Look Up to the Cross

Isaiah 53:3-4 (New International Version, ©2011

^[3] He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem. ^[4] Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted.

Look up to the cross. Who did you see there? Just another man... a common criminal receiving the wrath of God? Just another zealot? No. On that cross hangs the Son of God, the "Firstborn of all Creation." On that cross is God in flesh, and why? Because the zeal that holds him there is the same zeal which holds you to his heart now. It was not nails or soldiers that held him there but love--strong, pure, true love. Even after we despised him, rejected him, spit in his face... even after the very face of his father was turned from him, he chose his cross.

Look up to the cross; who do you see there? Just another man... a common criminal? No. On that cross hangs the Savior and Lover of your heart, fullfilling His perfect act of love for you.

One Way

1 Timothy 2:5-6 (New International Version, ©2011)



[5] For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, [6] who gave himself as a ransom for all people. This has now been witnessed to at the proper time.

How many different roads are there out there? How many different ways does the world offer? Sex, drugs, parties, righteousness by works... there are alternate directions every way we turn. It all comes down to one central idea; the idea that you're just fine without God.

The world offers many roads, but God only offers one, and it is straight and narrow. There will be hills on this road; it will go up--sometimes very steeply--but only up. And at the end, the throne of God. It is the only road which will take you to the Father, and this road is called Jesus.

Make Me A Servant

[135] Make your face shine on your servant

and teach me your decrees. -Psalm 119:135 

Depending on how long you have been my reader, you may remember a post I wrote almost a year ago called Servitude. I suppose I couldn't dream of having actually had readers back then, so check out my April 2010 archive for it. This is a personal revisit.

I receive the Spirit of Prophecy bulletin daily from Bill and Marsha Burns, and this morning as I was suffering from self-inflicted insomnia I received this word for the day:

THE TRUMPET by Bill Burns -- 3/14/11:


In the pattern of My word I have shown you the way. My call to you will be to come and walk upon the River of God where it is full to over flowing. And wherever the river goes it will bring life. Wherever you go, with the flow of that river, you will experience the fullness of My kingdom in manifestation upon the face of My creation. So come. Let Me take you deeper. Come on; don't stay where you are. I'm giving you opportunity to be more than you've ever been before, says the Lord.

SMALL STRAWS IN A SOFT WIND by Marsha Burns -- 3/14/11:

Examine yourself to see if you are in faith. Confront fear and unbelief and overcome, for you are My people of faith. And if not you, who? Rise up and demonstrate My kingdom. Be who you are in Me, says the Lord, and do not be afraid. Stir yourself up in your most holy faith, and let My Spirit have His way. Jude 1:20 But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit.

To be completely honest I brushed it away. I have spent a lot of time over the last few months looking for ways around God, though I wouldn't have admitted to it before. But hours after I received this I broke down, shut everything down and crumpled to the floor in a fit of physically wracking sobbing. All I could do was weep, I didn't even know what to say. I'd like to say that it was some big enlightening experience, but it wasn't. I cried, laid on the floor, cried some more. It wasn't a moment of divine peace but of divine conviction.

I didn't rightly know what to say to God. I asked him to show me what following the flow of the river looked like in my life, and the simple, yet grindingly truthful words of this song came to me.

Make me a servant, humble and meek
Lord, let me lift up those who are weak
And may the prayer of my heart always be
Make me a servant, Make me a servant,
Make me a servant today...

I lay there on the floor, not caring to get up, by now I had already been awake most of the night but I was quite suddenly wide awake. I just lay there and sang that song to God over and over. Make me a servant.. Even when I don't want to serve make this the cry of my heart: make me a servant. Humble me, cause me to be meek.  

Titus 3:3-7 (NIV)

[3] At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. [4] But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, [5] he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, [6] whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, [7] so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.

I'm not at peace, I'm not content. I haven't had some amazing, breathtaking, awestriking experience. I am humbled; I have had a glimpse of where I've been for the last six months, and where God wants to lead me through it all. I've seen how many wrong paths I've stumbled onto looking for some way around God. I've realized anew how much I have encouraged this depressive state of the enemy which holds me back from the Fullness of God, and I am utterly berieved and broken of heart and spirit.

Make me a servant.... Make me a servant.. Make me a servant today...

What Do You Do?

What do you do when the things you cherished greatly in your life are taken away? Shock, anxiety, separation...

"It's just time to go our separate ways."

I couldn't believe that she was actually going to walk away from me. I was angry and confused, but much more just hurt. She had been one of the greatest impacts on my life over the last three-and-a-half years that I had known her. That's right, nearly four years. Plenty of time to get acquainted and then some. She was not only a mentor/life coach to me, she was like an older sister. The influence she held on me was huge.

"Yes, she is really going to leave you."

I was stunned when God confirmed that to me. I thought maybe I could sort it out, correct the misunderstanding - the more I tried, the worse it got. Hurtful words and blame volleyed both directions. I just couldn't believe it, I didn't want to believe it! I didn't want God to take her away, but I knew it was going to happen.

"All I wanted was to tell you all about it."

I had just come back from a life-altering experience with God and I was more than enough ready to make up for my wrongs. I was so excited to tell her about my experience, to celebrate with her about what God had done in my life. But instead I came back to more hurt and judgement. From the friend who had walked with and encouraged me to go to eternity with God came condemnations for self-righteousness and piety. All I wanted to do was tell her about it.

"God I've already lost a friend!"

She was the second I had parted ways with that very month, both quite close friends, though my friendship with her had been much longer. I couldn't understand why God was doing this, and now at a time when I had become distant to alot of lesser friends, why did this happen?

"You wouldn't have done it otherwise."

I always heard that some friends are only meant to be together for a season, but when the season was over, I didn't want to let go. It didn't seam like a right way to separate ways. But several weeks later God explained why it had to be that way. He called me to chase after him. Sometimes we cross paths with others on the same journey, but he called me to chase Him. It was time to continue on to another season in my life, a season where some people could not follow, but I wouldn't have been able to let go of those people on my own.

"If I could go back in time..."

It didn't have to end like that, we always say 'If I could go back in time and do it again...' I wish I could go back and do it again, at least make things right before God led her out of my way. But the past is the past and cannot be changed. This winter would have been four years since we met, I don't regret any other time with her over the three-and-a-half years we shared. I wish that somehow, we could have remained together as friends, but I hold to the hope that what now is will not be forever. For now, all I can say is, "Fare well, Sister..."

"Farewell."

Know My Heart

Psalm 139:23-24 (New International Version)


[23] Search me, God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
[24] See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.

What a bold prayer David prayed; he gave the god of the universe permission to look into the secret place in his heart and to change his way. He gave God the key to his heart and said, 'here God, check up on me. See what's there, and change what you don't like.'

But here's what I find interesting. Take a look at Psalm 139 as a whole. It's not a long chapter, so take a minute and read all the way through. I took special note on the first and second verses:

[1] You have searched me, LORD,
and you know me.
[2] You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.  -Psalm 139:1-2

David doesn't just want God to look at his heart once. David wants God to have active knowledge of and access to his heart. In these first two verses he sets us straight right off; God already knows him. Throughout the chapter he describes the fullness of God's knowledge and presence, and in the last two verses he asks God to continue knowing him.

So what does this have to do with me? I read this passage and had to ask myself, 'Are you will to give God full, undenied access to the secret place of your heart--not just today, not just yesterday, not just for 24 hours--for good?' How about you? You know what I'm talking about, you know what's in your heart, will you pray the prayer? I know that is what I long to do.