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Numbering Our Days

Numbering Our Days

Seeking after the Heart of God

 

So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. 

Psalm 90:12

During our lifespan on earth, a segment of our eternity, we each have a very significant purpose, but the question is do we fully understand what that purpose is? Or how to achieve it?

Everything we sow of the physical reality of life perishes, but what we sow of the spiritual reality moves with us into eternity AND it is what moves us into eternity. There is no greater purpose than to seek after the eternal in the fabric of our lives, which when all characteristics and ways are combined can be articulated in one word, God, the eternal Father/Maker of us all. Proverbs 23:17-21

It’s our highest purpose to seek to bear the image of the heavenly man crafted by the hand of God, verses the image of the man of dust crafted by our own hand.  1 Corinthians 15:4

God is love. His presence is veiled from this earth because the vessels to hold His spirit have yet to be cleansed, purified and prepared to hold a holy, pure and loving spirit, though Christ came to bring us behind the veil. His home in this world is in us. Thus, we must be made ready to contain such a spirit. The minds and ways of many souls are contrary to His righteousness care, some unknowingly and some willingly, therefore unable to unite to Him.

The worlds’ web of lies has blinded us to what true loving kindness is and its supremacy in the nature of God. It has corrupted our vessels by corrupting our minds so we don’t know or recognize this love. This is why we must seek for it. To find love or any attribute of God, we have to become a part of it – that is the only way we know it. This is how it is with spiritual realities. The knowing is in the becoming. Otherwise they remain hidden and we exist outside of them in darkness and coldness.

If we choose to seek to learn and grow by spiritual understanding and by the attainment of divine characteristics, then we begin our journey to be joined to Him. If we remain in our contrary ways, we remain distant from Him, thus from love itself. Understanding our role as a loving caretaker of the animal kingdom is an essential key to unlocking the love of God in our lives, because it is how He is with us. Because we affect the animals daily with our choices and actions, our care for them begins a daily ripple effect of the love of God in our reality. This truth is key to becoming love. When we begin to possess the spirit of the Eternal, we live in love. Our ability to love in righteousness is a testimony of our connection to God, thus eternity. So how we spend our limited time on earth is very significant.

Time is constant, unchanging, beyond our control, and simply is as long as the earth spins as it does. Our belief in time doesn’t make it exist or not. Time is a reflection of the sovereignty of God, for He created time.

If we put our time in His hands we do well, if we try to control and manipulate it ourselves, we cause much harm.

As the foundations of the earth shift with the incoming righteous reign, our perception of time will change. In trying to control time, we haven’t trusted the Creator, and as a result we have created destruction and made this earth desolate. As wickedness loses its prosperity, we won’t be able to control our future like we have done in our self-will and this will turn many lives upside down. Right now the present moment is fleeting as most dwell in the past or the future.  But, God abides in the present and when we fully trust Him so do we.

The past no longer exists and the future grows out of the present. However, most try to re-live the past and try to control their future. The two main reasons for this are fear and lust, both of which I’m finding are the undercurrent to most our actions and choices, however small or large those fears and lusts may be. In trying to protect ourselves from harm, a mindset driven by fear, we propagate the very harm we don’t desire as we try to create a future without fear. In this, we cease to love. In trying to fulfill our desires, through lusts and not kindness, we cease to love.

To change the future to something desirable, we must change what we are doing in the present. But, to change the present without the wisdom of eternity of God who knows every ripple effect to every action is to create a future that hurts and harms instead of loves.

A key to coming to know God is seeking to stop manipulating time; specifically the past and the future, which we do in many ways, and seek to know Him in our present moment and learn to abide there. Further, we come to know the heart of God, who is love, when we are set on seeking and abiding in His perfect love for all of His creation today, in our present moment.

1 Corinthians 16:14 Let all that you do be done with love.

To seek God is to seek what it means to truly abide in loving kindness in all areas of our life. Without this perspective, we’ll never find the heart of God but empty realities that leave us alone, afflicted and broken. If we seek Him with all our heart, soul and mind, loving kindness is where He leads us. Until we set our hearts on knowing true kindness and acting according to its ways and not our fears and lusts, we’ll know endless repeating days in the shadow of death. May we not forget our first love, love itself, for God is love. Jesus came to remind us that love is supreme.

Let love be the qualifier for all you do. May our purpose be to seek God who is the unity of truth and love and live in Him in today.

Proverbs 23:12 Apply your heart to instruction, And your ears to words of knowledge. 

Proverbs 23:23 Buy the truth, and do not sell it, Also wisdom and instruction and understanding. 

Proverbs 24:14 So shall the knowledge of wisdom be to your soul; If you have found it, there is a prospect, And your hope will not be cut off.


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Learning Spirit to Spirit

Learning Spirit to Spirit

 

1 Corinthians 2:13-14
These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

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Where Do You Worship?

 Where Do You Worship?

As you think about the New Year, setting goals and making resolutions, consider the one act that will affect you and your year more significantly and powerfully than anything else, where you worship.

What’s the temple(s) of your life? What do you give your resources to, energy and time, to cultivate in your life? How do you make your decisions and choices? What do you sacrifice other things and people for, including your sacred time with God each morning? What are your priorities that come above all else? Mark 12:30-31 What/who do you put above God and abiding in His truth? Matthew 6:33 What doctrines and philosophies are you truly serving and worshipping with your thoughts and actions? Write out the answers to these questions and be honest, it will reveal what you truly serve.  True change follows honesty.

Below is just a sampling of the temples we build, sacrifice for and thus worship at … when these are our temples, there is one outcome …

Career achievements

Job Security

Intellectualism

Health

Beauty

Money

Family

Relationships with other gender

Self-empowerment

Control

Victim/Helplessness

Religion/church

Self-righteousness/being right & fair

Pride

Consumed in the darkness of the lies of this world, we build, sacrifice, serve and thus worship at a myriad of temples, like those above, trying to create the rest, fulfillment of hope, purpose, peace and love we desperately long for. Yet, God in His love for us has shown us how to obtain what we truly long for exceeding our expectations. For the life we seek, God instructs us to forsake and destroy all other temples in our lives, and take part in building His temple. Mark 14:58 It’s the temple of truth in our souls in which God’s spirit dwells. Eph 2:19-22 It’s the kingdom of God within us. When this is our temple, then all else in our lives follows as it should and as we deeply desire.

The temple(s) of your choosing will lead to one of two outcomes because there are only two paths in this earth pilgrimage; one of truth and one not, one of life and one not, one of God and one not. If you choose temples like the ones listed above the outcome is of increasing angst, hardship, worry, fear and stress. If you choose to build God’s temple within you, the outcome is growing peace, rest, joy and love.

What are you experiencing, which outcome? The outcome reflects the temple(s) you are currently worshiping at. If it’s the results of angst and fear, are you going to continue to build and worship at the same temples and get the same results?

Not only does only one temple bring the life you truly seek, but there is only one which will stand as all the rest are cast down.

1 Corinthians 3:13 each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is

In the Day of the Lord, all temples, the work of our hands, will crumble except the One. As the Day of the Lord dawns, now is the time to examine and realign your life to build the everlasting temple, the kingdom of God within you. If the presence of the living God is within you, you need nothing else for His presence manifests every need and desire as it should be.

As you decide your path for this year, meditate on these verses …

Psalm 37:5 Commit your way to the LORD, Trust also in Him, And He shall bring it to pass.

Psalm 34:10 The young lions lack and suffer hunger; But those who seek the LORD shall not lack any good thing.

Matthew 6:33 “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.

John 6:28-29 Then they said to Him, “What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?” Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.”


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God Calls Us Friend

God Calls Us

….Friend

A friend from years back showed me a valuable truth this past week . . .

My friend tells me that I’m among her closest friends. For awhile, she’s been texting me saying she wants to talk and catch up (it’s been months since we talked). She says there are few people she will always pick up the phone for, I’m one. However, the phone hasn’t been picked up in a long time. When it comes down to it, she doesn’t make the time to connect – it’s like our friendship is at the bottom of her to-do list – below cleaning the scum off the tub. sigh

We all have the same amount of time. How we spend that time speaks of our priorities. Her actions have been telling me for awhile where our friendship is placed – painfully low. Now if we didn’t talk between visits (she lives in a different state) and both agreed that would be fine. But, it’s saying one thing and doing another that sets me up with false expectations and that is where the disappointment sets in. Expressing how much I mean to her and her desire to talk becomes meaningless when her actions don’t back up her words. It hurts. It feels like she doesn’t care; like our friendship doesn’t really matter.

In addition, in the past couple of years, when we have gotten together, I’m multitasked in with other activities so that she isn’t with me. She has gotten better as I’ve mentioned it to her. She is a bit more engaged during our few hours spent together each year, but her life is one big multitasked distraction-filled conglomeration with our friendship thrown in the pile.

This reflection has been a good reminder for me. We all get busy and distracted, and we can neglect those things that are most important like our relationships. So, how am I treating those I call friend? Those I profess to love? Am I doing and focusing on what is truly most important?

The other day another incident happened where my expectations where let down once again. In the past month, the Holy Spirit has given me good counsel in regards to her and for relationships in general – about expectations, boundaries, balance, but this occurrence bothered me until I wrote this post. God wanted to show me something through it.

The emotion I felt, the hurt, was to give me a peek into God’s heart and share it with you.

Words are meaningless without the action and heart all working in unison. People tell God all the time they love Him, they long to be near to Him, and to be in His presence. But when it comes down to it, they don’t make the time. Other activities and people come first. Our actions and the state of our heart in those actions reveal the truth of what is important to us. For there to be sincerity there has to be an unison of the three; words, action, heart. When we don’t take time to be with Him, or are always distracted or multitasking when we do take time, what does that really say?

Matthew 15:8 These people draw near to Me with their mouth, And honor Me with their lips, But their heart is far from Me.

God showed me the importance of the connection between our words, actions and heart. It wasn’t to guilt me or anyone else who might read this. He doesn’t guilt His children. Guilt comes from another voice. He was giving me an awareness of our actions and heart and what they reveal, and how they measure up to our words. It was about being real and sincere. It was about what God desires from us, because He loves us. It was about how our relationship with Him is to be as well as our relationship with others.

God desires that we spend time with Him; delight in just being with Him. That’s what you do when you love someone. You want to be near them. It isn’t just when you need something. God desires us to draw near because He is our God, our Friend, our Love.

How am I acting toward God, who calls me His friend, His bride? What is my heart when I’m with Him? What do my actions reveal? Do my words, actions and heart line up? Asking these questions can be very revealing about the true state of our relationship with God.

If you feel these three aren’t adding up, don’t fret, act. God loves you. He longs to be near you. Be real with Him, draw near to Him in truth and spirit. Give your love for Him a chance to grow and develop. Be real about it. If you don’t deeply feel a love for Him, be honest, He knows it anyway. Ask for it. Truth is the starting place to true growth.

Consider how much He loves you and how He wants to make His home in you John 14:23 Draw near to Him in truth. Get to know Him as He is and love will follow until He becomes your first love. Then carry this same awareness to others’ in your life and love them with all sincerity, with a unity of words, actions and heart. But focus on God first. When there is a solid relationship with Him, the rest of your relationships bloom as they should. He comes first.

1 Peter 1:22 Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart,

Luke 10:27 So he answered and said, “‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,’ and ‘your neighbor as yourself.'”

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Just Don’t Have Time

Just Don’t Have Time

In a conversation with an acquaintance, I was sharing my passion of helping others to develop an intimate relationship with God. I have a long way to go, but I’ve discovered a path that has absolutely changed my life. As I was talking about spending time each day to cultivate that relationship, he said, “That’s great, but who has the time?” Very few people do.

The reason for not taking the time to abide and meditate on God’s Word, pray, talk with Him and be still to hear His voice, is not having extra time in the day. This excuse is probably the number one reason I hear. It used to be mine. But I learned something very important . . .

We don’t have the time because we aren’t making that personal one-on-one time with God a priority.

We all have the same amount of time. It’s OUR choice how we spend it. Now, we may of made a slue of wrong decisions so that we are a slave to so many things that discretionary time is non-existent, but bad choices aren’t written in stone, especially with the power of God at work in your life. God can reconstruct our lives starting today by us making better choices, specifically putting Him first in spending time with Him. This issue of making better choices brings up the first reason why we need to make spending time with God a priority and how that CRITICAL decision gives us more time to do what we need to. There are many reasons, but in consideration of your time – I’ll list four ☺

1. Wisdom – How we all could use more wisdom! God tells us that wisdom is the principle thing and to ask and seek for it. Proverbs 4:5-7 Our life is full of choices every day – and without wisdom from above we will make choices that enslave us instead of free us and keep us from moving forward toward where we REALLY want to go. Without wisdom we make bad decisions that bind us, so that we don’t have enough time for what truly matters. Wisdom comes from abiding the Word of God in faith. Got wisdom, got time.

2. Live of Balance and Rest – God desires us to have a balanced life – not one of chaos, frazzled and hassled– something very few people have as reflected in the fact that they don’t ever have enough time. Throughout the Bible there are verses about how God desires this soul state for us. Abiding is His Word brings this equilibrium into our lives. When we abide in truth, He starts to reorganize our life and priorities, which leads to a life of balance and rest. If we put Him first, He works out the rest. I’ve experienced this truth over and over. Putting Him first, requires trust and letting go, two things that come from cultivating a real relationship with Him. Got balance, got time.

3. Life free of lies – Lies bound and enslave us. The truth frees us. Many of us have bondage in our lives because of the lies we’ve mistaken for truth. We lack the healing and deliverance because we don’t have the truth. Truth heals. This bondage steals our time. For example, we try to prove and earn our worthiness by taking on all sorts of obligations. When you spend time with God each day – the truth starts to replace the lies and freedom is the result.

Women in particular, perhaps because I’m a woman, have fallen for many lies influenced by society about who they should be and what it means to be a successful woman. Ultimately it’s a life demanding EXTREME busyness. It’s an insane standard of existence. Believing those lies has created many unhealthy women on many levels. What is the way out? The truth. The truth comes from drawing near to God, because He is truth. When we draw near to Him, He invades our soul and brings the Truth with Him. Got truth, got time.

4. Power of God – As God invades our soul as we spend time with Him, His power and all that He is starts to manifest in our life. His power enables us to do things we never could; make our paths smooth, surround us with godly favor, makes us more productive and effective, defeats the enemies within and without that cause hardship, brings healing and the list goes on. All these outcomes of His power at work help us to live smoother, more productive, and restful lives. Got power, got time.

We are trying so hard to strive for __________. When we are neglecting the One who can make all the difference in moving us into a place we desire to be.

A life WITHOUT an intimate and growing relationship with God, isn’t life. It’s a mad house of extreme effort and never getting to where you really want to be.

God is life. Only by being deeply and actively in communion with Him do we have true life as well. Because, ONE – He desires to be in an intimate union with us, so it will never work apart from Him. TWO – He desires for us to live a purposeful life glorifying His power and love, the one He uniquely created for us to live. You can’t disconnect the two for together they are the fulfillment of our purpose.

Not making time to spend with God keeps us in a place where we will never have the time. Not having time is no longer an excuse, because it’s the answer. Now rethink and reorganize your day and put Him first. It’s a decision that will put you on a path headed to where you really want to be, consumed in Him and abiding in abundant life.

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