Thursday, June 30, 2011

You Have Been Like A Boat On Dry Ground

From my kitchen I could hear this sound like the garage door opener engaging and disengaging repeatedly.  I looked out the door to the garage to see my husband trying to get the weed-eater to start.  The sound I heard was his frustrated efforts, intense in vainly pulling the starter cord repeatedly, and he seemed to be expending so much energy in his futile attempt.  I went to console him a bit and suggested he ask the Holy Spirit to help him with the task.
I breathe a short prayer on his behalf as I went back into the house.  I returned to my project of cleaning out one of the file cabinets in the lower level and found a note Father gave me some time ago:

 'As you have sought me, as you have desired me, as you have cried out for me, I will come to you.  I will   sweep you up into my presence.  I have come for you. I have come to take you unto myself.  I will sweep you into a new place in me.

You have been like a boat on dry ground, but now, even now, my Spirit and the fullness of my presence will overflow your dry ground and the river of my presence will cause your boat to float.  The water of my Spirit will overflow your dry ground and cause it to be a river; a river of life...  A river of Living Water.

It is now that I will manifest my Glory and give you the portion reserved for you.  To take you to a new place in the knowledge of my Glory.'

 Have you ever had a hungry, crying baby?  If the perceived delay in receiving what the child is crying for is greater than he can understand, he  will not even realize that the bottle you are trying to place in his mouth is the very thing he is crying for.  The Lord has gifts for us...  love gifts of His Spirit, gifts of His presence, or His grace.  We often work ourselves up to unnecessary levels of distress, while He is present to meet our needs.  You don't have to beg for what He has freely given.

Like my husband's flustered effort to do on his own what seemed like a simple task, I have often tried to do God's work on my own.  Sometimes it seems like a good idea, but in retrospect I realize it is often not a God idea. It seems like such an easy little thing to say something, "in love", only to start a raging fire. Or perhaps all of the doors seem open to accomplish a mission, only to discover at the end of it all that our adversary knows how to open doors also.  God is not put out by our requests, He is the one who wanted to have us as His children in the first place.  He wants to spend time with us and teach us how to be like Himself.  He wants to teach us how to do exploits in Jesus' name.

Sunday, June 26, 2011

Whose Bumper Car Are You In?

When I was young I was very timid.  I used to imagine doing things I was too timid to attempt.  I could hardly see myself even riding a bike.  I was never confrontational, and frankly, I would run rather than fight.

Being the only child in a military family, I escaped many of the normal childhood rites of passage.  I usually moved before too many kids knew I existed.  That was both good and bad... bad because I escaped many of the hard lessons we learn as kids, and good because I escaped some of the hard lessons we learn as kids.

I remember one time when I was about nineteen, some friends and I went to an amusement park.  Everyone wanted to ride the Bumper Cars, everyone but me.  I was afraid of getting into a bumper car alone.  I remember all of my friends each scrambling to get into a car, and I was standing on the floor looking terrified and desperate.  Every time I tried to jump into one of their cars, I was rejected.  I finally forced myself into my date's car.  He was obviously displeased and let me know in no uncertain terms.  I did not seem to mind his reproof, I was safely tucked into the bumper car with him.

Father usually uses life experience analogies to teach me spiritual and life lessons.  One particular time, many years later, I was disappointed because my husband did not want to attend an event with me.  He kept encouraging me to go alone.  "But, I don't want to go alone! I've been doing things alone all of my life!" I sulked and decided to have a pity party, inviting only me, myself and I.  We had planned to take 'martyr pills ' and have 'why me' martinis when this familiar voice began to ask me some questions.  The Voice asked, 'why don't you want to go to the event alone?'  And then a parade of past events, and situations began to flood my memory.  Time and time again, I had tried to hijack someone to drive the bumper car while I hitched a ride.

What was I afraid of? I hadn't realized that fear was lurking there, obscure, in the shadows of my sense of self.  Slowly, I began to see that I was truly insecure within myself.  I could come up with a laundry list of reasons why I couldn't do things on my own.  My gender, my ethnicity, my education... on and on.

Father began to comfort me, but not with a "poor baby" comfort, He told me who I am based on what He created me to be.  He assured me that His was the only standard with which I should measure my value.  He basically said, "I have made you and you are accepted in the Beloved and I set my seal of approval on you." 

Romans 8:31 says it best: So, what do you think? With God on our side like this, how can we lose? If God didn't hesitate to put everything on the line for us, embracing our condition and exposing Himself to the worst by sending His own Son, is there anything else He wouldn't gladly and freely do for us? (The Message)

So, my question for you is: Are you trying to hitch a ride through life in someone else's bumper car?  Take the wheel yourself and invite Father to accompany you~

Friday, June 24, 2011

The Lawn

One day as I stood at my kitchen sink, I looked out the window in front of me admiring the freshly mowed lawn.  It was a bright June day; before the heat of the summer sun had scorched the grass.  The clouds, billowing across the sky, accented the beauty I beheld.

As I admired the scene, I began to hear my Father's voice flowing into my mind.  He seemed to say," Beautiful, isn't it?'   I then realized that I could only admire the beauty of this scene but not partake or experience it.  This realization took me on a life experience analogy.

As long as I just stood there and observed the lawn I was only a spectator.  To experience it I would have to physically stand, walk, run or lie in it.  Then Father said,"Life is like the lawn... You can stand at a distance and observe it and never experience it."  He continued to teach me a principle about the 'lawn of life'.  He said the beauty you see is not the actuality of the experience.  It is an illusion.  From your window it looks perfect, but in reality there are flaws.  The ground is uneven, there are holes dug by snakes, moles and other little animals.  As you walk you must watch your step to keep from falling or injuring yourself.  There are droppings from the pets, often hidden until you happen to step in, or just miss stepping into it.  All of these things are a part of experiencing the lawn.

 He said when you come to a pile of dung, you can step over it, or step in it.  If you step over it, you can continue on and enjoy your experience; if you step in it, even if you are unaware of your misstep, others know immediately.  So, now you have to deal with the dung.  The best thing to do is wash it off as soon as possible. Rubbing it in the grass does not get it off, it amplifies the dung with the smell of grass and dung.

As I compare life to the picture of the lawn, I acknowledged that in life you can be a spectator.  You can sit on the sidelines and admire other people's lives, possessions or their accomplishments, etc.  You can imagine a perfection that does not exist.  To experience life, you have to get out and live it.  There are some things out there that can trip you up, things that can cause you pain, but some things you need to just step over and keep walking.  To be sure, there will be times when you step in it... It's smells bad, but it is not the end of the world.  Get cleaned up and go at it again.

Father has always made it clear that no matter what I find myself in, He has all of the answers to get me out if I just ask for His help.

The Love of God

John 3:16 Ampl. For God so greatly loved  and  dearly prized the world that He [even] gave up His only begotten (unique) Son, so that whoeve...