Forgiving

Do not dismiss the fact of your own hurt by underplaying the severity of the wounds you have received; do not trespass against your own heart in this way. See the terrible hurt of rejection you sustained, and forgive those who dealt the blows. This is Christ’s way. Emulate Him. He never said, “Oh, what you did wasn’t so bad after all.” He said, “Father, forgive them.”

Forgiveness opens the door to the acceptance of love, and loving others is a risk. The only greater risk to one’s heart and health lies in the danger of refusing to love.

Mary Versus Martha

Do not fear so much, Child, nor fight so hard for the approval of your fellow human beings.

You break your strength and damage your own heart when you make unwise sacrifices in order to keep the respect of other people. What is respect without love? And love brings with it a respect of its own, a respect that is closely related to delight. When you choose labor as a way to prove your love and to earn respect, you work for what you already have and strive for what you do not need.

Do not labor as though to win the love that is already yours. Stop striving to earn respect that you do not need, and rest in the peace of God's perfect love. See to it that your labors reflect an extension of God's love rather than a desire to earn human affection.

Scripture: "Mary...sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted..." (Luke 10:39-40a).

Re Dieting

Do not put "do and do" and "rule on rule" over your own head. The devil loves lists. They help him to organize his strategies of attack; and you cannot stand against him. The only way you can be unpredictable to Satan is to abide in the Lord.

In-the-moment obedience will protect you.

The enemy of your soul can’t touch your will; he can only manipulate your desires. A commitment to obey is difficult for him to attack.

An obedience commitment differs from the kind of desperate game you play when you attempt to outfox your sinful nature. Commitment does not need to destroy the source of temptation or even to hide from it.

Commit, not to abstaining or partaking or to any set of rules; but to the Lord.

Scripture: "...he said, 'This is the resting place, let the weary rest'; and, 'This is the place of repose'—but they would not listen. So then, the word of the LORD to them will become: Do and do, do and do, rule on rule, rule on rule; a little here, a little there—so that they will go and fall backward, be injured and snared and captured (Isaiah 28:12-13).

"There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God..." (Hebrews 4:9).

 

Solomon's Song

Do not judge yourself by the world's standards. If you believe you are no longer lovable because you are growing old, then you make the error of worshiping at the altar of human perfection (which is always an illusion) and forfeit the Heavenly vision of the true perfection that is yours in Christ Jesus.

The Song of Solomon is an allegory of God’s love told through the story of a human love. He created human love as a type and foreshadow of the perfection of His desire for His beloved, the church. He desires you corporately, as a member of the body of Christ; and individually, as the unique individual He has created you to be. Come to Him. Come to Him and be satisfied, even now, by His love.

Scripture: "I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine..." (Song of Solomon 6:3a KJV).

"He has taken me to the banquet hall; and his banner over me is love" (Song of Solomon 2:4).

Once Again: Do Not be Afraid!

Fear is a normal response to frightening things. It is not invalid, but it is unnecessary.

Although you may not like its appearance, a snake behind a glass is not fearsome. You would be perfectly safe to lie down and fall asleep with your back to the glass, because the snake cannot reach you.

The terrors you fear in the future cannot touch you today. Like the protective glass between you and a serpent in an enclosure, time is your protector in the moment you are in. For this present day, the future has no hold on you and no power to harm. Fear of the future is unnecessary, because “now” is where you live. Live in your present, and leave your future to the Lord.

It Will Not Happen a Second Time

Loving others is a risk. It is like lowering your shield and putting away your sword in order to extend the right hand of fellowship. You have been betrayed in the past, and so you fear the possibility of hurt through rejection, particularly a humiliating rejection such as that you experienced before. Believe in the Lord's promise when He says this kind of sorrow will not happen a second time.

Blessings will overtake you; make preparation! It would not seem necessary to prepare for blessings, but it is prudent to do so. It is possible to be overwhelmed by blessing as well as by stress. Be overwhelmed by God's presence and His love, and all will be well apart from any material or physical preparation you make.

The Lord asks you to trust Him and to remember that He is in your circumstances. Go with the flow of His perfect will. God is with you. He acts on your behalf to protect you. It is safe to trust Him. All of His promises are good.

Scripture: "Moses answered the people, 'Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again'" (Exodus 14:13).

"And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God" Deuteronomy 28:2, KJV.

Sweeten the Message

God's voice, as it flows through you, becomes flavored with who you are in Him. Sin would taint the final product, but a pure heart and mind only lends flavor, like a teaspoon of vanilla in cookie dough. You actually have the opportunity to enhance His message—not to change it, but to enhance it—when you walk the narrow way.

Although he himself was slovenly, Balaam repeated God's messages verbatim; and the Lord's power is such that Balaam was recognized as a prophet. God's word will stand, regardless of the individual He uses as a vessel or a channel. But how much better if His spokesperson sweetens the message!

God uses those He chooses, and you must not gauge the veracity of a prophet’s message based on the appearance of the prophet. But He has placed His hand on your unique way of expressing your thoughts and feelings. Again He reminds you, do not edit your responses based on the reactions of other people, but look to the Lord!


Scripture: "Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ" (Galatians 1:10).

Look to the Lord

In your interactions with other human beings, you are afraid of rejection. You now find yourself at an impasse between yourself and one who needs your love, because fear of rejection is at work on both sides. You must make the first move, and follow it with a second move, and another, and another. Acts of love; intentional, confident, calm. The Lord will help you.

You say that your spontaneity has been crushed by the negative words and actions of others; then do not be manipulated by other peoples’ reactions. Dance to the music the Lord has placed within your heart and mind, and trust that initial responses may not be accurate indicators of heart responses.

Resurrection Life

Focus upon resurrection life day by day, and do not dwell in a grief-stricken way upon the pathos of a man born to die for the sins of the world. The Cross stands at the center of eternity as a symbol of Christ's passion to obey His Heavenly Father, but it is the fruit Christ brought forth on that Cross that gives hope to your heart. Jesus has been resurrected as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Do not weep for the man who died. You did not know him as a human being. He does not mean you to bear the grief the disciples bore, or to focus upon human grief. The crucifixion occurred in one moment in time, but for all of eternity the Resurrection resounds with His victory song. Do you not hear it? This is cause for rejoicing, not for tears.

Remember Good Friday one day a year, and honor it as the pivotal Holy event on the time line of mankind; but take the Resurrection with you every day into eternity.

How the Devil Gets In

The enemy often enters a situation in the backwash of emotion that results from an injury to the heart (emotions). It is important to understand that access is not gained via the hurt itself, but through our own attempts to provide balm for the pain from any other source than Jesus. Vigilance is needed. We allow things we should not allow because of hungry and hurting hearts whose only hope of true satisfaction is in the Lord.

Satan is going to attempt to enter in using forged invitations. The vigilance that is required is a constant “being on our guard” against his schemes. He has no legal right to gain access to the heart or life of a forgiven child of God; he can enter in only as a trespasser and a thief. When he is caught, he has to go.

It is much easier to refuse the devil access at the door than it is to get him out once he’s established a camp as a squatter. He does not go without a struggle. But it is a struggle that we are ordained to win.

Scripture: "Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy, the devil, prowls around like a hungry lion, looking for someone to devour" (1 Peter 5:8).

Romans 6

Your present wrongdoing does not add to the weight of the sin that Jesus has already borne on your account. Christ's sacrificial death on the Cross has won your salvation. It is finished. In the economy of the Kingdom of God, your sins have already been paid in full. 

However, within the confines of time, you may still have opportunity to refuse sin and thus ease the suffering of your Lord and Savior. This is a paradox that you cannot fully understand, limited as you are by your time-bound perspective.

But you are able to understand this: Do not "...continue in sin so that grace may abound" (Romans 6:1 KJV).

Scripture: "The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires...For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace." Romans 6:10-11, 14.

Faith

Turmoil in the world along with failures in your personal faith walk have caused you to suffer a low level, energy sapping depression. Turn from your negative thoughts and accept that there is hope for your future. Of course there will be struggles, but you will become stronger, happier, more certain of your eternal destiny, more cognizant of your faith in God.

Your faith is the precious conduit through which Heaven flows to Earth via the terminal of your heart. As a prism divides a beam of light into the colors of the spectrum, God's word flowing to your heart by faith can be directed to minister to the needs of those who are earthbound. The Lord touches the world through your heart and hands, and He has come to your heart through faith. Your faith in God through Jesus Christ via the Holy Spirit provides the healing power of grace to a hurting world.

Scripture: "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen" Hebrews 11:1 KJV

Christ in You

How easily you doubt the veracity of the gift you have been given. God's voice channels through your mind, and the vernacular that results seems an unlikely expression for the Most Holy God. Do not doubt Christ in you. The piquant tone your voice lends to the truths He speaks through you does not diminish the truth itself. The Lord  cannot be contained or channeled through a human vessel, but when you are  yielded to Him, you become an instrument in His hand. The melody of your words is the result of the virtuosity of the master musician; Mozart played on a harmonica is still Mozart!

You are a unique and beautiful instrument that each day is being conformed more and more into His likeness. When you are perfected, you will be uniquely beautiful; a lovely expression of the creativity and love of your Lord and God. 

Scripture:  "To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory" (Colossians 1:27).  

Liberated to New Life

You are in a depressed frame of mind because you have understood that things that are seen will pass away. Instead of dwelling on the fact that you are living on a planet that has been condemned to death, think of it in this way instead; you are living on a planet that will be liberated to new life. Set your affections on those things that are eternal, and you will not be disappointed.

You have made a twofold error. On the one hand, you suffer an unholy grief that comes from a sinful focus upon and affection for the things on this world. On the other, having understood that what is seen is temporary, you neglect your responsibilities out of a “what’s the use, none of this is going to last” attitude. The solution is to understand that this world is a training ground for the next. The patience and discipline required to clean a drawer or deny yourself food for the sake of obedience and prayer will bear fruit in the next world, not in the form of clean closets or a slender body, but in the virtues of patience and obedience. By submitting your will to the Lord's, you learn of Him. This knowledge will bless you both in this world and in the next. The world would deitize the results of labor spent to beautify or organize. God honors the labor itself, blesses you with the fruits of that labor, and teaches you to value the virtues you’ve gained rather than the material objects that you have organized. However, so long as He is the treasure of your heart, He does bless you with material gifts; a man is not jealous of the diamond ring he gives to his beloved unless he knows she values the ring over him. Likewise, the Lord your God will withhold no good thing in this world or the next from those whose hearts are set on the obedience that springs from love for Him.

Scripture: "For the LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD bestows favor and honor; no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless" (Psalm 84:11).

While We Were Yet Sinners...

You fear losing the privilege of God's presence, but His presence with you is not a privilege, it is a gift.

You fear the Lord will turn His back because of your sin and faithlessness. He will not turn away. His son died that you may experience the light of His presence.

You are nothing the most Holy God might be expected to desire, and yet, He does desire you; not by your merit, but for His own name's sake. It is because of who He is that you are accepted, and so when you are aware that you’ve sinned you do not need to fear rejection. You need only appropriate His presence through grace. God forgives. That He is able to forgive is not because of you, but because of Jesus Christ.

Rest, now, rest.


"But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8).

Uncomfortable Truth

Our Heavenly Father endures the outcry of His suffering saints for one reason and one reason alone, and that is for the sake of the unsaved. If the work of offering salvation to those who are able to be rescued were complete, then the Lord would hasten to return and end the suffering of this broken world once and for all.

What have we done to further His cause of saving those who are lost?

We can anesthetize the pain that is the inevitable result of living in a broken world. We can hide in our houses and pull the covers of comfort over our heads. We can allow fear to separate us from an awareness of God’s will for those who are in need of our ministering hands and hearts.

Or we can say, “Here I am, send me,” (Isaiah 6:8) and, “Come, Lord Jesus!" (Revelation 22:20).

Our participation in His work hastens the time of His return. Our desire for perfect unity with Him fuels our efforts to speed His return. If we truly desire His return, we will want to help in the effort to complete His work.

Strengthening

You have prayed for strength, but the Lord will do more than that; He will remove the influences that weaken you. There are two ways to be strengthened. One is through a strengthening program of exercise, the other is through restoration. He will "...restore you to health and heal your wounds, because you are called an outcast, Zion for whom no one cares" (Jeremiah 30:17). Restoration includes loosing the shackles that have bound you, and removing the substances that have sickened you. You have suffered the illness of oppression, and have become strong through the bearing of many burdens. When the burdens are removed, the strength will become apparent. You are not weak; you have been oppressed. The Lord is going to set you free.

Scripture: "Strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way; say to those with fearful hearts,'Be strong, do not fear; your God will come...Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away" (Isaiah 35:3,4,10b)

Here Am I

You are not to seek repentance, but rather, holiness. There is a difference.

The desire to be holy springs from the desire to be closer to God, to enter into His presence, and to gaze in adoration upon His face. The first, faltering steps toward Holiness almost immediately results in the humiliation of Godly sorrow, because it becomes instantly apparent that you fall short of that which is necessary to enter God’s presence. All your sins stand out in bas relief*. It becomes very clear that you need a Savior. Repentance is the willingness, born of desire for God and humble awareness of one’s own sin, to accept the Holy Blood of the Savior in order to gain God’s presence.

To seek holiness is to seek God Himself.

*Note: Bas-relief (pronounced bah-relief) refers to fine lines carved into stone. The design stands out from the background and is especially apparent when light casts shadows across the design.

Scripture: "'Woe to me!' I cried. 'I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty.'


"Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, 'See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.'

"Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, 'Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?'

"And I said, 'Here am I. Send me!'" (Isaiah 6:5-8).

Have You Forgotten?

Dear One. Child. Have you forgotten? How easily you forget that the Lord is your sustenance and strength.

Do not relegate the privilege of hearing His voice into a closed room, labeled, “To be opened when I am obedient.”

....but Joy Comes...

Grief recalls former grief. Similarly, happiness shades the past so that all memories seem happy. You will be happy again. Your memories will sweeten as this present grief lessens.

The Lord does not count your wounds as being small or inconsequential. Abide in Him. Know where your heart resides. The Lord is with you.

Scripture: "Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you preserve my life; you stretch out your hand against the anger of my foes, with your right hand you save me. The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me; your love, O LORD, endures forever--do not abandon the works of your hands" (Psalm 138: 7-8).

Additional reading: Psalm 13.

re Psalm 23

Child, the Psalm does not say, “I shall fear no evil so long as I don’t do anything stupid or disobedient.”

It says, “I shall fear no evil, for thou art with me.” There are no qualifiers. The Lord is with you, period.

Now, REST!

Lost in Order to be Found

You belong to the Lord, and He loves you. Yes, there is encroaching ugliness wherever you look, but do not forget His power to beautify. You’ve heard the saying, “God is in the details,” but I want you to remember now that He is in the impression others have of your body, your home, your car: your “presentation.” He is in how they perceive you. And Child, how they perceive you is not nearly so important as you begin to believe when you are weary.

The voice in your head that dictates whether you are “good” or “bad” is not the Lord's. Look to Him for your self-concept, if you must have a self-concept at all. You are most completely yourself when you are focused upon Him, because He is most completely alive in you when you rest in Him. It’s counterintuitive. You lose yourself in Him and find yourself more uniquely you than you’ve ever been before.

Scripture: "I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds" (John 12:24).