Welcome to another edition of Java, Jammies, and Jesus!
Agree with God
You are the crowning achievement of all His creative power!
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I’m sure you have noticed this, too…. as you go through life, God shifts the direction of your path, or so it seems, sometimes ever so slightly, giving you a new focus or renewing a previous one.
How do I know it’s God?
Because, for me, it starts with a small hint in my heart, a fleeting thought in my mind, but often a persistent and inescapable one.
This particular thought was simply, “I need more of You today, Lord.”
Nothing revelatory, extraordinary, or pivotal.
I often think, “I need more of You, Lord.” After all, that is why I began the practice of being in His presence and writing to Him daily.
So, why does this thought have … this day …. an edge of distinction?Could it be another lesson or a prior lesson tweaked?
The Lord has taught me to come to Him with all my problems, issues, or concerns. He has shown me His faithfulness over and over.
However, I noticed recently that my letters to Him have become too focused on my concerns. I’ve talked to the Lord enough about them. I can definitely sense that.
And yet, I’m not settled or satisfied.
Something is still missing.
Peace is not flowing like a river, and I want it to.
I need it to.
I am looking for that rest that only He can give, but seaching for it does not yield it. It only seems to make it more elusive.
And then the spontaneous utterance, as if God is forming the thoughts in my mind, only in first person. “I need more of You, Lord. Not solutions. You.”
Ah, yes, I detect a slight shift in my soul. I know there is more.But now what? Worship? Pray? Yes, and sweet it is…. but there’s more… there’s always more…and I want it.
Again, the tug in my heart, “I need more of You, Lord.” My concerns begin to take a back seat, fading into faith. I am sensing a heavenly perspective, and it brings relief.
But there is more.
I am drawn to watch a Bill Johnson message. I cry. My heart throbs for God. He is all I want. Any disturbance my concerns had to my peace has dissolved.
I just want Him, His purposes, His manifestations of power and love.
And then, there’s the book.
That book that has been sitting on my nightstand for, how long? Months maybe?
You know how books and magazines pile up on our nightstands, with every intention of reading them before we drift off to sleep.
But for me, in 2, maybe 3 paragraphs, I’m snoring, glasses still on my face, the book waving up and down as it wants to fall to the covers. Often my dear husband, takes the book and the glasses, and quietly turns off my light, mostly without my knowledge.
Well, last week I put away all those books, except for one. One I started months ago, but just couldn’t get into.
This night though, with undeniable attraction, I picked it up, and captured by the love and power of God revealed in those pages, I couldn’t put the book down.
Don’t you love how God moves within us, sometimes so subtly, drawing our attention to what He knows will enrich and elevate us?
The book? Expecting Miracles, by Rolland and Heidi Baker. Not your typical missionary book where you marvel at the missionary, but end up feeling small and inadequate yourself, maybe even guilty that you are not having such “strong exploits.”
No. This book is a most inspiring, magnetizing, and hopeful book. God knew what I needed to read.
In the coming days, I would like to bring you some of the excerpts that have delighted my heart and renewed my perspective.
The point of today’s encouragement for you (and me) is: God loves us and is in charge of our paths. He is actively working to bring us into greater and greater awareness of His desire, love and esteem for us.
He speaks, often subtly through our own thoughts, in a first person voice. So, don’t ever dismiss the power of the heavenly hint. He wants to lead us, so He can pour out His richest blessings upon us, not the least of which is Rest.
I leave you with one sentence from the Baker’s book that touched me immeasurably:
“In Jesus we are the crowning achievement of all His creative power.” (p. 185)
Meditate on that one for a century!
To His Glory and Love for you all,
Maryann
This is definitely something that has been sitting in my spirit for months now. Knowing there is more of the Lord I want and now knowing how to get to him ( his love and power), I even said to the Lord that I want to know more of him not through the words of testimonies of others or through sermons, but our through our relationship. This encourages me because I am not alone in feeling this and I know he is true to answer.