Weather Report From Heaven: Sunny and bright, with an abundance of light and lots of singing and rejoicing.
Bible verse of the day: Psalm 42:7 ” Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls; all your waves and breakers have swept over me.
I have been going through one of the most intensive processes in my life of self examination and repentance in my walk with the Lord over the last few weeks and it has produced a myriad of emotions. I have asked the Lord, as King David did in Psalm 139:23-24, to “search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” God is always faithful and He has been revealing quite a lot to me during this period from some of the areas of my life that I haven’t even been aware were in such desperate need of my repentance and His forgiveness. Some of the things He has revealed have been surprising, humbling, sad, joyful, liberating, energizing and hopeless.
The one truth that has constantly been present in my time with the Lord is the idea that there is always a deeper and more intimate relationship that the Lord our God seeks with us, His children. God is not jealous of us, but He is jealous for us and He desires that we spend more time in his presence so that we can begin to assume the character and traits of His Son and our Savior, Jesus Christ. He gives us a glimpse of this desire in 2nd Corinthians 3:18 which says, “and we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into His likeness with ever increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”
In order to be transformed by something or someone, we must first spend time with the thing or person that we wish to be transformed by. God wants us to spend time with Him alone so that He can reveal hidden truths to us. We are in bondage and He wants to set us free, but to be free from something we first must realize that there is a problem and truthfully admit that it exists. Alone time in the presence of the Lord is where God can do His surgical work on our hearts and souls. He can reveal deeper truths about His intentions, our understanding, or lack thereof, His level of forgiveness, our level of sinfulness. He can show us many things about how deep His love is, how He never stops pursuing us, how deep we need to forgive others as He has forgiven us. Spending time alone in His presence is like a getting a PHD in wisdom from the Creator of the Universe. He can quickly break into our kingdoms of selfishness and pride and reveal to us how far apart “His ways are from our ways and His thoughts are from our thoughts,” as Isaiah 55:5:8-9 says.
I have been amazed at the subtle areas of my sinful pride that have been revealed during these alone times with Him. It is easy to spot anger, greed and lust, but my delusions of being in control of situations, which has led me to feel anxious as I am trying to accomplish things on my own strength or for others to validate me, rather than to bask in the Lord’s glory and strength, has been revealing. Always deeper are His revelations, and always more humbling is the repentance required by me. But the deeper the humbling, the more freedom I find on the other side of that experience. We as Christians are required to repent on a regular basis. Not so God can humiliate us, but rather so the power of His grace can be seen and felt in our lives. James 4:6 says ” God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” I have come to realize that the Kingdom of self is heavily defended territory. The only way to puncture that false veil is to get close to God and let His Words break the strongholds that exist in our life which ultimately keep us from experiencing the fullness of all that He has planned for us. That makes me crave my time alone with the great Physician. The deep revelations give way to greater wisdom and healing. He always wants what is best for me. I just need to show up to the appointments, He responds with deeper love, mercy and grace than I could ever imagine. I find myself stunned by the depth of His love, which is endless. He implores me to trust Him more and surrender more, so He can take me deeper into our relationship. His goal is simple, yet profound. Always deeper!
Prayer: Father God, help us not to put a governor switch on what our soul craves which is more of You and less of us. Help us to be completely vulnerable before You so we can go deeper than ever before and we can experience the depth of your grace as it washes over us. In Jesus’ mighty name. Amen!
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