Holy Spirit, You are welcome here. Come flood this place and fill the atmosphere. Your glory, God, is what our hearts long for. To be overcome by your presence, Lord.
Let that be my cry. As I find myself sitting in a desert, I am reminded of all that God is and all that I am not. I question how I got to this place. I question why I'm here. But, I'm humbled and secure in knowing that God placed me here for such a time as this. For in the desert, lessons are learned, promises are remembered, and God is revealed. So, I will rejoice in the desert. For where I am weak, he proves Himself to be faithful and unchanging.
"God creates out of nothing, therefore, until a man becomes nothing, He can create nothing in him." Martin Luther
You make beautiful things; You make beautiful things out of dust. You make beautiful things; You make beautiful things out of us...
God's grabbing my attention. He's sending me a wake up call. He wants to speak to me, but I don't know that I'm letting Him. Well, He's convicted me. I'm coming clean. I'm asking for forgiveness. I'm pleading for strength to be able to change. He's definitely grabbed my attention.
"God is a consuming fire; not to consume us, but to consume all that is in us." Pastor Billy; Hebrews 12:28
What a picture that paints. God doesn't want to consume us; He wants to consume what's corrupting us on the inside; He wants to destroy our fleshly desires so we remain rested in Him. I was reminded of that promise, tonight. God doesn't put us in any situation He doesn't think we can handle. He doesn't want us to become defeated or destroyed. In fact, He wishes the opposite. He promises to give us a hope and a future; an abundant life, lacking nothing (Jeremiah 29:11). The problem is, we don't allow Him to. The things of the world seem so pleasing. They seem so attainable and permanent. But they aren't permanent at all. They are so very temporary. Life is like a vapor, here one minute and gone the next; (James 4:14) so, why please the world? Why give into what the world tempts us with? Ugh. I wish it wasn't that easy!
Well, God knew it wouldn't be easy. In fact, He knew it would be impossible for us to live a perfectly, holy life. So, He sent a sacrifice for us (John 3:16). And, because of that sacrifice, in the desert, grace is given. I am so thankful God is a God of second, and third, and fourth, (and a hundred...) chances. While it's important to remember that grace is for falling and it isn't for jumping, it's reassuring to know that grace is freely given. There is no where I can go that will be outside of my Father's love. He will embrace me; He will cherish me; He will love me; He will teach me; He will lead me; He will break me; He will stretch me. He will continue to do all of these things to keep me humble and conscious that I am who I am because He is who He is.
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