More Sanctification & Refinement June 30, 2009

I have written before on “sanctification”.  It seems I return here often.  In my being drawn to write about this topic today a couple of things happened. 

As I look on dictionary.com I see that the process of refinement is needed in order to bring out the most usable pure form of something. 

As I look at the definition of sanctification, I see that it is the process of being made holy, set apart, to purify from sin, to sanctify your hearts.

Though it is difficult, I can say honestly today that I am thankful for the “process”. 

I am feeling the effects this week of being sanctified.  I spoke something last week that was not in any way glorifying to God.  I could have chosen to use other verbage to express my thoughts, but I did not.  Coming away from that conversation & interaction I could not rest in my spirit.  The Spirit of God within me was not pleased.  As a couple of days passed it became clear to me that this is what had taken place.  I had to go quickly to those I had spoken with to ask forgiveness.  On one hand I care what others think of me for having spoke as I did – but on the other hand – and of far more importance to me, is what the Lord thinks of me.  I desire to glorify Him with my life.  Because we live in a fallen world there is always a battle waged within us.  Lord – help me to fight the good fight!

Oswald Chambers spoke to me yet again from the crinkly pages of my old devotional he wrote so long ago.  Two days worth of devotional face me as I open today. 

One for today - another for tomorrow.  Where I find myself this week – I need both please.  And yes Lord – I will listen well. 

Day One-  ”Agree with thine adversary quickly”  Matthew 5:25.   Of course this is speaking of coming quickly before your accuser, one who has something against you. 

But today this is speaking to me about doing quickly the thing that the Lord prompts you to do.  Chambers says “Do the thing quickly, bring yourself to judgement now.  In moral and spiritual matters, you must do it at once; if you do not, the inexorable process will begin to work.  God is determined to have His child as pure and clean and white as driven snow, and as long as there is disobedience in any point of His teaching, He will prevent none of the working of His Spirit”.  http://www.rbc.org/utmost/index.php

As I thought today about refinement, I pictured an oil refinery in the middle of a wide open field.  With a drill that digs deep into the depths of the ground searching for the goal – oil – precious oil.  We would prefer to take our little drill into the closet and close the door behind us, only coming out when we are cleaned up and can present ourselves “white as snow”.  At times the refining takes place out in the open for all to see.  God promises that He works all things together for good for those who love Him and who are called according to His purpose.  The book of Romans tells us so.  This too works for His good because I love Him and am called according to His purpose.

Day Two –   What speaks most to me from this devotional is the words Chambers spoke in encouragement; “God is going to bring you out pure and spotless and undefiled; but He wants you to recognize the disposition you were showing – the disposition of your right to yourself.  The moment you are willing that God should alter your disposition, His re-creating forces will begin to work.  The moment you realize God’s purpose, which is to get you rightly related to Himself and then to your fellow men, He will tax the limit of the universe to help you take the right road”.  http://www.rbc.org/devotionals/my-utmost-for-his-highest/07/01/devotion.aspx?year=2009

Thank you Lord that you do not leave us to ourselves. 

 Thank you that you forgive us our trespasses. 

I am so humbled by what you desire to teach me.  By your Spirit – help me to be a student who heeds your instruction.  O Lord help me to be rightly related to you in all things.

So…I am in the middle of the field here for all the world to see in order that in some way God might be glorified in the process of my refinement.  I am trusting and knowing that His re-creating forces are at work within me.

Do you have a story of refinement that you desire to share?

Be encouraged that God does work all things together for His good. 

Please feel free to share your thoughts.

Reminders June 23, 2009

HIS Mercies are new every morning – great is His faithfulness.

 

 

So it has been seven long months since I passionately sat and entered my last blog entry.  I have thought so many times about how I want to get back into my blog world and begin again to post my thoughts.  I am grateful for anyone who would take the time to stop by and read any thoughts that I key in through these black keys on my laptop.   My desire is to get a rhythm to this posting that brings readers back from time to time to passionately discuss the things that the Lord is teaching us.  Bear with me please as I attempt once again to dance regularly with this keyboard.

Tonight as I had a conversation with a friend by phone, I was reminded of my last blog in November of 2008.  It was about connection.  The conversation tonight was about how we had connected over the years and how it made a difference.

Lord – help us to remember that it matters if we invest in one another.  Your Word tells us that all things work together for good for those who love you and who are called according to your purpose.  Thank you for your truth.  Thank you for the hope we have in you and for the grace we receive, not because of anything we have done, but only because of the blood of your Son Jesus Christ – poured out for our sins.

HIS

k

Authenticity November 27, 2008

 

Connecting November 9, 2008

I am thinking tonight about how we as women are wired to desire connection. I for one am grateful for that desire. And this weekend was such a sweet sweet reminder that other women share that longing as well.

As I sit and write I am listening to Shane & Shane singing “It is Well” & I am thinking…yes…it is.

I was honored this weekend to be a part of a young women’s conference hosted by a friend of mine in South Dakota. I loved being invited into the stories of vulnerable transparent women who believe that if they are willing to share how God’s hand-print is stamped upon their lives, it will make a difference in someone who is looking on. Each one touched me very personally. Each conversation that I had along the way was important to me. Some unfinished.

And then when it is over we go home with the impact sitting upon our hearts. What will we do with what we have heard? Will we filter it through our natural minds? Or will we allow the breath of God to direct our thoughts and actions as we all head home to our pre-conference lives? Nothing wrong with returning to our lives – but how do we weave this experience into what’s next?

Lord…help me not to take this lightly, but to seek to be directed by you and then to follow where you lead.

With a heart full of gratitude…and open to be moved…

“The Body” September 15, 2008

I have recently faced times of both trial and victory.  I have been blessed beyond words to have benefited from the “Body of Christ” in ways that I struggle greatly to even put to words. 

In the midst of this time I visited a friend who probably has no idea what she offered to me in terms of God’s love.  She allowed me to be right where I was in the moment and tenderly offered me the touch of God.  She required nothing of me…but gave without reserve.  How is it that she could know?  Not sure that she really did…but God did …and I believe that He used her for me to show me that He knew me and that He was not far from me.  I was not alone.

I am longing for the words to describe the impact that the love I have received from those who represent the “Body of Christ “ in my life has had in these past few weeks.  

I choose to share this with you because this is what I feel so convinced that the Lord would have us to do with one another in order to see His glory! 

Have you ever felt dry and lifeless in your relationship with the Living God? 

Have you wanted so much to touch HIS robe? 

To taste and see what you have tasted and seen before…yet you cannot seem to “get there”?

I have felt each of these and more. 

For those of you who have know this desert…I feel so deeply for you at this very moment!!!  It is such a lonely place. 

 Not lonely in terms of wanting people around me – no – on the contrary.  Lonely in terms of knowing the intimacy of a relationship with Jesus Christ through the Father God and feeling far from Him.

As it came my turn after listening to the prayer requests of those I have been meeting with now for over a year for prayer ~ I suddenly felt all of the emotion come welling up in me without warning.  Before I knew it, I was laying it all out there to be heard in the raw emotion of it all.  Most of the women who were here for prayer that day were young ladies ~ “20 something women” who I have been blessed to be sharing prayer with for some time now. The prayer time may be different every week with who joins us, but this particular week it was the original ladies that have been a part of the group since the beginning. 

There was a part of me that felt like I was crazy to not be censoring my emotions and my words as they flowed out ~ after all I am the older woman.  But it was the most real part of me that won out ~ the authentic part that asks and encourages the same from them each week.  I have come to know this place of prayer with them as a place where I am free to be part of the group ~ a participant with them ~ and not “the older woman” when it comes to sharing and lifting one another in prayer.  For this ~ I am grateful!  I think that it pleases the LORD:-)

What I found that day as I chose to continue to let them see me “struggles and all” was that I truly experienceded the “Body of Christ”.  My friends gathered around me and began to speak words of truth and share scripture spontaneously as led by God.  How do I know it was led by God?  Because that day ~ in all my dryness and weariness ~ I was lifted before the throne of God with each word of encouragement ~ truth spoken ~ scripture read ~ and precious prayers breathed aloud for me.  I cannot tell you the life that it breathed into me.  I am thankful beyond words.

It has breathed life into me ~ this “Body of Christ” ~ letting me know that I am not alone in my pursuit ~ that there are those who care deeply to lift me before the throne of God.

Since this time ~ and letting a couple of other friends know just how much I was struggling, I have recieved so much from them.  They have no idea that the text messages and emails that they have sent have been at just the perfect moment and offer just what I need to hear from God.  He knows it, and He cares to use His Body to speak it!

I hope that if there is one person who comes accross this who needs to hear it to know that they are not alone in thier desert place ~ that they will read this and be enouraged to be authentic with at least one other person about it.  

Please share your desert experience with me so that I may pray with you.

Let me encourage you with the encouragement that has been given to me.

 There is so much that I believe that God wants to do through His “Body”.  Will we be found willing?

More thoughts on Sanctification July 31, 2008

The day after I posted my last comment I was so encouraged to see that my reading that day would support the thoughts of the previuos day.  I love how God does makes things clear! I think for me…that if it is something that He wants me to pay attention to…He will show me from more than one angle.  That is what happened as I read the next day.

I think that conversation around what sanctification is and how it is achieved has been a topic for discussion and debate for longer than I know.  So it is somewhat crazy that I would begin to enter my thoughts here knowing there are numerous great authors and scholars who have gone before me with thier thoughts and conclusions.  With all due respect to those great authors who speak volumes to me, I enter the scene with thoughts that are very simple, desiring to understand what sanctification looks like in my life…in my daily relationship with a Holy God. 

With that said, I am excited to share with you how Andrew Murray sharpened me this week in agreement I think with Oswald Chambers.  Murray is talking about “Stillness of Soul”.  He references the following scriptures:

Isaiah 30:15 ~ In returning and rest shall ye be saved.  In quietness and in confidence shall be your strength. (KJV)
Psalm 37:7 ~ Be silent to the LORD, and wait patiently for him. (KJV)
Psalm 62:1 ~ Truly my soul waits, silently upon God. (KJV)

As I began to read about stillness of soul, Murray shares his view. He says “As Jesus was entirely dependent on the Father for all His works, so the believer can do nothing of himself. What he can do of himeself is altogether sinful. He must therefore cease from self-effort, faith assures him that God does what He has undertaken to , and works in him. And what God does is to renew, to sanctify, and to waken all his energies to their highest power. So that just in the proportion that he yields himself a truly passive instrument in the hand of God, will he be weilded of God as the instrument of His almighty power” (Murray, Andrew, Andrew Murray on Prayer, 1998, Whitaker House, p. 87).

This encourages me! I can strive all that I want to lead a holy life before God – but the real work is done in my being still. I have been really trying to learn about stillness over the last several months. There seems to be an art to it. I believe that it is a learned posture. The only way that I can continue to learn is to continue to position myself before the Lord quietly. Now there is word that we could talk about – quiet – more on that another day. I am practicing being quiet in an attempt to know my Lord better – more intimately.

I think Murray and Chambers are saying that it is in this quietness before the Lord that He makes us holy…sanctifies us. Sure…I long to make choices that bring glory to the Lord. But the choice in and of itself does not sanctify me. It is the hearts posture before the Lord that I think makes it possible for Him to do His work in me.

Today I will sit with this.

Sanctification July 25, 2008

Oswald Chambers is so great to make me think about the way that he presents any particular topic for thought. 

Yesterday he spoke to me about “Sanctification”.

What spoke volumes to me was when he said “The one marvelous secret of a holy life lies not in imitating Jesus, but in letting the perfection of Jesus manifest themselves in my mortal flesh.  Sanctification is ‘Christ in you.’  …Am I willing for God to make sanctification as real in me as it is in His word?” (Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest, Barbour Books, 1935).

So…Am I?  Simple question…right?  Not so much.  I can not imitate Jesus.  Can I let the perfection of Jesus manifest itself in my mortal flesh?  Can I let the attributes of God become manifest in me?  I think that it is possible.  My task is to surrender myself to HIm.  To die to myself and my own flesh.  It is then that He is able to manifest Himself in me. 

My hearts desire is to stop striving to imitate Jesus and to learn to yield to HIs manifest presence in all areas of my life.  What will it look like to have sanctification as real in me as it is in His word?  It seems to be a topic that I find myself returning to again and again.  It is my hearts desire.  Lord, help me please to be still and let you do your work as only you can do. 

I’d love to hear your heart on santification…please share.