“Wait time for this ride: 45 Mins”

I’m not a great “wait-er”.  Have you been to Disney or Universal and have you seen those signs??  Right off the bat , I feel like it’s too hard.  I can’t stand there that long!!  My kids will go bonkers!! Chaos will ensue and I will lose control of everything!  ( See what I mean??)

Maybe this is another way to say that in my flesh, I have been known to struggle with impatience.   I want things done right “now”… the way I think they need to be done and I really don’t want anyone arguing with me about it, if it’s something I am “in charge” of.  Here’s the thing, I am not really as much “in charge” of stuff as I might think I am (lol) so occasionally this is problematic for me.

Early in my walk one of the most difficult things to do, for me, was to “sit still” in God’s presence, and  just learn to listen for  His voice.   It took some maturing, and unfortunately some “bruising” in my heart from poor decisions made in the flesh,  to learn that if I never shut up, I can’t hear Him talking to me about things. If I can’t hear God because I am always talking, then I can’t hear His still small voice that encourages me, and convicts me of things that He wants to change in me.   The result is, that I end up not really being who He wants me to be. Maybe I miss out on something in my transformation process that He wants me to grab hold of.  Maybe He has insight for me that I miss.  If I miss out on these things, I end up not being as useful in His kingdom as He would like.  I don’t want that to happen.

Another  “not so fun” thing that happens as a result of not being able to linger in His presence, is that there are certain blessings we get when we spend concentrated time with Him that we need in order to function well spiritually.  I love Isaiah 40:31 because it is a reminder of something that happens when we spend time in God’s presence, waiting on Him to speak:

 Yet those who wait for the LORD Will gain new strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles, They will run and not get tired, They will walk and not become weary.  

 Spending time with God gives us strength.  We have “soaring” ability (His power) , and we have stamina and can persevere and not become weary or give up! It makes sense to me that more time with Him would mean more blessing.   I definitely know that less time means less of these blessings. I have been guilty of that.

What if we face something scary or really difficult?  We all know that life presents those types of challenges.   For children of God who can quiet themselves and linger in His presence, we have this promise to circle in Psalm 27:14…

Wait on the LORD: He will give you courage, and He will strengthen your heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.

What I see here is the encouragement twice, in one verse, to wait upon the Lord.  If it’s repeated twice in the same verse, it’s probably important.   Right?

IF we wait in His presence, spending time listening, reading His word, quietly waiting on Him to speak- THEN we have courage, and a strong heart…  and the power and stamina mentioned in Isaiah as well!

There is more to this journey than just saying “ Ok I am going to do this thing for God!  GO!”  The “GO” part is so important.  But, if I miss the “Stay with Me for a while first” part, I don’t have what it takes to do the “GO!” very well.   I lose steam. I get discouraged.  I feel disheartened and maybe like giving up.  I can only do the things He wants me to, the WAY He wants me to do them, in HIS power- not my own.  My own is not enough.

Do you struggle with any of this?   Is there something that prevents you from continuing in a strong walk with God?   Wait in His presence and ask Him to open your heart to hear His whisper.  It may come from His word… He may use another believer in your life, it might be just a gentle encouragement He drops into your heart. It might even come from a worship song played at JUST the right time (It has happened to me!) The point is, He knows JUST how to speak to you.  But if we lack time with Him, we won’t recognize His voice when He speaks.

Father, give us the desire to just be with You.  We need to make time for You. We need to make more time to spend in Your word, thinking about Your love, asking for help and guidance and then making sure we are listening for your reply.  Give us a renewed hunger and thirst for more of You, Jesus.  Give us better “heart-hearing” and help us to  be more  diligent and faithful in our relationship with You.  Thank You for loving us SO much!  In Your Name I pray- Amen.

 

 

 

 

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It’s easy to halve the potato where there’s love. – Irish Proverb

With St. Patrick’s day coming up tomorrow, this stuck out at me because- it is what is on my heart lately.  It’s easy to share when you are full of the spirit of sharing, and this generous spirit  is rooted and established in one thing.  Love.

I recently experienced something in my walk with the Lord that made me feel very “dried up” in my spirit and heart…  we refer to those times as “desert” experiences.  This is biblical, and accurately describes where we are, sometimes.  God’s word no longer speaks to us. We feel “out of the loop” spiritually and emotionally.  If you are prone to depression, it can leave you feeling depressed or anxious. It is in those times we must cling to what we know is truth- God loves me and He will lead me out of the dry arid places. He did this for His son, and He will do it for me as well.

When God led Jesus into the desert, (read about it in Matthew 4, verses 1-11) each time the enemy tempted Him to sin- Jesus was immediately able to rebuke and defeat Him with scripture.  This is the example we have, to go by. We are to do it like that.  Jesus was SO full of God because He WAS God .  He felt our human emotions and pain and fear- and was tempted to provide /protect/take care of Himself and not trust God – but He was full of the strength He needed  in His Father, to do the job.  He really was rooted and established in Love, and He was filled with the fullness of God.  (See Ephesians 3:14-19)

Here is my question.  What if we, as humans, find ourselves in the desert, unable to resist the enemy?  What if we find ourselves so lost, so dried up, so “at the end of ourselves” that we just feel like we want to  give up and let satan have the win,  even though we REALLY want to obey God?  For me, I am much like the apostle Paul when he says in Romans 7 “ the thing that I don’t want to do is the VERY thing I keep doing!! and the thing I NEED to do, I DON’T do! I don’t understand myself at all.”  Paul was referring to the sinful nature here… and that is certainly part of our issue in obeying the Lord.  But… what if there is a deeper issue that we can’t even see fully?

We know God’s word tells us to love others, give unselfishly, serve God zealously and persevere joyfully.   I don’t know about you, but there are times when I just feel like … I can’t.  I want to, but I can’t.  God’s word says I must, but something stops me and I end up doing the very thing I don’t want to do – sin and disobey.

God showed me in my recent desert experience, that in our humanity, sometimes there is damage done to our spirits that satan wants to continue using against us to keep us from fulfilling our purpose in  God’s Kingdom. This infuriates me!!  It infuriates me because my heart wants to do what my Father tells me is best!  Satan, somewhere in the tangled mess of my past, has convinced me that … I can’t.  So as an adult, I want to- but my heart is too broken to allow it. I might find myself in the desert, being tempted, and unable to resist the enemy. Unable to resist the enemy, I am lost and wandering.  God never leaves my side-and He wants to lead me out of the desert-  but I can’t see Him or hear Him.

Not everyone will understand this. If you come from a fairly stable, loving, encouraging background, it is sometimes  somehow possible to talk yourself into obedience.  I love that and want to be like that.  God showed me that sometimes healing has to come into the picture before I operate like that as much as He wants me to.  Sometimes, before we can give of ourselves, we have to be cleaned out and filled up with Love so that we have something to give away.  It’s there for us… but we have to be “freed up” to access it.  Until we seek God’s help, and begin to sort through the “muck”, we are left in bondage and not useful for service like God intends. This is satan’s plan for you and for me.  However, it is not God’s plan.

Romans 8:28 assures us that whatever happens to us will be used for God’s glory.  Whatever that “thing” is in your past that hurt you and wounded your heart and stays with you- was satan trying to rob you of your future fullness in Christ. Don’t let the enemy have what is God’s.   God will take that thing and use it for HIS glory, if we commit it to Him.  Seek Him in prayer today and ask Him to reveal the thing to your heart.  He is the Healer.   He is willing and able to fix it – and fill you to the fullest measure of Himself.  He will ground and establish you in Love so that you have more than enough to give away.   This is God’s plan for you,  and for me.  As Beth Moore says, “ God is not done with the trial until you come away from it with your arms FULL of treasures!”  Praying for all of you, today.

Cheryl

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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