The Necessity of Abandonment and Acceptance

And He was saying, "Abba! Father! All things are possible for You; remove this cup from Me; yet not what I will, but what You will." Mark 14:36 (New American Standard Bible)

Frances J. Roberts wrote that joy is possessed by “the abandonment of selfish demands and the acceptance of the Father’s will.” Jesus simply stated it this way to His Father, “Not what I will, but what You will.” They are words I desire to speak but have spent the last number of days realizing my own hesitancy at living them. There is no such thing has having it both ways…..my will and His. Unless my will is brought into conformity with His will. For the embracing of God’s will is only possible as I abandon my own.

When I look at the synonyms of abandon and embrace my view is broadened. Abandon has the idea of dumping, deserting, ditching, discarding, disposing of, throwing away, and throwing out. Embracing has the idea of accepting, welcoming, adopting, taking up, supporting, and holding. That is easy to do when my heart and security is not tied to that which I am abandoning. But when I have wrapped myself up in a plan, person, or possession the battle is on! My resistance and hesitancy for relinquishment is a “red flag” that I am in bondage. Bondage of my own choosing. For all the while, God is letting me know that if I would abandon that which I hold on to so tightly, it will be the key that unlocks that in which I have imprisoned myself. Until then there is no peace or joy.

So why the battle? Why if I know in my head that what God offers is better than what I am holding on to, do I still tighten my grip? Fear. Fear that losing what I am holding on to will mean losing a part of myself that I am convinced I cannot live without. Distrust. Distrust that God will be able to do for me all that whatever I am holding on to can do for me. Rebellion. Refusal to walk in obedience to Him. Idolatry. Centering my life in any thing or any one other than God. The list goes on but I will stop there. My point is this, when I refuse to abandon whatever it is I am to abandon, I am reversing Jesus’ words and saying, “Father, not Your will, but my will be done.” I cringe at such arrogant pride.

Yesterday was a day of letting go of some things I was holding on to. While the realization of what was necessary entailed some tears, an ache, and a certain amount of fear, the act itself brought about internal peace and a sense of freedom I have been craving. I have awakened this morning not with a desire to have those things back but rather to experience more of the joy that comes from embracing my Father’s will.

Father, continue to help me loosen my grip on the things of “my will” until I stand with empty hands which are open to receive all that Your will entails. Amen.

I need Thee every hour - Selah
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIRJNgNSqok&feature=related

Driven By Love

Since you are precious in My sight, since you are honored and I love you,
I will give other men in your place and other peoples in exchange for your life. Isaiah 43:4 (New American Standard Bible)

When someone is precious, honored, and loved by you, the sky is the limit when it comes to what you would do for them. Theirs is a relationship you not only treasure but one which you maintain and keep well guarded. When something seems “off” you take steps to correct it and when necessary do whatever it takes for there to be reconciliation and peace. That is the very thing that drove me to make a phone call last night. Something seemed strained in a relationship that has become precious to me and fear of losing it moved me to action. As it turned out, my friend wasn’t upset with me in the least. An area of stress in her life was being misread by me. I had once again assumed the worst. As we spoke I regained a sense of peace and security. When I hung up the phone, I was filled with a huge sense of relief as well as a deep desire to uphold her in prayer. While God and I will spend the day confronting some of my insecurities and fears that make their way into relationships, I have awoken this morning rejoicing and reveling in this one I highly treasure.

God is using that experience to show me a reflection of Himself. Relationship with His children is a top priority for Him. Because we are precious, honored, and loved, He continually reaches out to us in order to draw us to Himself. This morning could be a “fill in the blank” kind of day and the verse could be read as follows: “Since you are precious in My sight, since you are honored and I love you I will ____________________.” Oh the things we could write on that line!

He daily loads us with blessings and benefits. He graciously forgives our sin. He corrects and chastens us. He instructs us in the night seasons. He shepherds us. He keeps His hands and His eye on us. He brings about His plans and purposes for our lives. He convicts us of sin. He speaks to us and probes our hearts. He crosses our path with significant people. He gifts us with talents and abilities. He uses us in profound ways. He stays with us. He transforms us. He guards and guides us. He hears and answers our prayers. He keeps His word to us. He showers us with grace, mercy, and loving kindness. He comes to our defense. He accepts us.

The phone call to my friend last night was one way of saying, “You mean the world to me!” All of God’s actions say the same. As I embrace that truth I am changed!

Father, thank you for a love like yours! Amen.

Stubborn Love - Amy Grant
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bajcq1jz15M&feature=related

The Richness and Reward of Resting

Restore to me the joy of Your salvation and sustain me with a willing spirit. Psalm 51:12 (New American Standard Bible)

I am learning how to be refreshed and repaired in my internal world. When emotions become tangled, when situations get confusing, when relationships shift or appear to be dormant, when expectations are met with disappointment, and when the reminders of living in a fallen world continually confront me, THOSE are the times I need my joy restored and my spirit sustained. At those times, there is only one place to resort….in the shadow of Abba’s wings!

There have been many times when any of the afore mentioned scenarios would send me reeling but I am learning some wise alternatives. When I know something has gone awry in my spirit, it is imperative that I rest from the mental exercises of trying to figure everything out. Just like I would set aside activities if I were sick, I am seeing the importance of allowing myself to take a break when there is an emotional over load taking place. It is at that point that I stop all the thinking and wait for some direction from God. He has an answer for any thing and every thing that is taxing my mind or my spirit. Resting in Him and waiting on Him allows the “draining feeling” to stop and the infusion of energy to begin. It opens the door for me to receive that which I need from His hands.

Practically speaking, when I find myself wrestling with issues I can at any point choose to stop wrestling and become still. It doesn’t mean the issue will go away but it does mean I can have some time to get myself back into the right frame of mind and spirit to work through that issue. I am learning to see myself as a wounded soldier who is removed from the battlefield in order to be strengthened to return. Too often I have failed to remove myself and hence only grew weaker and less effective.

I took a rest this morning. Relational issues weighed heavy on my heart and became a call to rest in Abba’s presence. As I relaxed, His counsel came. Within moments He let me know what to do…..give people space and pray for their needs. He assured me the relationships are not lost. They are just in a resting mode. This is a time when He will help me to poise myself for their awakening. With restored joy and a willing spirit I face a new day!

Father, You never cease to amaze me! Open my eyes to the many resting places along my journey. Your invitations to come aside are becoming clearer to me. Amen.

WARRIOR IS A CHILD/ DO I TRUST YOU? ~ Twila Paris
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Pzu-jWpcdw

It's a Start

Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you. Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma. Ephesians 4:32-5:2 (New American Standard Bible)

I love it when Scripture spells things out so clearly. Last night I asked a friend what it looks like to love others in the Lord even when personalities clash and you can barely stand to be around them. It is a dilemma we all face from time to time and I knew I was in the throws of one myself. What I wanted to know from my friend was what does that kind of love look like and how do I go about showing it. She is the kind of person I will ask questions of and assume she will always have the wisdom of Solomon when she answers me. We both laughed when her only answer was to let her know when I found out myself, because she too has an individual she is learning to love in the Lord!

After our conversation, the Lord brought today’s passage to mind. It is a beautiful and descriptive portrait of walking in love. Basically it is encouraging me to be kind, tender-hearted, and forgiving of others. As I imitate God and walk in love (just as Jesus did) it will be a precious perfume to God. What I give up for others delights God. It all sounded great but left my heart unchanged. I knew I needed a different starting point and God graciously gave me one this morning.

I recalled how last week He nudged me to begin honoring an individual with whom I was housing negative thoughts. It was a powerful exercise that I have continued to use as needed. But when I tried to bring it into this other relationship, it wasn’t effective. Just as in the case of Old Testament battles, God will not always give the same instructions. This time I was to pray for this individual and what a list He has given me. I went to www.biblegateway.com and came up with a number of verses that were actual prayers. Prayers for God’s wisdom, strength, and working. With the list, I formulated a prayer that was specific for this individual as well as one for myself. I am finding it is a powerful thing when we infuse our prayers with Scripture! Praying God’s Word is not a new concept but it is being newly used by me and I am standing in expectancy of God’s answers to those prayers.

I don’t have a complete answer for the issue of loving others in the Lord, but what God has given me so far is both precious and powerful. I know that obedience in this area will bring about profound changes in me and others.


Father, I want to walk in love and that is requiring a change in me. Teach me Your ways and help me to follow You. Amen.

HOW BEAUTIFUL -Twila Paris
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJfSp_rceFs&feature=related

In Need of Prayer

If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land. 2 Chronicles 7:14 (New King James Version)

How convinced are believers of the necessity, privilege, and power of prayer? How convinced am I? There is a reason God starts this verse with the word IF. He does not presume to think that all believers will make prayer a prerequisite or priority in their lives. It is the one aspect of the Christian life that gets talked about much more than it is actually practiced….at least for me that has been the case. While I talk with God throughout the day, I have to admit most of my intercession for others is hit or miss at best. The urgency to pray over decisions and situations is lacking. While I would tell you that prayer is important, I don’t pray as if it is. I don’t often pray believing that it makes a difference. How God wants that to change!

I remember years when opening God’s Word was not done with passion or expectancy. That changed and so can my prayer life. This is not being said out of guilt but rather out of an awakening that is being brought about by God and His desire to see prayer become my life blood. My life line!

God has crossed my path with individuals who know the importance and power of prayer. They don’t just say prayer works, they know prayer works. Their example is being used of God to make me want what they have. I can tell He is getting ready to bring about changes for me in this area. He wants me to experience prayer as it was meant to be experienced. To bring every need, every question, every request, every circumstance, every person to Him. To ask, to seek, to find! What He says in today’s verse is meant not only for a nation but it is meant for my life as well.

How easy it is to rely on the prayers of others more than on praying myself. The disciples were moved to ask Jesus to teach them to pray and He did. He not only gave them a pattern for prayer, He patterned prayer for them. His life was lived out of constant communication with His Father and He wants mine to be as well. The face of prayer is changing for me this morning. I can tell it is God who is wooing me in this direction. He has a whole new world that He is anxious to open up to me and He definitely has my attention.

Father, teach me how to pray. I confess to how little I know of it but I look to You to change that. Amen.


When I Call on Jesus
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwMw16eocuU

Personalizing His Words

Just as I have been with Moses, I will be with you; I will not fail you or forsake you. Be strong and courageous. Joshua 1:5,6 (New American Standard Bible)

Scripture is meant to be read and taken personally. I must allow the words to be spoken as directly to me as they were to the individuals God first spoke them to. What God told Joshua at the start of the book that bares his name, God is saying to me as well……..every day! I can slip many Bible names into this verse and it is still true. As God was with Moses, David, Gideon, Ruth, Esther, Paul, Daniel, Martha, Mary, the disciples, Timothy, Isaiah, and even Jesus, He will be with me. Never failing me. Never forsaking me. Because of that I can stand with strength and courage no matter what.

Just as He had plans for their lives, He has a plan for mine. Just as He caused the lines to fall in pleasant places in their lives, He will cause the lines to fall in pleasant places in mine. Just as He disciplined them when they went astray and brought them back to Himself, He will discipline and bring me back to Himself as well. Just as He enabled them to do what He called them to do, He will enable me to do what He has called me to do. His words of love, correction, direction, and encouragement are for me and to me just as much as they were for each of my spiritual ancestors of the Bible.

God’s Word has engaged my heart this morning and I am drinking my fill of it. Gone are the thoughts that weighed heavy on my mind and heart into the night hours. Gone are the feelings of insignificance and aloneness. Gone are the desires that crave anything or anyone that is not a part of His unique plan and purpose for me. The God of the universe has once again intersected my life with Himself. His Word has come alive to me and is quickly making its way into the driest of dry places that I have been living out of for a time.

I am waving the white flag of surrender as I bow my knees to the One who is faithfully working in me all that He desires and wills for my life. He has shown me once again that He loves me too much to give me less than His best. His no’s have not wavered nor have His extended offers and invitations to join Him on the unique path He has meant for me before the foundation of the world.

Father, I give up my childish ways in order to delight myself in You. Thank you for loving me the way that You do! Amen.

Give You Glory - Jeremy Camp
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-IHvnsQVIY

When the Simple Becomes Difficult

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9 (New American Standard Bible)

When I accepted Christ as my Savior at the age of 14, one of the first things I did was I began confessing every known sin I had committed in my decade and a half of life. As things came to mind I confessed them. After two weeks of admitting to God all the things I could think of, I finally said, “And if there is anything else that I can’t remember, please forgive that as well.” In essence, what I wanted was the sense of a clean slate. I wanted to feel I was stepping into a new beginning of sorts.

That was nearly 35 years ago and this morning I found myself once again standing before God with a tangled mess of past sin and regret. I am wanting the childlike faith that experiences 1 John 1:9 in its simplicity but somehow it has gotten complicated. The questions abound in my head. Am I doing it right? Am I being specific enough? Am I listing it all? It seems that I get one thing confessed and ten more come to mind. I feel like the child who has messed up her bedroom and is now standing before a parent apologizing for each individual article. It seems overwhelming and endless.

I want the clean slate/ fresh start feeling back! I want to experience the radical forgiveness the prodigal son experienced and the extravagant cleansing that David experienced. I want to join hands with the woman at the well and the woman caught in adultery who both KNEW their past was forgiven and a new life was theirs. As I think on their accounts the spoken confessions and received forgiveness seemed to be fairly quick transactions. They embraced God’s love, mercy, grace, and forgiveness in life changing ways. I want it THAT simple!

So today will be a day of asking God to teach me the truths of His forgiveness. He knows what is making me squirm and walk with caution. He knows I am missing some precious truths about His heart and willingness to completely forgive me. He knows my realization that I can’t make everything right but that doesn’t mean forgiveness is not there. He knows everything I desire to know and I turn my eyes and my ears toward Him to learn.

Father, teach me what I need to know so that I can receive what You long to give. Amen.

East to West - Casting Crowns
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WyoVJfADlwo