[For I always pray to] the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, that He may grant you a spirit of wisdom and revelation [of insight into mysteries and secrets] in the [deep and intimate] knowledge of Him, (Ephesians 1:17 AMP)
As a young girl, I dreamed of being able to breathe underwater like a fish. I was the reverse of the little mermaid – I wanted to be part of her world. One day while swimming in our local pool, I submerged, looked around and pretended to breathe. For a split second, I felt I was actually inhaling oxygen! However, it quickly became clear that I was not and could not…much to my great disappointment.
As an adult, still wanting to swim and breathe underwater, I purposed to learn how and took a scuba class from my dear friend and excellent teacher, Phil Miller. Finally one day, after studying and practicing, I put on scuba gear, put the regulator in my mouth, slipped into the depths and drew breath! After walking to the water encumbered with the weight of gear, the weightlessness in the depths relieved all tension and the weight of the surface world was quickly forgotten.
The enveloping silence and beauty of the world below the surface is wonderfully overwhelming and exhilirating…at least most of the time. There was a dive in Yaquina Bay I’ll never forget. Visibility was a few inches, and I lost sight of my dive buddy in the murky water. I was carried by the ebbing tide further than I realized – away from shore. Weightlessness in murky water messes with your sense of vertical direction, and I had to follow my bubbles to find the surface. Well, I’m writing this now, so I apparently made it back safe.
Last week, I was surprised and delighted that Elisa Morgan published one of my pieces on her blog Really. Please check it out for another amazing dive into the the depths – this time in the clear waters of Hawaii.
http://www.elisamorgan.com/#!Cathedral-Dive
I have always been drawn to deep places and their hidden mysteries and beauty. For as long as I can remember, I have yearned to know God more deeply and experience Him more fully – to beathe in a place my body can’t go and see things my eyes can’t perceive. There’s an otherworld stillness in His depths and a great mysterious beauty. His Spirit waits to teach me how and take me into the depths. So, I purpose to learn and follow Him.
Slipping into the depths of God, the encumbering weight of the world vanishes and the noise and turbulence of the surface falls silent. Tension melts away and peace floods the soul. Yet, the deeper I go the more I realize I’m still barely below the surface. For, there is no limit and no end to knowing Him more fully and experiencing the wonders of His presence more deeply and intimately. I pray for myself and for you that – the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, that He may grant you a spirit of wisdom and revelation of insight into mysteries and secrets in the deep and intimate knowledge of Him.
Monthly Archives: June 2015
Sealed
As you can tell, I’ve carried this little envelope in my Bible for quite some time. I sealed and secured it with wax because it contains something of great value to me. I pressed my initial into the melted wax to identify it as mine. Makes you wonder what’s inside, doesn’t it?
Remember the scene from the Lord of the Rings in which Gandalf slips the ring of power into an envelope and seals it to keep it safe? Well, there’s no magic ring inside, but there’s a message of great power. It’s, in fact, the message that changed everything. But that’s another post for another day, so stay connected!
God has a seal of colossal significance. When He uses it on His child, it secures them and identifies to whom they belong. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.[1]
The moment I believed that Jesus Christ died for my sin and accepted Him as my Savior and Lord, His Spirit supernaturally and literally entered my body and it became His home. God pressed His seal of ownership into my melted heart. All beings in the spiritual world – both dark and light – read His seal and know that I am His and not to be messed with. His seal announces: she belongs to Me and nothing can touch her except by My permission. And it also announces, “She is of great value to Me.”
I’m in the process of selling my mother’s home, and the potential buyer has deposited $1,000 to show they’re committed and earnest about the purchase. That’s the implication in Ephesians 1:14. The Holy Spirit is a pledge and deposit showing God’s earnest commitment to me and that there is more to come. His seal is a guarantee…a guarantee…of my eternal destiny with Him in glory and His constant Presence day by day. Whether I’m aware of Him or not, following close or staying distant, listening to Him or talking over Him…I am safe and sealed forever, guaranteed eternal life.
God’s possession of my soul is unyielding. Nothing will ever dislodge me from His grasp… neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God…nothing![2] Not even my sin can separate me from Him. Cynthia Heald wrote, “Since we can do nothing to captivate His love, we can do nothing to lose it.”[3] He pressed His seal into my heart with all His Sovereign authority behind it, and nothing can breach His seal.
Oh, praise the One who created me, redeemed me and calls me His own!
[1] Ephesians 1:13-14
[2] Romans 8:38-39
[3] Heald, C. (1997). A Woman’s Journey to the Heart of God. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, Inc.