steam-roller run me down

this last week and a half, the middle of the busiest part of my semester, I feel as if God has been growing, and convicting, me non-stop.  While this has been incredible, it has also heightened my emotions (when I, like Winston Churchill, am already "naturally weepy" :) haha) and has required time for processing, time which I have told myself I do not have.  And yet, to tell the God of the Universe, the One who created time itself, that I do not have time for Him...who do I think I am?...And so, I have spent time processing. And the result...

Some sweet lessons, thoughts to ponder, and areas for growth:

on unity:  some notes from a sermon on Galations 2:6-10...What prevents us from being united, and what often divides us, are the kind of things that Peter and Paul were fighting against, that is, personality clashes, personal matters, who is the "pillar" and who is not.  What was threatening their unity? Ego. Ego is what was threatening their unity. How do we get around this? By focusing on the gospel, the Truth.  Unity not focused on the Truth will prove ephemeral, not lasting, superficial, the creation of man, not the unity of the Spirit and the gospel of Jesus Christ.  For, if you focus on the gospel, you actually become increasingly one as we are one in Christ.  

It's so easy to allow personal differences to destroy spiritual relationships. Sometimes God puts us in a surrounding with people we completely clash with, but, we must never forget, we will always have one thing in common, One gospel, One Lord, One Savior. We must learn to see beyond appearances "But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart. 1 Sam. 16:7"  God does not judge by human appearance, He has no partiality to the flesh, personalities, or to the human face, he looks beyond that, He sees the heart, He sees us as we are.  And still, He loves us.  Might we allow Him to teach us what it truly means to love as He loves.

We must fight for Fellowship.  Fellowship is the communion connection we have with God the Father through faith in Christ and therefore with each other also. Fellowship is something won for us by Christ's work on the Cross, nonetheless, the Bible consistently teaches that we still need to work at it ourselves in order to maintain and develop it.  Ephesians 4:3 "Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace" Make every effort.  Humility is always the key to fellowship, for, it gets beyond appearances and fights for Truth. Make every effort.  Admit you're in the wrong, do whatever it takes, we are to make every effort to keep the bond of fellowship.

Our unity will not be based upon powerful leaders or personalities or secondary issues.  Our unity will be in God, in Christ Jesus.

on strength: I have none, and yet, I pretend that I am invincible.  Psalm 16:2 "I said to the LORD, 'You are my Lord, apart from you I have no good thing.'" 2 Cor 12:9 "But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.'"  If I believe the character of Jesus, am I living up to my belief?  Am I attempting to live for Christ on my own power and attain growth and intimacy with Him by my own works? I have no strength, my energy is fleeting and temporal, but Christ! His strength is made perfect in my weakness, He is the One who will sustain, renew, and restore, He  is the One who will grow me and draw me ever closer, He alone is the One who will set my feet upon the Rock.

"Our one concern should be concentration on God, and this will mean that all the other margins of life, mental, moral and spiritual, are free with the freedom of a child, a worshipping child, not a wayward child.  In a worker without this solemn dominant note of concentration on God there is no margin of mind, body or spirit free, consequently he becomes spent out and crushed. There is no freedom, no delight in life; nerves, mind and heart are so crushingly burdened that God's blessing cannot rest..."-Oswald Chambers

To be free with the freedom of a worshipping child...Oh, how I desire that. Picture a young child who has been playing and running about joyfully all day and is now spent and exhausted.  Would she not run into the arms of her father, to be held up and refreshed by the rest found in his arms? Even now, after emotionally, mentally, and physically draining weeks, I have the deep longing to be embraced by my own father.  And so it is the same with our Heavenly Father, I want to learn the child-like trust and dependence upon His power, Strength, and Steadfastness.

"But the other side is just as true- when once the concentration is on God, all the margins of life are free and under the dominance of God alone. There is no responsibility on you for work; the only responsibility you have is to keep in living constant touch with God, and to see that you allow nothing to hinder your co-operation with Him...be careful to remember that you are freed for one thing only- to be absolutely devoted to Him. We have no right to judge where we should be put, or to have preconceived notions as to what God is fitting us for. God engineers everything; wherever He puts us our one great aim is to pour out a whole-hearted devotion to Him in that particular work. "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might.""-O. Chambers

Lord, I am Yours, take me. break me. make me.

Lord, soften our hearts that we would be maleable in Your hands.