appearance now! It looks stripped and desolate. Behold the loss of summer’s beautiful garment. What happens as you look upon that poor tree? You see a revelation.
Under the beautiful leaves there had been all sorts of irregularities and defects. The defects had been invisible because of the beautiful leaves. Now those defects are startlingly revealed! The tree is no longer beautiful in its surface appearance. But has the tree actually changed?”
Stayed tuned until tomorrow to read how this illustration becomes a matter of life for the believer.
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Our Time In History
I have the wonderful privilege of meeting with a group of men (Men of Risk) every Tuesday morning for coffee, breakfast (sometimes), prayer, fellowship, and Bible study. This morning I was sharing how in the last week or so it seemed the Lord was orchestrating some things in my life. When I got to work later, I looked up and read this little note a friend of mine gave me. He had found it on a box of cards he had bought the night before. It touched me when he first gave it to me and deeply touched me this morning.
"God goes before you today and His presence is with you. He has a lifefor you to live, a plan for you to follow, and a purpose for you tofulfill. He has allowed you to be here, at this time in history, to beHis watchman to this generation."
Roy Lessin, Co-founder Dayspring Cards
It also became very real to me about not only is He going before us and His presence is with us - He is in us. He has given us His life and from this He is orchestrating our lives for His glory. A new prayer I have been praying: Thank you, Lord, for infusing my obedience with your glory. As I respond to His life in me, His glory is fulfilled in my life. Amen.
Gal. 2:20. I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (NIV)
What a wonderful paradox. I am dead, but yet I live.
"God goes before you today and His presence is with you. He has a lifefor you to live, a plan for you to follow, and a purpose for you tofulfill. He has allowed you to be here, at this time in history, to beHis watchman to this generation."
Roy Lessin, Co-founder Dayspring Cards
It also became very real to me about not only is He going before us and His presence is with us - He is in us. He has given us His life and from this He is orchestrating our lives for His glory. A new prayer I have been praying: Thank you, Lord, for infusing my obedience with your glory. As I respond to His life in me, His glory is fulfilled in my life. Amen.
Gal. 2:20. I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (NIV)
What a wonderful paradox. I am dead, but yet I live.
Monday, May 12, 2008
Obedience - Part 4 (Final)
In closing I must reiterate what I have said before, my writing on obedience is personal. Each one of us needs to review our lives and actions during it to see if we are being obedient to Him and His leading.
I was touched by what Jenny commented on for the last post. She wrote: “Also I'm touched that obedience was worked out in the Godhead first. The Son became obedient to the Father. This obedience is therefore divine - eternal, indestructible and incorruptible, yet we can partake of it.” I say, Amen.
As we come to the last post on obedience I would like to close with a quote from Murray which shows the way to obedience and by it we can become partakers of Jesus’ example.
He wrote, “The secret of true obedience, I believe, is a clear and close personal relationship to God. All our attempts to achieve full obedience will fail until we have access to His abiding fellowship. It is God’s holy presence, consciously abiding with us, that keeps us from disobeying Him. Imperfect obedience is the result of a life that is lacking. To defend our life by arguments and faulty motives will only make us feel the need of a more committed life, one that is entirely under the power of God, iin which place obedience becomes natural. A life of broken and spasmodic fellowship with God must be healed to make way for a full and healthy life of obedience. The secret of true obedience, then is the return to close and continual fellowship with God.” Page 34
And finally he writes, “Our Lord, who learned obedience by waiting every moment to see and hear the Father, has a great lesson to teach us: It is only when, like Him, with Him, in and through Him, we continually walk with God and hear His voice that we can possibly attempt to offer God the obedience He asks." Page 37
Andrew Murray – The Life of Obedience - From the chapter titled The Secret of True Obedience
Amen, my prayer from this sharing on obedience is for each of us to become so ‘in love’ with our Lord, that the only thing we want is to show this love by waiting on Him and obeying His leading.
I was touched by what Jenny commented on for the last post. She wrote: “Also I'm touched that obedience was worked out in the Godhead first. The Son became obedient to the Father. This obedience is therefore divine - eternal, indestructible and incorruptible, yet we can partake of it.” I say, Amen.
As we come to the last post on obedience I would like to close with a quote from Murray which shows the way to obedience and by it we can become partakers of Jesus’ example.
He wrote, “The secret of true obedience, I believe, is a clear and close personal relationship to God. All our attempts to achieve full obedience will fail until we have access to His abiding fellowship. It is God’s holy presence, consciously abiding with us, that keeps us from disobeying Him. Imperfect obedience is the result of a life that is lacking. To defend our life by arguments and faulty motives will only make us feel the need of a more committed life, one that is entirely under the power of God, iin which place obedience becomes natural. A life of broken and spasmodic fellowship with God must be healed to make way for a full and healthy life of obedience. The secret of true obedience, then is the return to close and continual fellowship with God.” Page 34
And finally he writes, “Our Lord, who learned obedience by waiting every moment to see and hear the Father, has a great lesson to teach us: It is only when, like Him, with Him, in and through Him, we continually walk with God and hear His voice that we can possibly attempt to offer God the obedience He asks." Page 37
Andrew Murray – The Life of Obedience - From the chapter titled The Secret of True Obedience
Amen, my prayer from this sharing on obedience is for each of us to become so ‘in love’ with our Lord, that the only thing we want is to show this love by waiting on Him and obeying His leading.
Friday, May 2, 2008
Obedience - Part 3
The idea of obedience to the will of the Lord or leading of the Holy Spirit (which in my estimation is one in the same, but not always received the same) is not one for using to measure other Christians. However, I believe it is a measurement we should each use individually to understand our own love of the Lord. I believe it is an indicator of how much we are maturing in our faith. If we are becoming obedient in aspects of our lives as Jesus was obedient then we are growing.
As Murray points out, in the book we are discussing, in chapter 2, The Obedience of Christ, the scripture Romans 5:19 is one to study and learn about Christ’s obedience. It says, “For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous.”
He goes on to state in the same chapter, “The object of Christ’s life of obedience was threefold:
- as our example, to show us what true obedience was;
- as our surety, by His obedience to fulfill all righteousness for us;
- as our head, to prepare a new and obedient nature to impart to us.
And so He died to show us that full obedience is a readiness to obey to the uttermost, even to die for God.” Page 25
Later he writes, “To know what obedience is, consider how the obedience of Christ is the secret of our righteousness and our salvation. Obedience is the very essence of that righteousness. Obedience results in our salvation. His obedience, first of all to be accepted, trusted, and rejoiced in, as covering and making an end of my disobedience, is the one unchanging, never-to-be-forsaken ground of my acceptance. . . . Christ’s obedience becomes the life-power of my new nature.” Page 26
As Murray points out, in the book we are discussing, in chapter 2, The Obedience of Christ, the scripture Romans 5:19 is one to study and learn about Christ’s obedience. It says, “For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous.”
He goes on to state in the same chapter, “The object of Christ’s life of obedience was threefold:
- as our example, to show us what true obedience was;
- as our surety, by His obedience to fulfill all righteousness for us;
- as our head, to prepare a new and obedient nature to impart to us.
And so He died to show us that full obedience is a readiness to obey to the uttermost, even to die for God.” Page 25
Later he writes, “To know what obedience is, consider how the obedience of Christ is the secret of our righteousness and our salvation. Obedience is the very essence of that righteousness. Obedience results in our salvation. His obedience, first of all to be accepted, trusted, and rejoiced in, as covering and making an end of my disobedience, is the one unchanging, never-to-be-forsaken ground of my acceptance. . . . Christ’s obedience becomes the life-power of my new nature.” Page 26
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