He Is Good (Pt. 2)

1) Some notes/thoughts I put together from an awesome sermon I listened to recently...and since I haven't posted anything here for awhile (new full time job keeps me pretty busy!) I thought I'd post them here as an update! :)

"It is not cruel, unjust or wicked of God to wound you in such a way that knocks out from under you the props of self-reliance and puts your reliance completely on Him."

"It's not cruel of God at all to take from you what might lead you into an eternity of sorrow to give to you sorrow now that leads to an eternity of ever-increasing joy."

"When God wields the scalpel, it's never an act of cruelty. It's always an act of mercy. His allowance (of suffering or His discipline) is to create maturity and a clinging to Him to produce hope and healing."

-Matt Chandler, The Village Church

Often it can be hard for us to know and believe in God's goodness when we feel like we're suffering, going through hard times or experiencing His discipline/pruning, versus when our circumstances are ideal. But honestly I find the reality of His goodness in the most trying of circumstances even more compelling! I LOVE it about God that His first priority for us is always relationship with Him, because it is precisely why and how we were created to live and He knows it's the only thing that completely saves and fulfills us and leads us into our eternity of joy, which is being with Him forever!!

In light of this His love and mercy are so unthinkably great that He WOULD test and refine us by allowing these kinds of trials and suffering in our lives, no matter how we are perceiving or understanding them at the time, just to get us into that place of dependency only on and pursuing above all that closeness with Him. These are the very things that push us right into His loving embrace where we discover so much more of who He is and how He lives and identifies with us in brokenness (Isa. 57:15), and where we know with full assurance that He and He alone is our living, unfailing hope who will over & over again Himself revive us! And knowing HIM this way in relationship is the whole essence of what we most need, worth any and every cost (which He shows us in the love of Christ). Because when our heart and our flesh fail (which they do) HE is our strength and our portion (Ps. 73:26). And when we give our lives to Him as an offering for His praise and glory and when we will live in glad submission to Him and His will we are saying God, do with me as YOU see best. I am like clay in Your hands (Jer. 18). And ultimately I trust in You and Your sovereign love as You mold and shape me as a new creation in Christ, that You work everything for my good (Rom. 8:28) and Your glory. Yes, even when I don't understand...Your ways and thoughts are so much higher than my own (Isa. 55:8-9). I lean NOT on my own understanding but trust in You with ALL my heart (Prov. 3:5-6). With my whole life, whatever comes my way, I will count it all joy and praise You! Because You are good, and what You do is good (Ps. 119:68). It was GOOD for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees! (v. 71). God disciplines us for our good that we may share in His holiness, and it yields a harvest of peace and righteousness! (Heb 12)...this is the pure love, mercy and goodness of God! So we give Him thanks maybe even moreso in times of discipline, pruning and/or trials of any kind, because they are guarantees of His faithful & glorious Presence and signs of His hand and His Word at work in our lives! God is FOR us! AND He rejoices over and delights in us, and He is so pleased to give us the riches of His glorious inheritance and every spiritual blessing in Christ. Hallelujah! How amazing is our God!!!

And this also why we are continually taking in and meditating on His Word..."If your law had not been my delight, I would have perished in my affliction." (Ps. 119:92). God never intends for us to perish in our afflictions, whatever they are, but to be living and thriving on and delighting in the promises of His Word, which sustains all things and breathes such life into us! So to have our hearts and minds filled and aligned with His Truth is how we will, regardless of circumstances or anything else, continue to rejoice in Him and in the hope of His glory! :D

Fixed

My train of thought today... :)

"Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things."

--Philippians 4:8

My Jesus is all of these things and so much more, and it doesn't take long to discover that it's not possible to have too many thoughts about Him! They are never-ending and all-consuming! <3 At our Deeper service last night the pastor was talking about what it means to position ourselves in His Presence, which we wholeheartedly seek and acknowledge every moment of every day, and I think part of that involves allowing the Holy Spirit control of our minds to direct all our thoughts to Jesus where they remain FIXED! He is truly the most perfect thought we could ever have, and when He becomes the fixture in our minds it drives out all other thoughts that are not of Him and that do not submit to His lordship! And we will be continually aware of and immersed in His Presence as our minds are surrendered and open to Him, set on the things of above where He is seated (Col. 3:1), that He Himself will fill our thoughts with everything lovely and beautiful about who He is and the truth of His Word, and by His power at work in us our minds will be continually renewed and transformed into the mind of Christ (Rom. 12:2; 1 Cor. 2:16). And the mind controlled by the Spirit is LIFE and PEACE! (Romans. 8:6)

So what does it look like for our thoughts to be fixed?

Fixed - adj.
1) Firmly in position; stationary
2) Determined; established; set
3) Not subject to variation; constant
4) Persistently occurring in the mind; obsessive (yes...I love this!)
5) Attached or placed so as to be immovable
6) Steadily directed

"Therefore, holy brothers, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom we confess."

--Hebrews 3:1

"Such a high priest meets our need - one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens."

--Hebrews 7:26

Lord, we give you our minds...let all of our thoughts be pleasing to and glorifying of You...we want only to dwell on how amazing and how good You are and everything we have in You, and as we do we know that You will continue to illuminate Your Truth to us and reveal Yourself to us in all new ways! Amen!

Glorious

Two songs called "Glorious" that I'm loving recently! :D

Glorious - Chris Tomlin

We lift our hands in praise to You
We lift our hearts in worship to You, Lord
We lift our voice to You and sing
Our greatest love will ever be You, Lord

Glorious over us
You shall reign glorious

There is a King that we adore
With humble hearts we bow before You, Lord
There is a place we long to be
Face to face we long to see You, Lord

Majesty and power
Are Yours alone forever

Glorious - Jesus Culture

Hope fills my soul
The love that You've shown
Brings refreshing like the rain
Peace floods my heart
I've known nothing apart
Apart from Your goodness, God

You are glorious
You are holy, holy
The heavens shout
You are worthy, worthy

Your love frees my soul
And fear has no hold
For You have broken the chains
Now joy fills my life
Your Spirit, Your Light
I'm undone by the kindness of Christ

You are glorious
You are holy, holy
The heavens shout
You are worthy, worthy
My soul cries out
You are holy, holy
The nations shout
You are worthy, worthy

At the sound of our praise
The heavens will shake
And the earth will move

Awakening 2012

Finally an update! Happy February! The month of January just flew by, and I wish I could write an entry that would do justice to just what an incredible month it was, with everything JESUS has been doing and all He has been revealing. It has been so crazy!!! It goes all the way back to His promise to me in October (Isaiah 46:13; see also this entry) and how since then I have just been watching in utter amazement (to put it mildly) as God has been and continues to bring this promise to fruition, doing exactly what He told me He was going to do (so as this unfolds I shouldn't be surprised, right?! But somehow I still am, if not just because He always blows the roof off my initial expectations!) with several HUGE breakthroughs this past month. Things I had at one point never even thought possible, the LORD has been bringing about right before my eyes. It has absolutely blown me away and opened up a whole new realm in terms of how I am conceiving of God - His salvation, His power, His thoughts and His ways that are infinitely greater and higher than our own (Isa. 55:8-9) - I am experiencing these glorious truths first hand! And with an ever heightened awareness that it is ALL Him and ALL by His Spirit...it is HIM who reveals, saves, and proclaims (Isa. 43:12). As He performs His Word...all I can do is worship in amazement. I am left with absolutely nothing, nothing at all but to worship and praise Him...which is exactly where I need to be at all times, never losing sight of this Mighty and Wondrous God who is just so inconceivable in His goodness and greatness...as I grow in the knowledge of Him I will only be evermore awestruck. He is taking me HIGHER all the time and I am just SO in LOVE with Him to increasingly avail myself to Him so He can have His way in me. GOD be PRAISED!! He is just rocking my world in every possible way!!!

Another thing is that our church, along with other churches all around the world, just completed a 21-day fast called Awakening. This is my third year participating in this fast, and normally, though everything God does throughout the course of the fast makes it all so worth it, I am excited for it to come to an end and enjoy the end-of-fast celebrations, and this time around it was no different in that respect. The ridiculously awesome way this fast ended called for the most joyful of celebrations (but that's another entry altogether!) and I definitely partook!! But it's really pressing on me this year that this is not the end of anything but only the beginning. I'm coming out of this fast with a much weaker desire for anything of this world and a much greater hunger for more of Him. God has lit a fresh fire in me...my affections are stirred, my heart and my flesh are crying out...all I want is MORE of God! There is absolutely NOTHING or NO ONE who compares to Him and the way He fills and satisfies me! And the one thing I love about fasting is that it doesn't change Him in the slightest, but it changes us in that we become so much more aware of His Presence, so much more aware of our need for and dependence on Him, so much hungrier for Him and as a result WE come into alignment with HIM, WE are in agreement with HIM...in our weakness HE is magnified and becomes greater...and I am humbled to the dust, so that HE can lift me up. There is no way I can describe the power I've experienced in any fast I've done. But GOD moves, and we are in sync with Him because He has our undivided focus and we have offered ourselves up completely to Him. And all of these beautiful & miraculous things happen:

Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard. Then you will call, and the LORD will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.

--Isaiah 58:8-9

So basically...God has already blown me out of the water with the things He has been bringing about already this year, and He is only just getting started. This entire year will be AWAKENING. There is just so much more He has for us, always...no eye has ever seen, no ear has ever heard, no mind has ever even conceived of it...but He has revealed it to us by His Spirit (1 Cor. 2:9). And so we REJOICE!! We are JOYFUL in hope! (Rom. 12:12). I will continue to believe Him to be faithful to His Promises as He has revealed in His glorious Word of TRUTH and to be faithful to complete the works He has begun! And in all of this He and He ALONE will be glorified!!! HALLELUJAH praise the Mighty & AWESOME Name of Jesus!! It all belongs to HIM!! :D

Happy New Year!

2012 is HERE!! And this is the verse that is setting the tone and carrying me in...

Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

--2 Peter 1:10-11

To make my calling and election sure...I take that as to live, think, and act in such a way that solidifies and proclaims boldly and with certainty that I belong to and am in Christ, called, chosen, and appointed by Him, created for His glory, bought with a price. Moreso than ever before I am so strongly convicted that it's not about me. Achievements, failures, and everything in between - whatever I'm perceiving about myself - I am only at rest, I am only fulfilled when I am boasting in CHRIST, who He is and what He has done. So I am laying myself down to receive all that He is! Pursuing His heart in all new ways, knowing He only draws me closer and calls me higher. There are such wondrous places in Him yet to search out and uncover...oh, just to know HIM more. Entering with FAITH and great expectation. It's going to be one incredible year. :)

Arms Wide Open

I cannot even deal with how the Holy Spirit is healing and ministering to me through this song, exactly where I'm at right now...I don't know how I haven't come across it before but the timing could not be more perfect than right now and I know that's the reason. God always knows. 


What's all the more amazing is how this ties directly in with a word God spoke to me at the very beginning of this year that I knew would be my guiding theme and meditation for the year. Though I know I heard Him, His exact words clearly, I didn't fully understand it at the time, and have spent a lot of this year recalling it to mind and praying it over and questioning what He meant by it. And now, in worshiping to this song, taking in its lyrics, it came...confirmation of His word spoken over me at the beginning of the year and life-altering revelation of its meaning right as the year draws to a close...full circle. I understand. How is He so good? How are His ways and His timing so perfect? His love and His faithfulness absolutely blow me away. 


Soak in this pure, indescribable, glorious BEAUTY and be completely undone.

"What does love look like?” is the question I’ve been pondering
“What does love look like?”
“What does love look like?” is the question I’ve been asking of You

I once believed that love was romance, just a chance
I even thought that love was for the lucky and the beautiful
I once believed that love was a momentary bliss
But love is more than this
All You ever wanted was my attention
All You ever wanted was love from me
All You ever wanted was my affections, to sit here at Your feet
Then tell me

“What does love look like?” is the question I’ve been pondering
“What does love look like?”

Then I sat down, a little frustrated and confused
If all of life comes down to love
Then love has to be more than sentiment
More than selfishness and selfish gain

And then I saw Him there, hanging on a tree, looking at me
I saw Him there, hanging on a tree, looking at me
He was looking at me, looking at Him, staring through me
I could not escape those beautiful eyes
And I began to weep and weep

He had arms wide open, a heart exposed
Arms wide open
He was bleeding, bleeding

Love’s definition, love’s definition was looking at me
Looking at Him, hanging on a tree
I began to weep and weep and weep and weep

This is how I know what love is
This is how I know what love is

And as I sat there weeping, crying
Those beautiful eyes, full of desire and love
He said to me:

“You shall love Me, You shall love Me
You shall love Me, You shall love Me
With arms wide open, a heart exposed
With arms wide open, bleeding, sometimes bleeding

If anybody’s looking for love in all the wrong places
If you’ve been searching for love, come to Me, come to Me
Take up your cross, deny yourself
Forget your father’s house and run, run with Me
You were made for abandonment, wholeheartedness
You were made for someone greater, someone bigger, so follow Me
And You’ll come alive when you learn to die"

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Romans 5:8

We love because He first loved us.

1 John 4:19

Healing Prayer

Short but sweet today...I just have to say that I LOVE the times when God draws me into prayer and I have no clue what I'm supposed to pray for, but as I'm just open to follow His leading He ultimately guides me into a revelation of TRUTH from His Word that sets me free, that breaks the chains over a certain area or hindrance in my life and brings healing! SO needed today. I really have no idea how He does it...only that it leaves me speechless in awe and gratitude every time, the way His truth penetrates and speaks straight to my heart. When we will simply come to Him and fellowship with Him in prayer...it's so amazing what He will do. He always gives us exactly what we need exactly when we need it and His heart for us as His children is that above all we would always know who He is and who we are in and to Him. He delights to reveal it. :) He is so good it's unbelievable!!! All thanks and praise to my One and Only. :D