Archive | November, 2014

The Overwhelmed Life

11 Nov

It was put before me recently to explain what God’s Word means to me. Not in an apologetics, logical, reasoning, I’m going to try and convince you to see it the same kind of way but in a heart-all-out-there personal kind of way. I’m not certain I had ever contemplated anyone wanting to know that before and honestly, creation swap heart Stephen Ramkissoon 4959 graceI wasn’t prepared for the emotions, affection, and love that meditating on the personal meaning of God’s Word brought about in me. There was a sense of this “almost too much Lord” in trying to string together with some kind of clarity exactly what it means to me to sit so close to the Throne and be welcomed there.

One of my favorite songs right now is Overwhelmed by Big Daddy Weave. It came on the radio the other night as I was driving home by myself and I was so engulfed in the mercy of Jesus, the pure love of Him, that I was exactly what the title of the song said . . .Overwhelmed.

creation swap blue2 Joshua Lenon 5971 bigdaddyweaveThe most beautiful pictures slid through my mind. I saw myself running to the arms of the Father with Jesus – the very One who had made the way – right beside me whispering “Go child, go.” And He had tears in His eyes. I felt absolutely covered in Him. Even as I let my mind’s eye wander back and re-experience the moment, I feel the love for Him well up in my throat. See, I’ve been praying not only to love Jesus but to be in love with Jesus. For me, those pictures, being lost in the wonderment of Him, marveling at the All of Him, was confirmation that He hears our every prayer.

This challenge, to give shape and form to what the Word means to me, brought about that same overwhelming sense of affection and love. I didn’t worry about being able to offer the Scripture references that led me to write what I did or make certain there was a commentary written by someone smarter than me that confirmed what I thought, I just let myself see Him. Experience Him. Worship Him.

I let myself feel His embrace and the overwhelmed in me poured onto the page.

The Bible, the Word of God, the Voice of Heaven, the Breath of Love—is life to me. Nothing else stirs me, energizes me, moves me, thrills me or humbles me like He does. I am left slack-jawed and steeped in awe that He would stoop from Heaven to speak to me –the very worst one. But He does. Over and over again He does. And with every syllable I hear Him whisper, “I love you.” And my heart reaches back with, “I love you too.”

Girlfriend, isn’t He just too much? I always encourage women to take His promises as their own . . . to get up close with His Word and breathe It in – because I know that’s the only place we’ll find the tenacity and courage to really live and love with abundance on this temporal planet. Only when I inhale Love, when I meet Him in the pages of His Word, do I have even a slight chance of getting my flesh out of the way and exhaling any semblance of it. Breathe in “Capital L” Love. Breathe Out “little l” love. Watch God and do what He does. See His posture of love and try to stand the same way. Observe Christ and copy Him through the power of the Spirit. Look at the way He wears Love from head-to-toe and put on a matching outfit.

creation swap wheat Wagner Daniel 1269 ephesians

Oh Sweet One, we cannot watch Him, we cannot keep company with Him, we cannot observe Him without falling in love with Him. We breathe Him in and then breathe Him out. The Bible is not black words on white paper. It is life!

On both sides of the Covenant Line –His Word is life!

They are not just idle words for you—they are your life. Deuteronomy 32:47

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. John 1:1-4

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. 1 John 1:1

. . . so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.” Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky as you hold firmly to the word of life. Philippians 2:15-16

And Sister make no mistake that the Word of Life has a name . . .

I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and wages war. His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself.  He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God.

The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. Coming out of his mouth is a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. “He will rule them with an iron scepter.” He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty.

creationswap blackbackground white rose Billy Page 1180 revelation

Revelation 19:11-16

That, Beloved, is who is beckoning you to His side. The King of Kings and Lord of Lords wants to speak to you from the pages. The Word of Life wants to overwhelm you and me with “Capital L” Love. . . . to breathe life into our souls. Not spoon fed life – real, dig-into-it-myself and come up with my lungs and heart full of Him life. Because while we can certainly glean from the insights of others, we absolutely cannot breathe with the Spirit second hand.

And Sweet Friend, the beauty of it is we don’t have to. Pick up your Bible. Pull the app up on your phone. Listen to it on your headphones. Whatever choice sits before you– choose it! And Girlfriend, when you do, you can be confident that what you will find will be absolutely oxygen to your soul.  For you my Friend have chosen to sit before the Throne in the very Presence of Love, to inhale the Word made flesh, and to take in the All of Him.  You have chosen to live, you have chosen the overwhelmed LIFE!

creation swap bible roses Gail Wall 11243 deut3247

(Overwhelmed Music & Lyrics: Mike Weaver / Phil Wickham)

But God! . . .

4 Nov

For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.

creation swap cross thorns Michael Bernico 17823 1thess59

1 Thessalonians 5:9

Sisters – Let the wind of the Spirit blow over those words and drive them deep into your heart this day. We have been rescued! Those who have believed in their hearts, confessed with their mouths, and this day are being transformed from one degree of glory to another have been ushered into safety by our Sweet Messiah.

Try not to get all caught up in the shades of the word appoint when you read the verse– some translations have it “destined” others use the word “intend” – there may be a time and place when you are called to pull the Sovereignty threads apart and seek out Scripture’s guidance on that particular word but for just the few moments that you will spend reading this post let’s keep to the Strong’s Concordance definition of “to decree one to be subject to” and throw our hats in with A.W. Tozer in the Pursuit of God . . .

God will not hold us responsible to understand the mysteries of election, predestination, and the divine sovereignty. The best and safest way to deal with these truths is to raise our eyes to God and in deepest reverence say, “O Lord, Thou knowest.” Those things belong to the deep and mysterious Profound of God’s omniscience. Prying into them may make theologians, but it will never make saints.

Let’s rejoice together that if we have claimed Christ as our Savior then God in His infinite grace has not decreed that we are subject to His wrath.

In Bible study this last week the class was challenged to ponder the word wrath and jot down the things that popped to mind.  I’m certain we came up with many of the same ideas and concepts your mind would conjure given the opportunity.

  • Punishment
  • Unrelenting Pain
  • Destruction
  • Unrestrained Anger

And maybe the most pointed term of all – DESERVED.

And yet, God did not decree those who believe to be subject to punishment, unrelenting pain, destruction, unrestrained anger – He chose not to subject us to exactly what our sins deserved. Rather, His appointment for we who believe is to obtain salvation. Beloved, the thing He has decreed for the Romans 10:9-10 believer is rescue.

  • Preservation
  • Deliverance
  • Safety
  • Grace

Unmerited favor placed squarely on your shoulders, squarely on my shoulders, because the Messiah chose to place the Beam across His.

Is His compassion not breathtaking? It’s unfathomable that He loves us so. What faithfulness He displays to we who by nature are children of wrath . . .

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. Ephesians 2:1-3

It’s our nature to be children of wrath, but here Sweet Sister is the entrance of Grace and Love . . .

BUT GOD . . .

But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love that He had for us, made us alive with the Messiah even though we were dead in trespasses. You are saved by grace! Ephesians 2:4-5

I don’t know what that does for your heart or how it quickens your spirit but for me it feels a superhero has swooped in from heaven and saved me from certain death at my own hands!   Do you see it?

BUT GOD . . .

And the Creator of the universe stoops from heaven to lift you . . .to lift me . . to the Rock of certainty. To hide us in the cleft . . . to hold us in the place of safety that we do not deserve. What so great of rescue is this that the Son would wear our death so that we might be dressed in life?

Every act of disobedience merits retribution. Every sin deserves punishment.

Retribution—Punishment—Wrath is exactly what I deserve . . . BUT GOD!

He has saved us, rescued those, who were by nature children of wrath, placed our punishment on the head of Christ and appointed to us the crown of life . . . BUT GOD!

Girlfriend, we cannot make too much of those two words — BUT GOD!  They are our lifeline.  It’s what we live on! Cling to! Trust in! It’s our firm foundation to know without a doubt that the mercy of God has sliced through the world timeline in the person of Jesus Christ and looked directly at us with the Face of Grace.

It’s what makes our walk confident when we should be anything but in this very dark world.  It’s what makes our faith unshakable when our circumstances quake around us. And it’s what makes us stand firm in the face of our enemy for greater is He who is in us than He who is the world.

So Sweet One, no matter where the pressure comes from today, rather the assault is from without or the attack is from within – you steady your heart in His love, stare that thing in the face, raise the hand of victory and you declare for all the heavenlies to hear. . . BUT GOD!

creation swap heart in bible Marian Trinidad 7896 eph245

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