The Practice of the Presence of God

Last night at small group we were encouraged to read "The Practice of the Presence of God" by Brother Lawrence, a 17th century monk. Comprised of both "conversations with" and "letters from" Bro. Lawrence, it is chock full of incredible thoughts on how, why, and when we ought to practice being in God's presence.  Below are the thoughts that stuck out to me in my first read through the conversations, several of which are things I have been recently learning from the Lord.

Written from a 3rd person perspective as an account of another man's conversations with him:

Brother Lawrence told me...

That we ought to give ourselves up to GOD, with regard both to things temporal and spiritual, and seek our satisfaction only in the fulfilling His will, whether He lead us by suffering or by consolation, for all would be equal to a soul truly resigned.


That he expected after the pleasant days GOD had given him, he should have his turn of pain and suffering; but that he was not uneasy about it, knowing very well, that as he could do nothing of himself, GOD would not fail to give him the strength to bear them.


That useless thoughts spoil all: that the mischief began there; but that we ought to reject them, as soon as we perceived their impertinence to the matter in hand, or our salvation; and return to our communion with GOD.


That he had no scruples; for, said he, when I fail in my duty, I readily acknowledge it, saying, I am used to do so: I shall never do otherwise, if I am left to myself. If I fail not, then I give GOD thanks, acknowledging that it comes from Him.


That there needed neither art nor science for going to GOD, but only a heart resolutely determined to apply itself to nothing but Him, or for His sake, and to love Him only.


That we need only to recognize GOD intimately present with us, to address ourselves to Him every moment, that we may beg His assistance for knowing His will in things doubtful, and for rightly performing those which we plainly see He requires of us, offering them to Him before we do them, and giving Him thanks when we have done.


That our sanctification did not depend upon changing our works, but in doing that for GOD's sake, which we commonly do for our own. That it was lamentable to see how many people mistook the means for the end, addicting themselves to certain works, which they performed very imperfectly, by reason of their human or selfish regards.


That the end we ought to propose to ourselves is to become, in this life, the most perfect worshipers of GOD we can possibly be, as we hope to be through all eternity.
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"O my GOD, since Thou art with me, and I must now, in obedience to Thy commands, apply my mind to these outward things, I beseech Thee to grant me the grace to continue in Thy Presence; and to this end do Thou prosper me with Thy assistance, receive all my works, and possess all my affections." 
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Amen, O Lord.  Amen.

The Lord Confirmed The Message

The main point of this post is to express my deep thanks to God for my husband, but I must first start with Paul and Barnabas.

I am currently studying Acts of the Apostles in BSF (Bible Study Fellowship).  This is my second year, having had BSF-Trial-By-Fire last year in the study of Isaiah.  This study of Acts has been so interesting, having so much to do with the work of the Holy Spirit and His empowerment in our lives to be Christ's ambassadors. 

This week's lesson was on Chapter 14, which records the conclusion of Paul's first missionary journey.  This chapter tells us about Paul and Barnabas witnessing to the grace of Christ in the pagan cities of Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe.  In the first city, Iconium, they are speaking to a mixed crowd of Jews and (Greek) Gentiles.  Many believed, but some of the unbelieving Jews stir up the crowd and "poison their minds". 

Paul and Barnabas could have looked at this situation and just decided there were many other places that would be more receptive to the Gospel, and that they would be better used of God to just move on.  Instead, they heeded the Spirit's urging to stay, and not just stay, but spend considerable time there.  They stayed there,

"...speaking boldly for the Lord, who confirmed the message of his grace by enabling them to perform signs and wonders." (vs. 3)

I will get back to Paul and Barnabas in a moment, but I must interject here with some absolute praise to God for giving me a husband who so often and so ably speaks boldly for the Lord.  He doesn't just do it to strangers in a foreign city (though I'm sure he would if given the opportunity).  I have been watching him in the last few months be incredibly bold when speaking to his father, his brothers and sister, and several cousins who show a genuine desire for Truth.  I believe the Lord will do as He did with Paul and Barnabas and confirm the message of His grace in the hearts of these people--perhaps not through signs and wonders as we think of them, but I can testify to the fact that listening to him weave the gospel and logic with such wisdom is a wonder.  As with the apostles, the result is not up to Rob, but up to the Holy Spirit.  I am so thankful and proud of him for speaking with greater concern for these people's eternal relationship with God than any possible rending of his relationship with them here and now. 

As I write here, he is on the phone with his cousin who, after seeing her pictures on facebook two nights ago, stayed up two hours past when he wanted to be in bed to write her a very clear, detailed, and bold message on facebook, encouraging her to turn to God and away from the pit she's sliding into.  She wrote back and asked to talk to him, and he's been on the phone for at least an hour.  Praise you, Oh God, who have by Your Spirit empowered your son Rob to bear witness to the Truth of Your Word!  Soften A's heart!  May the light that You are shedding on her heart right now illuminate her desperate need for you!!!

Okay, so back to the apostles, the ones who did this best (next to Jesus) and gave us such awesome examples of personal surrender to God's will.  They eventually moved on from Iconium, when they discovered (most likely by the discernment of the Spirit) that those in that town had hatched a plot to kill them.  They escaped and moved on to witness in Lystra.  It is here that Paul is nearly stoned to death.  Then he does the unthinkable:

"...he got up and went back into the city..."
     (Acts 14:20)

Could I do this?  Could I return immediately to those who had just stoned me practically to death, and then dragged my body out of the city to avoid being defiled by a dead body (a head-scratcher of an oxymoron in Jewish culture)?

I'm not sure that I have a clear conclusion to this post.  I just wanted to write about how thankful I am for the Spirit witnessing through my husband, for getting to see it and learn from Him/him every time, and to share about the amazing work that God did at the start of the church and continues to do in our day!  May we all be that devoted, that committed to the cause of Christ!!

~Stephanie

I am the Lord; No One is like Me

Our lecture at Bible study today was awesome. I'm not sure that I can accurately explain all that the Lord impressed upon my heart, but here it goes. Father, I pray you use these words to make clear to any reading hearts Your Truth. You see them where they are, you know their needs, and you can use these truths to teach, challenge, and encourage them. Have Your way.

Isaiah is constantly speaking out against false prophets and false idols of his day. Perhaps as in no time since then, we are now living in a society that has returned to Babylonian religion. More people than ever are visiting fortune tellers, palm readers, tarot card readers, horoscopes, angel readers....you name it, people will pay to hear "prophecy" of where their life is headed. However, God's point in much of chapters 42-45 of Isaiah is that the idols of the people have made no prophecies that have actually come true; in contrast, every word God has spoken has thus far come to pass. So:

Fortune tellers predict what will happen. God promises what will happen.

"You may say to yourselves, “How can we know when a message has not been spoken by the LORD?” If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the LORD does not take place or come true, that is a message the LORD has not spoken. That prophet has spoken presumptuously, so do not be alarmed." Deuteronomy 18:21-22

This message is so applicable to our world. Wow.

Now, in the particular passage we read this last week, God calls Cyrus, King of Persia, to be the contemporary savior of His people from their captivity in Babylon......only he calls this king by name 150 years before he was born!

"This is what the LORD says to his anointed, to Cyrus,
whose right hand I take hold of...
For the sake of Jacob my servant, of Israel my chosen,
I summon you by name and bestow on you a title of honor,
though you do not acknowledge me." Isaiah 45:1,4

As they say up here in Canada, "Cool, eh?" This calling of Cyrus was a hard pill for the Israelites to swallow. They were looking for a savior much like Moses, the prince-turned-shepherd. Yet here was God, telling them they would be saved by a Gentile, pagan king! The lecturer's point here was that we must let God work through unexpected people in our lives. Don't assume you know either his ways or his vessels as you walk through trials and struggles.

The last real point of this section of scripture dealt with the concept of questioning God. We've all been there at one time or another...why did this happen? What are you doing, God? What's going on?! The people in Isaiah's time were not questioning God out of a spirit of need, desire for his will, or even simply a desire for understanding? They were "quarreling" with their Maker; the hebrew word for quarrel here indicates rage-filled, accusatory questioning. Ultimately, we are welcomed to be open with our Heavenly Father. We are welcome to bring our questions and our needs before him. However, we are not to question his character. We can, though, question his purpose; these questions actually indicate our faith when we ask, believing that we serve a God who is capable of answering!

Regardless of whom you depend on and spend your time on in this world, even with good purpose: serving your husband, teaching your children, getting to know a boyfriend or girlfriend....our lecturer said: "The greatest children, husbands, and boyfriends still make very poor gods." Serve and honor the One and Only, the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End. He will take your hand and guide you until at last you arrive at his throne in the eternal Kingdom. Praise be to our God!

Laundry

I am thoroughly enjoying being a stay-at-home wife. For two years, I have loved Rob from a distance, longing to serve and help him and being so completely unable to do so. Now, at last, I share his home, and I can use my time, energy, and skills to make his life easier.

One thing I've never been super great at is laundry. By not super great, I don't mean that I can't do laundry. Mostly, it's always been an issue of remembering that it's in the machine. You know, you remember six hours later that you started a load. Well, I now have a husband, meaning we now generate twice as much laundry as I used to alone. I have done quite a bit of laundry just in the week and a half I've been here. I have learned two things.

1) My forgetfulness can be wholly contributed to the machines I've always used. We now have front loaders that literally sing a victory song when your load is done, effectively helping me to remember that I need to go switch it out! I think this is about as great as pumpkin pie...it's the little things in life.

2) One slight incident with some white T-shirts (Rob's wardrobe staple) and a pair of yellow underwear (*sigh*) started me thinking about the verse in Isaiah that talks about our being as filthy rags:

All of us have become like one who is unclean,
and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags... (64:6a)

Long story short, I "took out a whole fleet" of Rob's white shirts. Yes, those were his words :D. We bleached them, and some/most of the bright yellow stains came out. As I was folding the load, I laid one shirt to the side. I glanced back at it and realized that, laying there alone, it looked fine. Not brilliantly white by any means, but sufficiently clean. However, I laid one of his brand new shirts down next to it and I realized just how dingy, dirty, and ready for the rag pile this shirt was.

Our lives can be like this. If we ignore the standards of Christ and choose to live on our own, we can often make a fairly good go of it. We get the "good person" syndrome. In the eyes of ourselves and the world, we're doin' alright.

But the moment we set ourselves up next to Christ, we "become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags". In the brilliant radiance of His holiness and purity, we realize how dirty and unholy we are. Yet there is hope! Isaiah 1:18 declares God's promise for those who allow Him to cleanse them of sin:

Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.

Amen! Thank you, Father, for your overwhelming mercy to us who sin against you! Jesus, your sacrifice allows us to stand in the presence of the Almighty, washed as white as snow. Thank you! Spirit, teach us more each day and open our eyes to areas of sin that we have not surrendered to Your cleansing flood. Thank you, God!!
Amen.

May the deaf ears hear

I love thickly sliced, buttered, cinnamon-raisin toast. That has nothing to do with what else I have to say here, but I wanted to let you know.

In other news, I had an interesting experience at the grocery store yesterday that the Lord used to open my eyes. I love it when He does that! May I take His lesson to heart, apply it to my life, and walk in ever closer communion with Him!

I was wandering my new grocery store, looking for all the things on my list. I wasn't there to buy, just to price--things are quite a bit more expensive here, it would seem. As I made my way along the back wall of the store, the theft alarm at the front door started going off. Now they must be serious about shoplifting in Canada....this was no piddly alarm. The thing sounded a bit reminiscent of a fog horn on steroids. As it droned on, I was at first a little put out that it was disrupting my nice, quiet, solitary trip down the aisles. Up one, down the next, jot on the list, repeat. Easy. Comfortable. Familiar.

It wasn't 2 minutes later that I looked up from my list, startled to realize that, yes, the fog horn still echoed through the tiled, high-ceilinged room.....but I had totally blocked it out as I went about my business. How quickly I adapted and began to ignore that which I did not want to hear!

All too often, I do this with the Lord. He sends me a wake up call, sometimes through a verse or chapter, sometimes through a friend or a gentle rebuke from my husband. I am perturbed at the disruption to my normalcy, so I listen for a short second, grumble a bit, then move on with life, effectively ignoring that still, small voice echoing repetitiously in my spirit.

As I recognized this situation standing there amongst the shredded, block, and sliced cheeses, God showed me a bit more...a few minutes later, as I made my way up toward the canned peas, I was struck by the silence emanating from the alarm. I had been totally unaware of the moment of its end. I thought, God, please don't ever allow my heart to become so callous that I am unaware of the moment I can no longer hear your voice.

In our study of Isaiah, we just finished chapters 42-44. In these chapters, God the Creator and King is speaking of both Israel, his servant nation, and Jesus, his Servant King. Israel is once again rebuked for their blindness and deafness, their unfaithfulness to their faithful God.

^42:18 “Hear, you deaf;
look, you blind, and see!
¹⁹ Who is blind but my servant,
and deaf like the messenger I send?
Who is blind like the one in covenant with me,
blind like the servant of the LORD?
²⁰ You have seen many things, but you pay no attention;
your ears are open, but you do not listen.”

It is so easy to become this way, blinded by laziness, selfishness, callousness. We constantly forget the Lord in our day-to-day operations, "going through the motions" as Matthew West so aptly sings. Yet, there is hope!

^43:1 But now, this is what the LORD says—
he who created you, Jacob,
he who formed you, Israel:
“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
I have summoned you by name; you are mine.
² When you pass through the waters,
I will be with you;
and when you pass through the rivers,
they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire,
you will not be burned;
the flames will not set you ablaze.
³ For I am the LORD your God,
the Holy One of Israel, your Savior;
I give Egypt for your ransom,
Cush and Seba in your stead.
⁴ Since you are precious and honored in my sight,
and because I love you,
I will give people in exchange for you,
nations in exchange for your life.
⁵ Do not be afraid, for I am with you;
I will bring your children from the east
and gather you from the west.
⁶ I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’
and to the south, ‘Do not hold them back.’
Bring my sons from afar
and my daughters from the ends of the earth—
⁷ everyone who is called by my name,
whom I created for my glory,
whom I formed and made.”

^44:22 I have swept away your offenses like a cloud,
your sins like the morning mist.
Return to me,
for I have redeemed you.”
²³ Sing for joy, you heavens, for the LORD has done this;
shout aloud, you earth beneath.
Burst into song, you mountains,
you forests and all your trees,
for the LORD has redeemed Jacob,
he displays his glory in Israel.

Amen! Father, thank You for Your redeeming love for a people so in need of redemption! We cannot survive a moment without You, who gives us breath. Open our blinded eyes to see our idols in order that we might tear them down and give You Your rightful place in our hearts. You are sovereign, holy, altogether righteous! To You be all glory, honor, majesty, and praise!
Thank You, Jesus.
Thank You, Spirit.
Thank You, Father.
Amen.

"Wait for it..." Habakkuk Ch. 1

Last week, I was meditating on Habakkuk 2:3 "For the vision is yet for an appointed time: but at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry." In our Bible study on Isaiah, the concept often comes up of God's every word coming to pass, without exception. This has been increasingly true in my life of late, as so many dreams are coming to fruition.

I decided to read the entirety of the book; I felt much more ready to do this having spent so much time in Isaiah--the prophetic books are not near as intimidating now!! Habakkuk's cry to the LORD at the beginning of Chapter 1 should be echoed by anyone, believer or non-, who takes an honest look at our world: "Why do you tolerate wrongdoing? Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and conflict abounds" (1:3) Why is God still putting up with our broken, desolate, destructive world? I'm sure these thoughts resounded in the heart of Noah, the only righteous man in a society of wickedness run rampant.

Listening to news reports and reading the headlines, it seems improbable that in our world of technology and digital communication, anyone is left who has not heard the truth, and an overwhelming number seem to have rejected it. What is God waiting for?! And what are we to do with this viewpoint? How are we to think, act, and pray in a world full of such vile sin? The answer comes: "I will work a work in your days which you would not believe, though it were told you." (1:5) We are to seek HIS viewpoint.

Habakkuk has an amazing understanding of God's holiness and asks a valid question: how is it that you, the Most Holy God, are choosing to continue looking upon the sinful masses of humanity, those who are destroying one another for personal gain? And yet I love Habakkuk's response 2:1 "I will stand my watch and set myself on the rampart, and watch to see what He will say to me, and what I will answer when I am corrected."

In this response, Habakkuk shows strength, humility, and trust. First, he makes a firm decision not to allow the ravages of the world to drive him into hiding in fear. He knows, as God's servant, that God has promised to "work a work", and he will not cower and risk missing what God will do. Secondly, he displays trust: he doesn't say whimperingly, "I will watch and wait and hope and pray that God hears me and responds." No. He said, "watch to see what he will say to me". There is not a doubt in Habakkuk's mind that God WILL hear him and WILL answer. Last but not least comes humility. I was astonished, struck by his obvious expectation that he didn't have a full understanding, and he was eager to hear God's corrective response.

Do I come to the Lord this way? I think not, most of the time. It's so much easier to just pray, telling God how I see it, and then say, "Okay, God, great talking to you; thanks for your time. Amen." How much deeper in my understanding and wisdom could I go if I allowed the Lord to correct my thinking?

All of this brings me back around to the world and its obvious state of decay. I don't know why God is allowing so much pain and sorrow as a result of sin, and I don't know why he sits back and watches the forces of evil reap so much victory. But I acknowledge that God is all-powerful, and he has not ignored the state of our world. He will come. He will not delay. I pray I am standing on my watch, set upon a rampart, waiting for him.

The Longing of a Bride

I finally feel like I can call myself the "bride-to-be". Something about being 16 months from marriage just didn't make that feel real practical, back when we first got engaged. But here I am, only 16 days from becoming Rob's wife. *deep breath* The time has come.

"The Lord has done this, and it is marvelous to behold!" Ps. 118:23

It has been a loooooooooooooooooooong 7 months since I last saw Rob. I so often find myself spending long minutes, sometimes hours, pondering how much I miss him and long to be with him, my beloved. Yet in this, I see a strange dichotomy--and I don't like what I see.

I am redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, and I am therefore a member of His Church, also depicted as His Bride. As such, I should be overwhelmed by intense longing for Him as my Beloved. I should spend hours longing to be in His presence (and thanks be to God, He has provided access to Himself through the renting of the veil by his death!). But instead of this desire, this devotion, this longing, I have mediocre times of quiet meditation, semi-productive periods of prayer, and quick e-mail-like petitions sent up throughout the day.

My relationship with Rob has only flourished through the distance because we have both determined to devote time, energy, and love to one another and to be very intentional about protecting the time we spend with one another. This has often come at a cost to other things in our lives, namely sleep and time with our families.

**On that note, I was listening to a sermon today that spoke of Jesus's comment that we must hate father and mother, brother and sister in order to follow him. This was not a command to love our families less, but to love Jesus most. I have seen myself willing to do this in my relationship with Rob as far as putting time with him above time with family or friends. However, I am so often unwilling to do it for my Savior, my Beloved.**

I pray that in this new year as the Lord teaches me to be a wife, a friend, a lover, and a help-meet, I determine within my heart to be a better lover and friend to the One who loves me above all else. I pray that He gently leads me into a lifestyle that places Him in the place of priority in my heart, above even Rob, my (ALMOST!) husband. I pray that I learn to devote time, energy, and love to my relationship with Christ to foster and grow and protect it, regardless of the cost.

"The Spirit and the Bride say, 'Come.' He who testifies to these things says, 'Yes, I am coming soon.' Amen. Come, Lord Jesus." Revelation 22:17, 20