“Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.”

I am sure like us you will have heard this statement quoted many times over the years. It is common place to hear these words from our own perspective rather than His.

Recently I saw David’s statement in the Psalm quite differently and how wonderfully refreshing and encouraging it is.

As we  His people, delight ourselves in Him we will find His desires being placed in our hearts. What joy and fulfilment I will experience in knowing His desires in my life and this ensures that I continually delight myself in Jesus.

After sharing this with a close friend he opened up an even fuller revelation of this statement –  “It’s an amazing promise!  I used to share that ‘delight’ and ‘desire’ come from the same root word. Hence, if I delight myself in the Lord He becomes my greatest desire, and He gives Himself to me.” Wonderful reality, how very favoured and blessed we are.

May each of us find this to be our own experience of Jesus each day.

Well worn Boots

I remember a very special pair of boots that I had owned and worn for many long years.  They were so comfortable and walked many miles through all weather conditions. They finally had great holes in the sides and with much sadness I parted with these dear ‘worn’ friends that had protected my feet over many miles.

The wearing process started from day one but went by unnoticed for years as the heel slowly, almost imperceptibly wore on the one side and the sole of my boots began to wear very thin.  The tough leather began to give way as the stitches pulled out and the leather began to tear due to walking over rough terrain and regular use over time!

There is a story in this which I want to share with you.

Recently, I was made aware of the phrase in Daniel. “…the wearing down of the saints…”

Now, it goes without saying that we are living in very challenging times and there is a process of ‘wearing’ going on amongst the saints.  It is slow, often painful but over time it can go by unnoticed.  And we may be completely unaware of it’s  danger!

This wearing or eroding of the precious life of God within us can slowly but surely be replaced by fear, anxiety, irritability, unbelief and discouragement.  However, it does not have to be so for God’s people!

After a personal experience of  ’ feeling completely worn down’ I was drawn to these statements in Isaiah.

“…to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes,

the oil of gladness instead of mourning,

and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair…”

The Lord continued to encourage me. Don’t exchange beauty for ashes,  confidence in Me for fear and anxiety, Trust in Me for unbelief  and My Presence living and real for a dependence upon your own capabilities! We need not trade His power, perfected in our weakness for intimidation and lies.  There is no condemnation, only affirmation.

How good Jesus is and how completely trustworthy during challenging times like these.  It is no wonder we are told to “…guard our heart, for it is the wellspring of life…”

We can be refreshed and revitalized daily as we walk in step with the Lord.  Finally, I reflected on this statement made by Jesus which is for you and I today.

“Are you tired?  Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me.  Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me – watch how I do it.  Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you.  Keep company with me and you’ll learn how to live freely and lightly.” [TM]

How incredible that you and I have been called to BE FRIENDS OF GOD.  And, not just friendship with God but intimate friendship.  A deep and lasting relationship that comes out of knowing Him both personally and experientially.    John tells us that “our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ” and Paul reminds us that “…we have been called into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ.”

I just love the thought that we can know God and yet never stop knowing Him. He is from everlasting to everlasting, eternal and immense in love for us.  There is a deep longing in the Father’s heart to spend time with us, having our undivided attention and to pour out His affection upon us.  It is no wonder that David the Psalmist cried out,  “Give me an undivided heart, that I might fear you…”

There is also the delight of the fruitfulness of such intimate friendship.  “But you, O God, are both tender and kind, not easily angered, immense in love, and you never, never quit.”

Dear friends, we are called to this relationship by the Father who longs for and has provided a way for us to experience daily intimacy with Himself.   He has cleared the way for us to know the immensity of this unique relationship.  Jesus has removed every obstacle in our lives and poured Himself into us.  He has whet our appetites by giving us a taste of what’s ahead.  There is nothing more important than to desire Jesus and enjoy the promise of  intimate fellowship with Him.  Best of all it is not for a select few……..

“I’ll be their God, they’ll be my people. They won’t go to school to learn about me, or buy a book called God In Five Easy Lessons. They’ll all get to know me first hand, the little and the big, the small and the great.” [Hebrews 8 The Message]

Jesus shows us the Way

Jesus takes the lead in showing us what friendship is really all about. He models it for us in such a way that there should be no doubt in our minds what it looks like. “Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love.” And yet sadly, for many Christians, their world can be  one of the loneliest places to live and friendship with things rather than people becomes a priority. It doesn’t have to be like that. Jesus speaks plainly to us. “You are my friends if you do what I command.” He later says, “This is my command: Love each other.”

He sets the pace and then pours out his grace

“Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” This is the standard that Jesus sets for true friendship. Laying down our lives for our friends! Impossible for us, but, doable with his help. Jesus, knowing exactly what is in our hearts, looks us squarely in the eyes and says I want you to know how much I value your friendship. I want you to know just how much it means to me when you take the time to be alone with me. I desire to be with you more than anything else. You are always in my thoughts.

His Church is a family of friends whose hearts have been captivated by a higher affection and who are learning to lay down the unimportant things. May we be deeply encouraged and mindful of our calling to walk this way.

I know we know these things but as Peter says, “I have written them as reminders to stimulate you to wholesome thinking.”

Ray and Terry, if you read this or somebody out there knows them please get in touch again as we would love to be able to respond to you.

We trust Him to make the right connections and hope to hear from you soon.

For those of you who may have recently moved away from organized church please do not be in any hurry to start something. Wait for Him to shape within you His desires and purpose for the way forward. His way is the highest and best!

ALL THAT GOD IS

All your love, Lord, yes, all your love,

Immense as earth and the heavens above,

Has filled and flooded this simple life

And lifted me high above struggle and strife.

You love me now as much as you’ve ever done,

And as much as you ever loved anyone.

……………..

All your grace, Lord, yes, all your grace,

Speeding its way through time and space,

You pour out sweet blessing, encouragement, love,

Imparting your life through the indwelling Dove.

I’m strengthened, encouraged, inwardly new,

And seated in Heavenly places with you.

………………….

All your glory Lord, yes, all your glory,

Where are words found to carry the story?

Limitless power, majesty, gentleness, love,

Revealed as you choose, as in heaven above.

Your intimate presence is awesome, sublime

And finds me silent and prostrate time after time.

…………………..

All your power, Lord, yes, all your power

Can accomplish your purpose in my life this hour.

God of creation and its sustainer is He,

Making triumphant living possible for me.

Though least of all, yet with a full trusting heart,

I revel in the joy and peace you now impart.

………………….

All of my need, Lord?  I need nought but you.

Your care leaves no lack; I’m blessed through and through.

I am safe in your hands, fully satisfied too,

Each day without fail you my spirit renew.

Your love is so special and your grace is enough

To carry me through when my day’s very tough.

……………………

All your grace, all your glory,

All your love, all your power,

Extended to me each moment each hour

Are a foretaste of heaven

Right here, and right now!

And I love you with all my heart.

WHAT NEED?

ALL YOUR LOVE, LORD

I’ve scarcely dipped my feet in its boundless ocean … yet your love has filled, flooded and overflowed this life of mine.  I am beginning to realize that no one has ever been more loved than I am right now.

ALL YOUR GLORY LORD

Your glory is the expression of all your sweetest gentleness, unrivalled majesty, and limitless power.  Though dimly reflected in the starry universe and the matchless beauty of nature surrounding us, yet the splendour, majesty and glory of your intimate presence often causes me to be silently prostrate before you.

ALL YOUR GRACE, LORD

Grace flowing from your immense heart of love brings mercy, forgiveness, acceptance, salvation, life in your family, and abounding blessing.  I’ve merely touched the garment hem of your great grace, yet I stand in silent awe that I, the least of all, simply a God-filled nobody, am seated in the heavenly realms with Christ – by grace alone!

ALL YOUR POWER, LORD

Power to create, transform, renew and to accomplish your highest purposes.  You have created all that exists by the word of your power, yet you reside in humbly yielded trusting hearts, providing radiant, peace-filled, victorious living that is freely available to me, the least of all and most unworthy.

All my need, LORD?

I have no need but you.  Your care leaves me with no lack; your love keeps me deeply, fully satisfied; and the precious Holy Spirit’s indwelling Presence provides me with the infinite privilege of enjoying a foretaste of heaven here and now.

“And my God will meet all your needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus.” [Philippians 4:19  NIV]

What does it mean to live in Him and to make our home in the God and Father of Jesus? It may be   difficult for us to understand how He can assure us, “…just as I do in you.” That the God and Father of Jesus chooses to live within me is a seemingly unreasonable statement which only makes me feel even more honoured, privileged, blessed, encouraged, amazed and awestruck at His master plan. How good He is!

He knows me

He knows me just as I am – and He still loves me unconditionally because He has purposed to reveal Himself to me out of  His nature  of  pure love. His longing is to share fellowship with us and this happens most when we are relaxed with Him and open and available to His company. Jesus longs for us to be like children with him -  receptive, utterly dependent and totally reliant on His power and grace.

Because He knows me I can feel totally safe with Him, assured that in spite of where I am at He wants to be with me. Brennan Manning has said, “Adam and Eve both hid from the Lord and we use them as role models!” Our most natural inclination is to hide from him and yet  He seeks daily intimacy with us!

A personal question

I had felt that this was a personal question Father was asking of me. It was not a call for me to run off and study the scriptures and return with a pat answer. We may think that because we are Christians and read the Book and therefore know a great deal about God, therefore we know God. It is not so, for we need an experiential knowledge of Him. We do know much about Him but He calls us to Himself that we might know Him personally.  Learning to cultivate intimacy with Christ will not only become a joyful experience but will bring amazing freedom to our lives.

How do you see Me  in everyday life?

When we have people visit our home we often find ourselves saying, “Please make yourselves at home!” And we do that because it is in our hearts for them to feel relaxed enough to be themselves. When people feel relaxed and cared for they are far more able to share their lives with you. That awareness of being at home with someone is what Father calls us to. When I am at home I speak freely and honestly. I am relaxed and available to chat and listen! I want to be involved in all that is going on in the home.  All this of course is a simple picture of what Jesus is wanting us to experience with Himself.

Being at home with Jesus helps us to understand what He is like. What He enjoys! His care and concern for us as well as knowing what pleases Him is all part of being “In Christ!”  He in me and me in him. It may be that we need a shift in our understanding. We can ‘be at home with Jesus’ today without waiting for heaven as some believe! It was John Wesley who said, “Best of all God is with us!”

Encouragement

Look what David has to say, “I thank you, High God – you are breathtaking!” and “Your thoughts – how rare, how beautiful! God I’ll never comprehend them!”

Let us renounce our illusions of God and surrender to Him today because - “It’s in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for. Long before we first heard of Christ and got our hopes up, he had his eye on us, had designs on us for glorious living, part of the overall purpose he is working out in everything and everyone.”

This person or book or teaching or church group can then be viewed as ‘acceptable’ for our consumption. What does balance mean?  It  is seen as being neither too liberal but also not too legalistic! In other words it is like walking a tightrope! And is this what Jesus calls us to? I think not!
In practical terms we would all prefer God’s gracious work within us to be neat and tidy with no blurred edges and
if it ‘works out OK’ praise the Lord because He answers prayers. On the other side of the coin I have heard people complain that they are angry with God because it did not work out as they had wanted it to.

These two streams of thought lead many  Christians to believe that Christianity and respectability or compromise  are one and the same thing! We may not admit that but we certainly practice it.
This is so far from the truth! We have picked these thoughts up from a distorted Gospel and a lack of understanding
of the character of God.

Jesus – Our Example

When we read about the life of Jesus in the Gospels we find that Jesus is neither ‘balanced’ [as described earlier], nor is He in any way respectable. He is a Father pleaser! When I follow Him on His journey along the dusty roads of  towns and cities He has a way of  making me feel quite uncomfortable at times. He rattles cages and challenges us deeply because He does not fit into our ‘Christian cultural view of  life!’ Why? He turns everything upside down and the right way up at the same time!

We are not called to walk a tightrope of ‘our best efforts’ based upon human endeavour. Thomas thought like that when he said, “Master, we have no idea where you’re going. How do you expect us to know the road?” [The Message] Jesus tells him that it is not about being balanced or respectable or dependent upon human effort. Living for God is all about a Person called Jesus. “I am the Road, also the Truth, also the Life.” [The Message]

Listen carefully to Him. “Someone told Jesus, ‘Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to see you!’ He replied, “My mother and brothers are those who hear God’s word and put it into practice.” Wow! Does not this statement offend our sensibilities. Today He would be called abusive, slanderous and uncaring! He does away with sentimentality and goes straight to the heart of the matter. Pleasing the Father! We would probably want to finish off what we are saying and then go outside to see our family. He lifts our focus higher!

What about this statement – “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. Again, He appears to rock the boat of our ‘respectable Christian viewpoint’  and yet all He is doing here is giving us real perspective on life. He does this over and over! Thankfully, there is always the grace to embrace what He is saying. The problem comes when we resume the ‘balanced’ state of mind and living within the perimeters of a religious mindset!

The Kingdom

The Kingdom of God has come when those ‘respectable’ cozy relationships we cling to are put into perspective through Jesus’ words. He has a simple yet profound way of sharpening our focus. In these very challenging days Jesus leads the way by demonstrating how life is to be lived.
He does not fear man and challenges His disciples to forgive 490 times. He talks to a Samaritan woman at the well and makes it clear who He is. Even his disciples are taken aback when they return from buying some food!  He tells this woman He has water for her and she will never thirst again if she drinks it. Finally He breaks with ‘political correctness’ and tells this Samaritan woman that she worships in ignorance [obvious discrimination] but the way ahead is to worship the Father from the heart! “ These are the kind of worshippers the Father seeks out”

Jesus does not say and do these things just to be different or awkward but rather because He knows He is right! And, because He is right He knows what is best for us. When He speaks something that might appear difficult or challenging it is at that point we realise that unless He helps us with this matter we are sunk! And so we learn to be dependent upon Him all of our lives.

It is not about being seen to do right but rather following The Master’s example – “I never do unless the Father shows Me” We need men and women in this hour who walk humbly dependent upon Him away from respectability and balance as we experience the power of His life working within us. And, never recover!

“…he went to the meeting place. When He stood up to read, he was handed the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. Unrolling the scroll, he found the place where it was written, God’s Spirit is on me; he’s chosen me to preach the Message of good news to the poor, sent me to announce pardon to prisoners and recovery of sight to the blind, To set the burdened and battered free, to announce, ‘This is God’s year to act!’ “

“You’ve just heard Scripture make history. It came true just now in this place.”  [Luke 4, The Message]

In the early days of Jesus’ ministry He stands up and declares something which Isaiah had prohesied. TODAY!…. again we read how Jesus’ life and ministry moves away from the predictable and respectable to giving all but the religious gang a sure and certain hope! A reason to be glad.

The religious  response to this declaration and subsequent discussion was…..wait for it. They wanted to drive him out of town in order to push him down a cliff. Why?  Because they did not like what He was saying. He was announcing to them that salvation was to be offered to the Gentiles. This is far too radical and hence their response to him. Change can bring uncertainty and fear may follow but who better to trust if He is leading the procession!

Other ‘unpredictable’ actions

Jesus went on to Capernaum and on the sabbath began to teach the people as one having authority. And then he drove out a demon with a word in the same meeting. Eek!! This is not the kind of experience we want to have in our meetings! 
Ernst Kasemann, a German scholar remarks,
“What causes most trouble for Christians of all ages is not legalism or lack of faith or theological controversies; it is Jesus Himself, who bestows freedom so openhandedly and dangerously on those who do not know what to do with it. The Church always gets so panic-stricken for fear of the turmoil that Christ creates when He comes on the scene; and so it takes His freedom under its own management for the protection of the souls entrusted to it, in order to dispense it in homeopathic doses when it seems necessary.”

I am deeply moved over and over again as Jesus’ feet are washed by a woman ‘who had lived a sinful life’ I revel in the fact that I too can do this in my gratitude to Jesus for all He is and what He is doing in my own life. Her act of pure worship and appreciation through outpoured perfume and the washing of Jesus’ feet affects us all.
The greedy and self-focussed see it as a waste of money! The religious fear it and frown upon this as something to be avoided!  While for those who have learned to enjoy Father’s extravagant love see it as the simple expression of a forgiven woman!

These acts of mercy and grace make the respectable squirm. Jesus Christ today drives out demons, heals the sick, feeds the hungry and has time for little children saying that we must become like them if we want to see the Kingdom –  just as He did when He walked on the earth.

All of this in the course of life!