With my lips I declare
all the rules of your mouth.
In the way of your
testimonies I delight
as much as in all riches.
Psalm 119:13-14 ESV
Fifteen years ago this month my life changed forever. For
six years my husband and I had been ministering to college age adults out of
our home once or twice a week, sometimes three times a week. Every Sunday
evening, we had a Bible study and fellowship time for them, followed by dinner.
We had an average attendance of about 25 young adults each week, during most of
those years. And, all four of our children and their spouses were involved in
the ministry at one time or another, too.
And, sometimes we did midweek Bible studies, and part of
that time we also were involved with 2 different Christian coffee houses where
we also ministered to college age adults, and where we also involved these
young adults in ministry. And, we were very big on giving everyone something
that they could do where they felt needed and wanted, whether it was cooking a
meal, or singing or playing musical instruments, or making coffee at the coffee
house or whatever. We really felt like we were one big family.
Some of these young adults were now graduating college and
we were all talking about the possibility of making this ministry our church
home. So, my husband and I began the process of preparing for ordination
(consecration for me) through our home church’s denomination. Now, this was the
second time we had been church planters. But, let’s just say that God had other
plans for me, which became abundantly clear to me, and that was that church
planting was not the direction the Lord was taking me.
I know I have shared this before, but during the summer of
that year, the year 2004, I began reading my grandmother’s journals. She kept
quoting this same phrase over and over again, but I was unfamiliar with it, so
I finally looked it up. She was quoting Habakkuk 2:2-3. And, then this passage
of scripture kept showing up other places, too, and then the Lord began
speaking to me about him having something else for me to do – something I would
not have even dreamed about, and he was right.
Then, in November of that year the Lord began to speak to me
through the scriptures in a very unique way. As I was reading the scriptures,
he was giving me visions of how this was being lived out in our day and time. In
other words, he began showing me the times we are now living in, and he opened
my eyes to see so many things that I had no clue about before, regarding what
is going on in our world and inside the institutional church, and with regard
to the spiritual condition of the church here in my country, in America.
And, the Lord led me then to begin writing down some of the
things he was teaching me through his word in all practicality to our world and
church today, and he led me to post these on the internet. So, this was
completely new to me. I had not ever done anything like that before. It was not
every day back then, though, for we still had the college ministry out of our
home. We had just stopped with proceeding any further towards church planting.
Then, by May of 2006 the Lord closed the doors on our
college ministry after seven and a half years of that ministry. And,
immediately after that, in June, he called me to begin writing daily what he
teaches me from his Word and to post it on the internet. So, I have been
declaring “the rules of the Lord,” his Word, on the internet pretty much daily
since June of 2006. But, it was this month of November of 2004 when the
direction of my life changed forever. And, I am so glad it did.
I will meditate on
your precepts
and fix my eyes on your ways.
I will delight in your
statutes;
I will not forget your word.
Psalm 119:15-16 ESV
There have been times in my life when I was quite serious
about my walk with the Lord, and there were other times in my life when I got
more caught up in the world, and the Lord was not the center of my life. But,
since November 2004, he has definitely been the very center of my life, and my
life has been given over to him to do what he has called me to do.
Especially since 2006 I have been able to focus my time and
talents on this calling on my life to write out what he teaches me each day
from his Word and to post it on the internet. But, it isn’t just that. It isn’t
just that I am giving more time to the Word of God so that I can share it with
others. It is that my eyes truly are fixed on his ways, and I am dedicated to
following him in his ways and in doing all that he leads me to do.
The Word of God is alive in my heart and in my mind all the
time, even in my dreams. When I awake in the mornings, I am hearing the Lord
speak to me through a song or through a dream or through a scripture in my
head. And, he continues to speak to me all throughout the day in many ways. He
does speak to me a lot through songs, which are scripture put to music, because
I remember things better when they are put to music. Plus, the music and the
words do minister to my heart so much.
But, the joy of my heart is my Lord, and it is to do his
will. That doesn’t mean my flesh always rejoices when he gets me up after I
only had 2 hours of sleep or he keeps me up late when my flesh would love to go
to sleep. Yet, I yield to him, and I do what he says, and he sustains me, and
he gives me his strength and endurance, and I am able to do his will because he
strengthens me and he gives me the guidance I need to do his will.
I am a sojourner on
the earth;
hide not your commandments from me!
My soul is consumed
with longing
for your rules at all times.
Psalm 119:19-20 ESV
I don’t think I truly realized what it means to be a
sojourner (a stranger) on this earth as much as I have felt it since November
of 2004. For, when I made that choice then to accept God’s calling on my life,
I realized that I was shutting the door completely on my former life. I would
never go back to where I was before. Holiness is where I had to now live. I
truly had to live separate (unlike, different) from the world if I was to do
what God had called me to do.
This is not saying I have been perfect since then. God is
still growing me. He is still changing me and making me who I ought to be. Every
day I still have to say “NO!” to the flesh and “YES!” to God. Daily I am being
conformed to his likeness as, by the Spirit, I am putting to death the flesh and
I am putting on Christ and his righteousness. So, I press on, like Paul said.
But, the closer my walk with the Lord has become, and the
more that my soul is consumed with longing for His Word, and that my heart
cries out to God when I see so many people who call themselves Christians
forsaking the ways of the Lord to follow after their flesh, the more I feel
that I am a stranger on this earth. This world is not my home, I’m just passing
through on my way to heaven.
I feel like an oddball lots of times. I don’t fit in with
most people groups, not even with most church gatherings. But, you know, we
should all be oddballs. We should all stand out as different from the people of
the world. We shouldn’t be like the world – none of us! It is a lie of Satan to
tell Christians that they need to blend in with the world so that the world
doesn’t think we are oddballs. But, we are supposed to be different.
We are supposed to be different, for Jesus called us out
from the world. But, somewhere we have gotten this idea along the way that “different”
is bad, and that we need to mix more with the world so that they can see that
we are “one of them.” But, Jesus said we aren’t supposed to be “one of them.”
We are supposed to be his possession, that we might live lives which are
different from the world because we are being made to be like Jesus.
The Spirit Calling
An Original Work /
November 12, 2019
Hear the Spirit calling.
He’ll keep you from falling.
Tenderly He’s calling,
“Come and follow Him.”
Walk with Jesus daily.
Don’t give in to lazy.
Folks may call you crazy.
Fellowship with Him.
Follow where He leads you.
Eat what Jesus feeds you.
His love will renew you
If you follow Him.
Do what Jesus tells you.
Don’t let your faith fail you.
His love will avail you
If you walk with Him.
Jesus, Lord and Savior,
Reigneth now forever.
He gave us His favor
So we’d live with Him.
Turning now from our sin,
Holy Spirit live-in.
Holiness we walk in,
Purified by Him.
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