I was talking to a precious friend yesterday who has a significant influence on thousands of people. She longs to find out how to become a better writer, speaker, and mom. In this time of history, women have deep hunger and longing for more meaningful lives. Our children find themselves in a culture that promotes emptiness and lonelineness and they also long for direction and spiritual food that will deeply satisfy their soul's hunger. Answering these deep needs, as those who are called by God to bring hope and truth and foundations that will hold comes at a cost. If a mom wants to significantly influence her children--or if she wants to truly shepherd other women, she must put herself on a course of seeking God with all of her heart.
God's ways, we read in Isaiah, our not our ways. His thoughts are so far above our thoughts--as high as the heaven is above the earth, so far are His thoughts from our thoughts. And so, when we seek Him and want to be filled with His excellence and holiness and presence, we want it now or at least by next week. We pray in the name of Jesus and like a toddler who wants his cookies now, we plead with God again and again to do our will.
Yet, God, in His mercy and wisdom, is not threatened by our pleading. He loves us so much that Hs takes His time to build that which we long for--true love, true wisdom, true intimacy.
He has never, not once, worked according to my timetable. I am not patient by nature, and He has required much patience from me. But, as I look back at a life of wrestling with Him and holding on for dear life and seeking, straining to understand Him, I see that He was doing soul work, deep down heart work, to give me more of a value for heaven, for His kingdom, for eternity.
Learning that what He is doing right now, in these circumstances, is what He wants me to learn so that I will have wisdom and depth in my heart for others to draw from. Leaning into Him by faith, even when I do not understand, has been the reward of coming to see more of His ways. I am still learning and still straining to hear.
I loved this devotion this morning by David Wilkerson that got to a little of what I have been thinking about soul deepening life--that then gives us messages to share. Enjoy and then pray for David Wilkerson--I love to pray for those who fill my soul.
BATTLE SMART
Whenever opposition arises, God’s grace thrives in us. Think about what
happens to a tree when a great storm beats violently against it. The wind
threatens to uproot the tree and carry it away. It breaks off branches and
blows away its leaves. It loosens its roots and blows off its buds. And when
the storm is over, things look hopeless.
Yet, look closer; the same storm that opened crevices in the earth around the
trunk of the tree has helped the roots go deeper. The tree now has access to
new, deeper sources of nutrition and water. And it has been purged of all its
dead branches. The buds may be gone, but others will grow back more fully. I
tell you, that tree is now stronger, growing in unseen ways. And just wait till
harvest—because it’s going to bear much fruit!
Maybe you’re in a storm right now. The wind is blowing hard, shaking you
violently, and you think you’re going down. Beloved, don’t panic! You’ve
got to know that in the midst of the tempest, you are putting down deep
spiritual roots. God is developing in you a deepening humility, a greater
mourning and sorrow for sin, a heightened hunger for his righteousness.
God is making you a seasoned soldier of the cross—battle-scarred, but
battle-smart and courageous. You may get down on yourself at times—but the
Lord never does. The fact is, he could have acted sovereignly at any time to
pluck you out of your struggle. But he didn’t—because he saw it producing
in you a greater thirst for him!
Romans 5:3 says, “Tribulation worketh patience.” The word worketh means
“to accomplish.”
In 2 Corinthians 4:17 we read, “For our light affliction, which is but for a
moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.” The
word worketh in this verse is the same as in Romans 5:3.
Read this devotion online: http://www.worldchallenge.org/en/node/9880
Sermons By David Wilkerson