Desire Me

You long for peace and for blessing. Your heart must seek mine. Your decisions will be the right ones if you commit them to me and desire me before anything else. Place your will on my altar as your most precious offering. I gave up my will for you when I died for you. Now I long for yours to be given in love. Now I seek yours. Trust that what I shall do is best for you. Believe that I am powerful enough to do anything and everything. Believe that nothing is impossible in my hand. Then leave all with me with thanksgiving in your heart. Give me your tired heart, your struggles, your hard days, your thoughts, your whole being.....all in you that yearns to be free. Be confident of my safety and complete protection. When you give all to me, I am the Lord of your future. It is in my hand. You cannot see it, but you can trust me for it.  Right now, child, if you could see all of the future, it would either be too painful or too amazing for you to comprehend its importance in your life at this point. I will reveal it as I determine. But remember that nothing will ever be too much that I will not provide a way of escape or give you the strength to handle. I own your future. Have faith that I have loved you with my everlasting love and drawn you in my unfailing kindness. If you accept my heart and my will, you will know joy. You will know peace when I have all your life in my hands. Look to me the author and the finisher of your faith. Allow me to be all in you, and your heart will be free.

Matthew 6:33

Proverbs 16:3

Luke 22:42

Luke 1:37

Hebrews 13:8

Zephaniah 3:17

Psalm 62:11

Philippians 4:6-7

Revelation 22:13

Isaiah 41:13

I Corinthians 13:9-12

1 Corinthians 10:13

Jeremiah 31:3

Philippians 1:6

II Corinthians 3:17

MY HOUSE

“By wisdom a house is built, and through understanding it is established; through knowledge its rooms are filled with rare and beautiful treasures” (Proverbs 24:3-4).

Our spiritual lives are starved for the advice this proverb gives. We may not acknowledge it, but it is true. Without God's wisdom to build my life... without His understanding which grounds my life....without His knowledge which fills my life with His purpose..... my life is indeed empty. “Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the guards stand watch in vain” (Psalm 127:1). Unless I allow Him to spiritually grow in me, my efforts at life will have little meaning. I will fail. Unless I allow the Lord to guide and watch over my life, my efforts will be in vain. I don't want my life to be like a spiritually empty house. I can't build me. Only He can.

When I surrender all my efforts at running my life, and allow Him to build it, my spiritual life changes. I have a hunger for His direction instead of my own. I yearn for my life to be filled with knowledge from His Word. I seek His spiritual understanding of the Word so my life may be grounded. When I apply what I have learned through knowledge from the Word....when I apply what I have understood through His revelation of its meaning, then I act on what I know. I apply His wisdom. I have spiritually grown and gained a heart of wisdom (Psalm 90:12). My house is built.

Just as there are in so many verses in the Word, this scripture in Proverbs 24 gives a promise. If I do my part, He will do His. If I allow Him to own me completely, my spiritual life will be filled with His rare and beautiful treasures. He will impart to me things beyond my own understanding and knowledge. He will fill my life with joy in His purpose. I shall receive the rare and beautiful treasure of His Spirit empowering my life to heights in His purpose with a passion that is beyond anything I ever imagined. My rooms shall be filled to be emptied no more.

I FORGIVE

I pray, Lord God, that you would heal all relationships in our lives life that need healing. Teach us that the healing in a relationship starts within a person that can be molded by the Holy Spirit. That should be me, Lord!  I can’t change another person's heart, but I can forgive the one who is angry with me. I can pray for words to say that brings healing to a broken and hurting life. You can show me that one thing that will pull down the strongholds in a life–that one thing that can start your healing. Reveal to me my own strongholds so that I may not judge another for theirs.

Some are so hurt by those they love. They have been injured by painful actions or unnecessary words. Lord, Jesus, it is how I react to those injuries that will bring healing or more division. It is how I pray–it is how I listen to your direction–it is about my will being open to your precious leading–that speaks life instead of death. How I respond to injury and pain caused by others, speaks what I really have inside my heart.  

Lord Jesus, for all who suffer from pain caused by someone that they haven’t hurt, I ask for your eyes, ears, and understanding to see what they are meant to be. Give them your love. For those who have hurt others, and asked forgiveness, and have not been able to mend those relationships, I ask for your love to be greater that the pain of their rejection.  Lord, there is healing in you and you alone. 

Lord, I am on your altar this morning asking for us to be made over… giving you our pain caused by anyone who has injured…giving you bitterness that has taken root… giving you the rejection that pushes us away… giving you the walls we have erected trying to hold back the pain. Take those walls down so you can come in, Holy Spirit, and we can be free to walk in your forgiveness. We can be free to be all you have called us to be. Where you spirit is, there is freedom!

Now we can have healing. Then we will know and really understand the power of your sacrifice and in your resurrection. Only in you is life. May the power of your word and your love create light within our hearts. Today, we commit ours heart to loving those who have held our hearts in bondage. Today, we claim freedom for not only for ourselves, but also for those who have hurt us.

If I trust you to do a work in my heart, Lord, I can know the miracle of your forgiveness. But Lord, I must make the decision, and I must be the catalyst. Praise you, Lord, for your power and love that gives me life today. I step forward trusting believing, knowing, and trusting that the forgiveness I give will be rewarded with your peace and release from the pain that has claimed my life. I forgive.

In His name,

Amen

STAYING OUT OF THE WELL

In my weakness, He is strong. When I am weak in an area of my life and I surrender my weakness to His power, He comes and makes me strong where I have never known His strength. Often that surrender comes after I have exhausted everything I can do to make a change. It comes when I finally understand in my heart and mind and spirit, that the control is not meant to be mine. If my weakness is over something that I have no control, then the Holy Spirit brings me the power to have His control. But the key... the very key to this promise comes in surrender of my will to His will.

If I think I am a person who has completely surrendered my will to the Lord in every area, I need to look again. I need to understand that absolutely surrendering my control to His control comes when I am at the bottom.... when all my attempts have failed. I hear in my ear from the enemy, “you will never get on top of this” and “you are a failure.” I will never get on top of it in my own strength. I will fail without His power in my life. Those whispers of the enemy are true only if I don't surrender and allow God to make the changes that need to be made.

When I am at the bottom the only way is up. I can either keep trying to climb out of that well by myself, or I can give up and let God extend His hand to me. It is in the dying to my will that He comes and brings new life. It is absolutely possible for me to find a way out of that well in my own strength, but I will only end up at the bottom again. When I finally understand that nothing I attempt in my own strength will make a lasting difference....when I surrender (often struggling) every day to God.... when I decide that nothing has the power to change me but God.... when I let go of my own control, and allow Him to give me what I need for the daily battle, THEN, I WILL STAY OUT OF THAT WELL.

Each day when I have surrendered and He has brought me out of the well, I KNOW He is strong, and I KNOW that I am weak. I pray to know it the next day and the next. The well always beckons, but so does He. I would rather surrender to Him than surrender to the well.

Lord, help me to always realize that surrendering my will and life life daily to you is the only real life. Your life in me is the greatest paradox.... that in dying I live... in losing control, I discover control, and in letting go of my way, I find yours. In my weakness, I discover your strength. Those slippery walls that have always allowed me to slide right back to the bottom of the well are finally scaled with your power! In my weakness, I have found your strength. I look back upon my well from your heights, and declare today that only you will keep me out of it.

Only Work in His Love Remains

“If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal” (1 Corinthians 13:1).

God is love. What is done in His love remains. The recognition of man that demands attention–the honor given to the one who speaks with the tongues of men and of angels.... none of it remains. It is worthless if it lacks God's love. Consider how a simple word of love or a loving gesture can inspire a heart, while words spoken without thought or regard can damage a heart. Is what I say or do inspired by love or by a selfish need?

Then there is the work that is done in His name. Is it inspired by His love? It is vain and useless if it isn't. If we could only see how wasted is much of what we do in His name, and not even recognized by Him. If we rid ourselves of our selfish need for recognition, and rid our hearts of all that is not born of His love, then who we are and what we do in His name will be lasting. It will remain.

“And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love” (1 Corinthians 13:13).

LIVE ME

"The world has heard about me," He whispers to me. "What it needs is to know me. My children speak about me and try to share me with others, but they are surprised that their words have little impact. They are only words about me. They are not my words living through you.

"The world needs to see me in your life. It doesn't need to hear about my power, but it needs to experience it through you. It doesn't need to hear about my peace, but it needs to see it alive in your life. It needs to see your calm and faith, no matter what the circumstances. It doesn't need to hear about my joy, but it needs to see joy spring up from depths of sure faith in my faithfulness to you. It doesn't need to just hear of my love, but it needs to experience my love through you.

"Live me, and the world will see me in you. They may accept or reject me, but they will have experienced my power in you. It is not your place to save. It is your place to live what I have done in your life. Be my vessel, and I will do the work."

GOD IS

In the midst of your storm is exactly where God is. He is the fourth man in your fire, and the strength that holds your arm high above the battle that wages. He is the living water that quenches your thirst in your desert place. He is your constant anchor when all around in your life rages on. He is your greatest counselor and friend when others have turned away. He is your song when no one else is singing. He is your promise and victory!

 ^"So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised" (Hebrews 10:35-36)

The Heart Healed and Changed by Mercy

William Cowper was an English poet, who along with John Newton (the author of Amazing Grace), wrote a work called the Olney Hymns between 1763 and 1775. In the summer of 2012, I discovered in Cowper's English garden a tiny buidling where he would escape to write. This tiny spot in this English setting inspires me. The picture of this small structure is shown as the cover picture for my devotional page. Within its small space, Cowper found inspiration. “The Heart Healed and Changed by Mercy” is one of his poems in the Olney Hymns.

Sin enslaved me many years,
And led me bound and blind;
Till at length a thousand fears
Came swarming o'er my mind.
"Where," said I, in deep distress,
"Will these sinful pleasures end?
How shall I secure my peace
And make the Lord my friend?"
Friends and ministers said much
The gospel to enforce;
But my blindness still was such,
I chose a legal course:
Much I fasted, watch'd, and strove,
Scarce would shew my face abroad,
Fear'd almost to speak or move,
A stranger still to God.
Thus afraid to trust His grace,
Long time did I rebel;
Till despairing of my case,
Down at His feet I fell:
Then my stubborn heart He broke,
And subdued me to His sway;
By a simple word He spoke,
"Thy sins are done away."

HIS PLAN.....GREATER THAN MY FAILURE

“Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and he will establish your plans” (Proverbs 16:3). God knows my heart, and He knows that any decision I make I will give to Him. I yearn for my plan to be His plan, and if it is not, I pray that He changes it. I want to be grounded in Him. I can do all things through Him. He gives me the strength for this day and for the next. I move ahead in His will, and then without warning.... I fail.

I often forget that when I fail, I don't “own” that failure. It belongs to Him. Everything that I am belongs to Him, so my failure also belongs to Him. But I must give it to Him. He understands where my failure began, and I know that He alone can make it right. Because I love Him, and my heart longs to follow only His will, He takes my failure and reclaims me. He is my Lord, and I will rejoice in His promise of restoration.

 Thankfully, I don't own His plan, and I don't own my failure. Today I step forward from doubt caused by failure, and move forward in faith in Him.  I see His plan alive in my life. One step, and one day at a time brings His reward.

Prayer Intimacy

Why don't some Christians turn right away to God when their burdens grow overwhelming? One would think that God would be their first avenue for relief, but often He isn't. Perhaps He hasn't answered prayers in the past the way they wished. Perhaps it is because they don't feel His presence, and they are afraid to try again. Perhaps that time of prayer, which had once been like a close friend, now seems so old and distant. Whatever the reason, they feel alone and separated by a wall that has grown in its immensity.

God is still there, and however large the wall, it can come down. One chink in that forbidding structure, and it can tumble into pieces. One prayer from a heart-worn cry of the spirit, and the barrier is gone. We might not know what to pray, but the cry of the spirit does. “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express” (Romans 8:26). It is in surrender of myself to God.... it is in the surrender of my spirit to His spirit, when no words can express the pain in my heart, that I finally release my pain to God. In that spirit-to-spirit closeness, there comes a peace that passes earthly understanding (Philippians 4:6-7). I am protected, and loved completely. I am safe in His presence.

If it has been awhile since you have prayed from the heart, He is still there. If it has been awhile since you felt His presence in prayer, He is still there. If it has been awhile since your heart has known one-on-one, spirit-to-spirit release, He is still there. Prayer is like an old friend who has never tired of the delay, but has waited patiently for you to discover the joy of release in that friendship once more. That precious friendship returns when you once again open the pain in your heart to the Holy Spirit. In that moment of intimate release, you know Him as He has always known you.... completely and as one.