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).

Come to the Waters

Child, you spend so much time pouring the water and preparing to bathe that you sometimes lack time to actually step into the water! No preparation is needed to bathe in the waters of God's grace. You can come as you are, trusting that He has prepared the way for you. Plunge right in!

Scripture: "Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters..." (Isaiah 55:1).

His Desire is for You

The Lord is with you, intimately with you. He desires you, He breathes deeply of your scent; He delights in you.

You can’t be perfectly united with Him just yet, not in the way that you will experience togetherness with Him in the future; but you can delight in his company and allow Him to take delight in you in the here and now. Fulfillment of the longing in your heart will come soon; until then He is with you. You are not frustrated over longing for a human being; you are frustrated over longing to see your Lord face to face.

He longs for you uniquely, and He loves you uniquely. The part of Him that belongs to you belongs to no one else; you know Him in a way that no one else does; and He knows you completely. You touch a place in His heart that no one else can satisfy.

You will be completely satisfied in Him, and He in you. He is the Lover like no other; He completes you. You complete Him. Without you, He is whole, but He is not satisfied. Without Him you can be neither whole nor satisfied. Let Him prepare you for Himself. Let Him prepare you to be the perfect bride.

You don’t understand how this can be so, but do understand the fact that it IS so. Not seeing Him, you love Him. This is faith.

Feed on Him. Partake of His body and His blood, and find satisfaction for your hunger, your desire, your longing.

Scripture: "Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you"
(Psalm 73:25).

"I belong to my lover, and his desire is for me" (Song of Solomon 7:10).

Turn on the Light and Shut the Door

During a time of darkness God’s voice may not sound clearly in your ears, but understand that your perception of Him has nothing to do with the facts of His power, protection, and presence. He is with you always, regardless of the state of your hearing.

Do not give way to grief. Restrain your voice from weeping and your eyes from tears (Jeremiah 31:16). The Lord is bringing about healing as you walk and work and rest. Rest in Him now Child, rest.

You have brought your grief to the Lord’s light; now leave it in His hands. The healing occurs in the background, apart from your conscious awareness. This is by His mercy and love. You have turned on the light, now shut the door. You do not need to look at grief; instead, look upon His face.

Scripture: "I will strengthen them in the Lord, and in his name they will walk" (Zechariah 10:12).

In Christ Alone

Dear One, you belong to the Lord; you are His own. The place you are now is not the place you will always be. He is bringing you out! Deliverance does not depend upon you, but upon Him. If you do not turn, He will place His strong hand upon you and you WILL change direction, not by your own choice but by His. Would you risk falling into the hands of the living God? Scripture says that this is a "dreadful thing" (see Hebrews 10:31). When God moves powerfully, the vain thoughts and plans of sinful human beings topple like a child's block tower. God is able to change you in a way that reveals without doubt that the glory belongs to Him and Him alone!

Pray that the Lord will enable you to turn. Pray to keep the memory of the fact that it is His power and not your own that enables you to hold to the path that will lead you to the glory of His presence.

Humble yourself before Him and He will have mercy. He remembers how you are made, He knows your frailty, He remembers your suffering, and He has collected all your tears. You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book (Psalm 56:8 New Living Translation).

And yet it is not your travail, but Christ's that has ushered you into the Holy Presence. You have partaken of grace; of the Holy bread and cleansing blood of the Savior. Humble yourself before Him, plead His mercy, abide in His grace, and when you have been delivered do not take credit unto yourself. Freedom from the confines of sin has been accomplished for you solely by the Cross of Jesus Christ.

Scripture: "It was not by their sword that they won the land, nor did their arm bring them victory; it was your right hand, your arm, and the light of your face, for you loved them" (Psalm 44:3).

"When the LORD your God brings you into the land he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you—a land with large, flourishing cities you did not build, houses filled with all kinds of good things you did not provide, wells you did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves you did not plant—then when you eat and are satisfied, be careful that you do not forget the LORD, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery" (Deuteronomy 6:10-12).

It is Well

You are bound by fear, but in the face of real tragedy, you would be able to say, "It is well." The enemy has his way with you in the realm of the horror that might occur. You are not afraid in the face of real problems in real time, so why grapple with what might be? Let today’s troubles be sufficient and leave tomorrow’s challenges in God's hands (see Matthew 6:34). This is all he asks of you.

God is able to sustain you both in times of extraordinary challenge and also in the face of everyday labors that would seem at times to threaten your ability to cope.

The great antidote for fear is the fact that God is with you. Learn more of what it means to be in the company of the Presence of God and your fears will evaporate. Fear cannot live where He is.

Scripture: "So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand" (Isaiah 41:10).

Feint, Don't Faint!

The Lord is a fortress of protection around and about you, and He has provided you the specific tools you need to further your ministry.

Do not flail in fear and do not avert your eyes or turn back on the path. Walk boldly forward in faith that God is with you, before you, and behind you. There is nothing to fear. There are many frightening apparitions, but they have no substance. Don’t fall to their wiles; they entice you to panic. Don’t be afraid of being hurt; He is with you. Don’t blanch at every threat; He is victorious. Feinting is not the same as fainting! Feint, don’t faint!

You see, Child, it is acceptable to dodge a blow, but you must not run except to the Lord, and you must not attempt to hide anywhere but under the shadow of His wings. A feint does two things: it allows you to maneuver out of line of the enemy’s intended blow, and it also is a ruse to draw his attention in the wrong direction. The Lord will help you. Feint toward the Lord and leave the job of outfoxing the fox to the Him. You do not fight alone. HE IS WITH YOU!

Scripture: "The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save, he will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love..." (Zephaniah 3:17).

Strength for the Weary

Your physical weariness is a gift. It provides infirmity that is not damaging either to your health or to your integrity in the Lord, and thus you are able to practice walking by the Spirit and not according to the flesh. Coping with a physical body that is weak produces an irritability that is a temper of the flesh. The practice of overcoming this temper strengthens you to walk according to the Spirit, not allowing the flesh to dictate your mood, your behavior, or your actions.

If you are to overcome the dispositions of the flesh, you must partake of the elixir that strengthens the Spirit within. The Word of God feeds and strengthens your spirit just as food strengthens the body. Partake.

Scripture: "My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me" (Psalm 63:8).

Be Still

The Lord has heard your prayer. No further histrionics are necessary; do not give way to fear in order to rev yourself to “adequate” prayer. Your inadequacy is completely filled by the Lord's adequacy. A vessel cannot be empty and full simultaneously, and the Lord has filled you. Peace, Child, be still. The Lord is with you and He is with those you love. Your awareness (or lack of awareness) of any situation is immaterial; He is the Lord! "Not by might nor by power but by My Spirit..." (Zechariah 4:6).

Scripture: "The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still" (Exodus 14:14).

Seeing God

The Lord does not withhold Himself from you in any way at all. He does not want you to do more. It is not in acts of service that you can honor Him best, it is in your words and body language that He desires to see your love. You cannot hate your brother, whom you can see, and love the Lord, whom you have not seen with physical eyes (see 1 John 4:20).

It’s alright, Dear Child. He sees your heart. He understands that you have attempted to protect yourself from further harm by insulating yourself from vulnerability to those who have hurt you. Your Lord will help you. Do not suffer remorse. “Suffer” love for Him and allow yourself to feel the pathos of compassion for your beloved enemies. Pray for them. The Lord will identify you with His interests in them and you will be His voice.

He knows the end of the story. You will not fail to heed the command to love; you have not failed. God gives warning before the danger arrives; not after…do not suffer guilt ahead of time. In order to spur you forward into His will, He has given you a glimpse of what would be if you did not love as He has commanded you to love.

Scripture: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God” (Matthew 5:8.

Look at Your Savior's Face

You have decided that your goal should be to focus upon seeking intimacy with the Lord, but do not set your mind on any endeavor (no matter how "holy"). Set your focus upon the Lord Himself. Intimacy with Christ is a free gift; you do not have to seek after what you already possess.

You have concluded that a Holy focus on Christ must happen in your mind first, as a prelude to bringing your physical and spiritual body into alignment with His will. This is inaccurate. Holy identification with the Lord does not begin as a mental discipline, it begins with the Cross. You have only to follow in footsteps along a path already broken for you. You do not have to make your own way.

The difficulty in embarking upon any program of self-improvement is that you will find yourself attempting to follow in the footsteps of a fellow human being (or your own self-imposed rules) rather than following the Lord.

There is a difference between thinking about Jesus and looking at Jesus. You can think about an "ought not" while in the very act of sin, but you cannot look into the face of the Savior who bled and died for you and continue the act that wounded Him. The sin will become abhorrent to you and you will fling it away in horror when you look into your Savior's face. Obedience is not a battle of the mind or even of the will; it is an act of love.

Remember that Peter had determined in his mind to follow Jesus, but under duress fell away. It was only when he saw Jesus die for him that he was enabled to lay down his own life for Jesus' sake. Don't just think about your faith, look at Jesus. See the Cross. See your Savior's face.

There are no “shoulds” for you. There is only the Lord's abiding presence, an open invitation to greater intimacy with Him day by day, and the promise that He will not leave you.

Scripture: Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. Romans 8:1-3

Not As the World Gives

The heartache you feel does not belong to your beloved enemies: those loved ones you have held responsible for your pain.

Your heart has been broken through grief of loss, and the Lord is the only solace that can heal. The world’s kudos—and what you believe you want, Child, are “kudos” as opposed to genuine comfort and healing—will not provide you what you need. Laurels thrown at your feet will not fill your empty heart.

Laurels may be given, but even as they fall remember, God is your heart, He is your strength, He is your hope; and if you place your trust in Him, you will not be disappointed.

Right Sacrifices

A sacrifice made in order to gain the love and appreciation of human beings will always result in disappointment. A sacrifice made for love of God will always be rewarded.


Scripture: "Offer right sacrifices and trust in the Lord" (Psalm 4:5).

He Answers Us With Awesome Deeds

When Jesus says, "Come unto me," how often you misunderstand.

You believe that He is after an obedience that will entail self-sacrifice and drudgery.

Look into His eyes, Beloved, and see the truth; your Lord desires your love. Worldly escapes provide suppression of your fears, but in God's presence you will find your fears calmed.

Will you run away? Or would you prefer to stand in His presence and watch in awe as He speaks peace over the storm tossed waves?

Scripture: "Blessed are those you choose and bring near to live in your courts! We are filled with the good things of your house, of your holy temple. You answer us with awesome deeds of righteousness, O God our Savior... who stilled the roaring of the seas, the roaring of their waves, and the turmoil..." Psalm 65:4, 5a, 7

Look into His Eyes

Picture a science fiction movie starring a hero who is endowed with super powers of healing. His beloved is in great danger and the only way he can save her from certain death is to release her to fall into a machine that will damage her body and spirit. He releases her to this fate only because he knows with certainty that she will come out on the other side, and that he will be there to catch her. He knows that he is able to heal her so completely that even the memory of the pain will evaporate as she looks into his eyes. At the end of the film the camera closes in on our hero’s face as he holds his beloved close, and the compassion and love in his eyes causes every female heart in the theater to swoon with longing. Oh to be loved like this!

This imaginary movie plot is an allegory of your life on the face of this earth.

Beloved, you have walked through fires of grief and the waters of rejection for Christ’s sake, but He has faced death for you; do not fear, you will not be overcome. The intimacy of looking into His eyes overrides the crippling influences of the world’s devil-driven machinery of sin.

Scripture: “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze” (Isaiah 43:2).

“And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. To him be the power for ever and ever” (1 Peter 5:10).

Don't Focus on Your Sin

Dear One, you just begin to comprehend that you need not fear the sins of other human beings, but you still make an exception for your own sins.

Christ's death on the Cross has encompassed even your sins, Child, even yours. Your shortcomings will not diminish the power God's message through you. Do not be afraid of other human beings, and do not be afraid of yourself.

"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart...

“Do not say, ‘I am only a child. You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you,” declares the Lord.

"Then the Lord reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, “Now I have put my words in your mouth…”

“…I am watching to see that my word is fulfilled.

“…They will fight against you but will not overcome you, for I am with you and will rescue you,” declares the Lord." (Jeremiah 1:5a, 7-9, 12b, 19).

Don’t set a higher standard for your own behavior than you set for others; this is a form of pompousness. Do you see that pride could creep in cloaked as false humility? “I am a Christian and so I must be more perfect than you.”

You think to stay a step ahead of those who might see your shortcomings. You are afraid that if they see your faults that they will discount the Lord's words spoken through you. This fear of being judged causes you to attempt to analyze yourself in order to find your own faults so that you can make excuse.

You can’t do it. No one can analyze themselves properly or completely. It’s like attempting to focus on an object that is one millimeter from your eye—you can’t see clearly. Don’t try. Place your focus on the Lord, be tolerant of others because you know of the grace in which you walk, because you know that your sins have required the death of the Son of God…and do not forget His resurrection. He is not always dying (He died once, for all), but He is always living (He lives forever). Christ's death is eternal fact, but it is the resurrection that brings victory.

Christ died for you, and He lives for you. The death made the life possible; the seed brings forth the flower, and the flower brings forth the fruit. You cannot eat a seed and be nourished; it is the fruit that brings health and strength. Stop eating the “seed” of His death and partake freely of the fruit of new life that the Holy death provided for you.

Now is not the time for mourning; death is in the past for the Christian and you need fear it no more. Let the memory of the grief and horror recede and let the New Life begin. Sin has lost its power! You are being renewed day by day; you can choose to focus (or attempt to focus) upon the remnants of sin that remain, or you can see and rejoice in the signs of new life.

Scripture: "'Where, O death is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?' The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through Our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, becasue you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain" (1 Corinthians 15:55-58).

Not in Part, but the Whole

One of God’s greatest sorrows over your life is the fact that you have learned to stifle your joy as well as your grief. There is a barrier of grief and pain that prevents the expression of the extravagance of love that is in your heart toward the Lord.

You have feared burdening the Son of God with the whole of your sin and grief; you do not want to cause Him additional pain, you do not want to pierce Holy hands with the full weight of your sorrows. But Dear Child, you have found to your distress that you are unfit to bear the burden. You are not able to bear the pain and to also refrain from the sin that is engendered by that pain. Withholding grief from the Son causes Him pain through the grief-fueled anger and bitterness that you then exhibit toward other people. “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me” (Matthew 25:40).

You must cast your cares upon Him, because He is strong enough to bear them. He is the Holy and blemish free Lamb of God, the only one who is worthy to bear the full weight of your sin. Release it to Him.

My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!
My sin, not in part but the whole,
Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!

From the hymn "It is Well With My Soul" by Horatio Spafford, 1873 Public domain

Scripture: “Surely He took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows…the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His wounds we are healed” (Isaiah 53:4a, 5b).

Focus on the Lord

When you are upset or embarrassed you tend to ask the Lord to make you feel better. God does not "make" you feel anything. You are in control of your emotions. You choose what to feel by the things upon which you choose to focus your attention. You can rehash the embarrassment of mistakes you have made and you can use your imagination to embellish the supposed reactions of those who witnessed your humiliation. Or, you can focus upon the Lord and trust Him to perfect that which concerns you.

Turn your eyes upon Jesus. He does not instill emotion in your heart by supernatural means: rather, your heart responds to Him with love and gratitude because you are His. Focus on the Lord and the silly little faux pas of everyday life will assume their proper place. Entrust yourself into His hands. You belong to Him. Do not be afraid of what human beings think of you. Instead, remember His thoughts toward you. His thoughts toward you are love.

Scripture: "The LORD will perfect that which concerneth me: thy mercy, O LORD, endureth for ever: forsake not the works of thine own hands" (Psalm 138:8 KJV).

The Problem of Physical Pain

Although the Lord allows you to forget the sensation of physical pain, shock over the intensity of suffering you have endured remains. God has blessed you with great blessing because of the pain you have endured. Not only in spite of it, not only through it, but because of it. The flames did not set you ablaze. Your human love would spare those you love the pain that brings blessing. God's love and wisdom sometimes allows them this privilege. Do not repine (Webster: feel or express dejection or discontent).

The reason that God allowed His Son to suffer was not so that He could gain blessing, although Jesus was indeed blessed through the pain. Christ died that you might live. The pain was a by-product of the process of dying.

Pain by itself holds no blessing: self-mutilators are in bondage to the enemy. But the physical pain that occurs on the path to Glory is used to shape and to form according to God's Will, to further fit you for the Kingdom. Do not fear pain. The Lord is with you in it. And do not suffer undue grief over past pain. God has seen you through it.

Scripture: Yes, and I will continue to rejoice, for I know that through your prayers and the help given by the Spirit of Jesus Christ, what has happened to me will turn out for my deliverance. Philippians 1:19 NIV

No Regrets

Do not suffer remorse. Repentance is of the Lord, but remorse is not His tool unless it is of the sort that leads to repentance. Remorse by itself, apart from repentance, is a bitter brew. Do not partake of it.

Scripture: ...I am happy, not because you were made sorry, but because your sorrow led you to repentance. For you became sorrowful as God intended and so were not harmed in any way...2 Cor. 7:9 NIV