I have set the Lord always before me. Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. Psalm 16:8
Two weekends ago at Camp Elkanah in the Blue Mountains, I heard testimony from a woman named Cindy who lost everything in the fire that raged through the Canyon Creek area this fall. All was lost…except her prayer bench. Though the forest around it was engulfed in raging flames and her home incinerated, God preserved her place of prayer. Because she has set the Lord always before her, He was at her right hand speaking stillness into her soul when the flames came.
God calls us to set Him in front of our faces. The Eternal God is always present, always near, but I choose whether to set Him before me and into my field of vision or focus on other things that flare up in my face.
I’ve come to realize that I set the Lord before me when I set myself before Him. He longs to reveal Himself to us, but we have to stop and meet Him face-to-face. So, every morning, I set myself before my Lord and see Him at my right hand. Throughout the day, and even in the restless hours of the night, I set myself before God. Faith sees Him and feels His gentle grip.
Though the fires come and storms nearly undo me, He speaks stillness into my soul when I turn to face Him. Oh, that I would learn to do it more!
Look to the Lord and His strength; seek His face always. Psalm 105:4
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Still Water Reflection
He leads me beside quiet waters, He restores my soul. Psalm 23:2b-3a
Still waters center my soul like nothing else. I try to find my way there several times a year. Today was one of those days. I spent the afternoon paddling up the south arm of Foster Reservoir – my favorite get-away. It was a rare day with very little wind and very few people. The lake was placid and smooth as glass. I got into my kayak and paddled into the stillness with no one in sight.
The further I paddled up the arm, the quieter it got. Trees along the shore were reflected flawlessly in the smooth green mirror of the surface. My bright red kayak creased the green surface, the water gently lapping against the bow.
The silence was broken by chittering birds and the cry of an osprey. Random splashes with rings of ripples were tell-tale signs of hungry fish. A lazy salamander undulated to the surface for a quick gulp of air then flashed his orange belly and disappeared back into the depths. An iridescent blue dragonfly perched on a floating twig while I slipped by. I was amused by three startled ducklings racing across the water on webbed feet.
The air was fragrant with the sweetness of the woods after the brief morning rain. I drew it deep into my lungs and exhaled in peace. The stillness enveloped me and seeped into my soul. Worship flowed out of me and filled the quiet with His praise.
I wanted to stop time and stay suspended there, but I wasn’t meant to live in a place with no ripples. God leads me beside still waters so I can carry it into the grit of life. Without stillness there is no restoration of soul. But it’s too easy to neglect and remain caught in the chaos of life until spent and drained.
I can’t always go to the quiet waters, but God always brings it to me if I take time to step aside and meet Him in the stillness.
At the end of the day, in the parking lot of the boat ramp, an old guy picking blackberries discretely watched me load my kayak on top of my car. I was still tying it down as he drove away. As he passed me, he yelled, “You go girl!” I laughed and finished cinching it down and drove home. His exhortation probably had something to do with the unusual sight of a 62 year old white haired woman loading a kayak by herself.
Back to work tomorrow. But in the morning, before the sun rises, I’ll meet my God in the stillness and let His praise fill the quiet. Then He will whisper, “You go girl.”
Photos from Foster Reservoir
Folded Wings
I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know…his incomparably great power for us who believe. Ephesians 1:19
Do you feel like everybody wants a piece of you, and you’re losing yourself one bite at a time? Are growing demands consuming you from the inside out? Do you feel that if you don’t keep moving you may not be able to move at all? I do sometimes, and I see it and hear it in the people around me. Yet, there is power, an incomparably great power, within reach of even the weakest and most frazzled.
This power – this dynamis – overshadowed Mary at the conception of the Son of God. It’s the same power the woman tapped when she touched the hem of Jesus’ garment, and it’s the dynamis that works in us to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine – more than we could ever dream!
With all this power resident in me, I still struggle. How can I know and experience this incomparably great power in the demands of my day? How do I tap into it? I think the answer is in my posture. It isn’t in having more time to do more or working harder or even getting more sleep. The secret is folding my wings and being still at the feet of Power Himself.
In Psalm 46:10 God says, “Be still, and know that I am God.” To be still means to stop all activity, to fold the wings and sink down. When I start my day with folded wings and sink down into God, He fills me with His Spirit and strengthens my heart for the day.
in quietness and trust is your strength,
but you would have none of it.
Isaiah 30:15
That last phrase is sobering because sometimes I would have none of it and run through my days without it. Those are the days my soul is stretched thin and my spirit grows weary.
God doesn’t call me to frantic unrelenting activity. He calls me every day to stillness. So, I set myself before God every morning and fold my wings. In those quiet moments of submission, His Spirit moves in the silence of my soul filling me, renewing me, and empowering me to do as He desires. From that place of stillness, I rise to soar on wings like eagles.
Folded Wings is now in my gallery:
Mysterious Depths
[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.
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.
Blood Bought
Redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins. Ephesians 1:7.
I have heard it and read it innumerable times, and, in the repetition, my mind becomes desensitized to the immeasurable anguish and unspeakable agony of Jesus. I have struggled for years to understand the brutality of His death. The attempts at depicting it on the screen fall pitiably short of the actual trauma and mutilation. His mom witnessed it and was, perhaps, close enough to be splattered with her son’s blood. It was nothing less than horrific. Why the bloody brutality? Why not a quicker less painful death?
The Old Testament altar was a bloody place. Perfect lambs were sacrificed to atone for sin – their blood poured out day after day. Sin is written into my DNA and struggles to the surface of my life on a daily basis. I was born bad, and, even on my best days, I still fall short. The price on my head: death. No plea bargains. No negotiating. Blood was the ransom demanded for my life because without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness.[1] But instead of sacrificing me, God sacrificed His Son shedding His blood to atone for my sin.[2]
The record of all my sins were laid on Christ and nailed to the cross. They were all washed white in the crimson flood and erased from the record forever. He does not condemn me now nor will He – not now, not ever.[3]
“…the Christian’s total debt has been paid by the death of Christ….The debt of our sins has been marked ‘Paid in Full!’….not only has the debt been fully paid, there is no possibility of going into debt again. Jesus paid the debt of all our sins: past, present and future. As Paul said in Colossians 2:13 ‘[God] forgave us all our sins.’ We don’t have to start all over again and try to keep the slate clean. There is no more slate.”[4]
So, how does that change today? What difference does it make right now? His death tore, from top to bottom, the thick veil separating me from God and exposed the sacred place of His Presence. He pealed back the covering of His heart and now calls me close. The Eternal Living God draws me into the hum of His power and the intimate pulse of His heart. He wants a personal relationship with me every moment of my day and has made the way.
Today, by His precious blood, I have entered the inmost sacred place of God – the very Holy of Holies – and sat in peace with the One who ransomed me and set me free from sin’s power and the strangling grip of guilt. I can talk intimately with Him and experience His power and Presence in my life day after day after glorious day. Hallelujah!
[1] Hebrews 9:22
[2] Romans 3:25
[3] Romans 8:1-2
[4] Bridges, Jerry. (2008). Transforming Grace: Living Confidently in God’s Unfailing Love. Colorado Springs: NavPress.