When I woke up this morning, I was thinking about worship. I was thinking that really all we are doing is responding to the Lord. As Graham Cooke says, we don't have any thoughts about God that He didn't initiate, so really worship is just learning to respond to that which He is initiating. I had this thought as I was thinking about the need to draw near to Him, so that He will draw near to us, but was gently corrected. He is already near, He is already drawing us, and HE is previous (the initiator). I guess the way to say it is we can't surprise God, because He is always there before us preparing the way.
I have been thinking much about the pressing in the Lord has me doing concerning healing and ministry in the power of the Holy Spirit, Kingdom proclamation and Kingdom demonstration. Lord in our vernacular, You are painting me into a corner, as I cannot conceive of any other way to move forward, which is good, but which leaves me in a dependence wholly on You, for I can do nothing, except the proclamation, and even that is weak. You must show Yourself strong, as I have nothing in me, besides You that has power.
I feel a little like Elijah and the prophets of baal, for his dependence was fully on You. You either showed up or You didn't and if You didn't, he was dead. As scary as that position is, I would rather be there than anywhere else, because You are faithful, and loving, compassionate and merciful, full of grace, and the God who provides, and Lord, You know how bad we need Your provision. Lord, help me to walk in complete humility, understanding how You are wholly responsible for everything, and I am basically just an empty vessel if I were to extract everything that You have given me.
I am reminded of two things from yesterday. My friend's conversation with his employee, showing how little he has accomplished when he took away all the accounts my friend had given him. That is like us, if we extract everything that was given us by the Lord, we have nothing left. This should lead to us being very humble in our ministry and relying on Him wholly. His desire is that He be glorified in everything we do, so that we are shining light on Him in our actions, in our words. He is the reason, He is the origination, He is the giver, He is our source. It is extremely prideful to take credit for anything, for it all comes from Him. We can revel in what He has given us, enjoy what He has give us, show off what He has given us, but take no credit.
Secondly, I was walking through Hy-Vee yesterday and when I arrived the majority of the store was partially lit, as much of the power was off due to a problem somewhere in Liberty. They were trying to cover all the coolers, and wouldn't open them so that people could purchase the refrigerated goods. They had whole sections blocked off, for they were trying to keep the cool inside the coolers, just like if you lose power at home, you aren't supposed to open the refrigerator or freezer. I was almost done shopping when the power was restored, and the manager made sure it would stay on. Once that indication was given, he gave the order to tear down the coverings. One of the guys remarked to me, how much more fun it was tearing down than putting it up. As I was walking toward the register, I felt the Lord say something incredible. (It might also just be my own pride). He said this happened (the power being restored) because I was in the store. I had to laugh a little, but on further reflection I get what He was really showing me.
This was a giant image of what the condition of the church is. The church is supposed to be a place to come and buy food (Isaiah 55:1-2) from the Lord without money. Without real power, there is only so much available. Nothing fresh. The church, in her theological and religious efforts to cover for her lack of power has blocked us from actually even experiencing much of what is available in Him. There are whole sections of what the Lord desires for us, presently blocked. I have nothing I can do to actually restore the power, the power is coming from it point of origination. God can, through me and my presence, restore power, open up areas once blocked, and restore freshness to that which we can receive. This is true for all of us. He wants to restore power to the church! He wants us to be able to receive all that nourishes us and gives us life. He doesn't want a partially powered church, some dry goods only place for people to come. He wants to restore access to all that He has for us, He wants us to fully enjoy His gifts, His provision, His life!
As I am sitting here, the Lord is opening my eyes to all the prophetic imagery He sows into my life. Here are a few examples:
1) The people yesterday who were waiting for my son and I to take the elliptical apart and load it in our truck. They thought they had been waiting way too long, but in reality it was 20 minutes, which was really fast in my estimation. We had barely gotten in our truck and they were leaving the house, they had somewhere else to be. How often is this our same approach to God? We don't want to wait for Him to do that which needs to be done, because we have someplace else to be.
2) Josh carving wood, an old dry piece of wood takes much more effort and time to carve. Fresh wood, is soft, and pliable and much simpler to fashion and carve. We want to be fresh, have His life flowing through us, connected to the source of life so that we are maleable, able to fashioned and formed.
3) One of the other things I was thinking about was how sickness and injury is pressing into our group recently. It is interesting that we (at least me) are pressing into the areas of healing and the proclamation of the Kingdom of God, where His dominion drives away sickness, disease and heals everything. It is almost like the enemy is pressing in, trying to discourage us, trying to make us fear him, fear proclaiming anything that defeats him, because of his counter-attack. We must rest in the Lord, and let Him enter the battle on our behalf, when He enters the battlefield the battle is over. I am reminded of my dream of spiritual battle. In this dream the battle was raging all around, angelic and demonic forces, engaged. When He was carried onto the battlefield in His litter, the enemy was completely vanquished, He didn't even raise a finger, his sovereignty was just extended over the battlefield. Jesus said He has "strong confidence". We could rest in His presence, even with the presence of the enemy all around us.
Thank You Lord, for speaking to me and encouraging me.
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