The Spirit's Work

This section from The Valley of Vision was a particular blessing and challenge to me today:

            

"O God the Holy Spirit,

Thou who dost proceed from the Father and the Son,
     have mercy on me.
When thou didst first hover over chaos,
    order came to birth,
    beauty robed the world, fruitfulness sprang forth.
Move, I pray thee, upon my disordered heart;
Take away the infirmities of unruly desires
    and hateful lusts;
Lift the mists and darkness of unbelief;
Brighten my soul with the pure light of truth;
Make it fragrant as the garden of paradise,
    rich with every goodly fruit,
    beautiful with heavenly grace,
    radiant with rays of divine light.
Fulfil in me the glory of thy divine offices;
Be my comforter, light, guide, sanctifier;
Take of the things of Christ and show them to my soul;
Through thee may I daily learn more of his love,
    grace, compassion, faithfulness, beautiy;
Lead me to the cross and show me his wounds,
    the hateful nature of evil, the power of Satan;
May I there see my sins as
    the nails that transfixed him,
    the cords that bound him,
    the thorns that tore him,
    the sword that pierced him.
Help me to find in his death the reality
    and immensity of his love.
Open for me the wondrous volumes of truth
    in his, 'It is finished'.
Increase my faith in the clear knowledge of
    atonement achieved, expiation completed,
    satisfaction made, guilt done away,
    my debt paid, my sins forgiven,
    my person redeemed, my soul saved,
    hell vanquished, heaven opened,
    eternity made mine.
O Holy Spirit, deepen in me these saving lessons.
Write them upon my heart, that my walk be
    sin-loathing, sin-fleeing, Christ loving;
And suffer no devil's device to beguile
    or deceive me. " 

(Taken from The Valley of Vision "The Spirit's Work," page 56.)

To Live as They did...

So I've been doing a lot of thinking: as of the last few days, one of the things that has been giving me some "food for thought" has been the subject of faith. I have been reading through the book of Hebrews during my devotions, and one of the most well-known chapters of this book is the chapter on faith, chapter 11. Reading this chapter has made me ponder a little this fundamental aspect of the Christian life. Maybe I think too much in concise definitions and clear-cut distinctions, but I guess one question in particular comes to mind as I mull over the application of faith in my own life: "What is the difference between a life characterized by true faith, as in the examples of the great heroes we read about in Hebrews, and a life marked by repeated acts of what could be called 'leaps into the darkness'?"

My Bible had a note that helped me to begin to understand the difference:

"The essence of faith consists in receiving what God has revealed, and may be defined as that trust in the God of the Scriptures and in Jesus Christ whom He hath sent, which receives Him as Saviour and Lord, and impels to loving obedience and good works (John 1.12; Jas. 2.14-26)...."

Faith in the believer's life is such an incredible thing; a jewel with many facets. It would be really cool to do an in-depth study of it....

"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Hebrews 11:1

"That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith;

that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,

may be able to comprehend with all saints

what is the breadth,

and length,

and depth,

and height;

and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge,

that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.

Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly

above all that we ask or think,

according to the power that worketh in us,

unto him be glory in the church

by Christ Jesus throughout all ages,

world without end. Amen."

Ephesians 3:17-21

I read this passage in my devotions this morning. I think my favorite part of this passage is the part about the breadth, length, depth, and height. Paul could have just said "comprehend with all saints how great and to know the love of Christ...." but no! He wanted us to understand how truly great God's love really is! And the best part about it is that it says that we can actually comprehend it and know it! How awesome is that?

Growing--or not?

This morning, as I was sitting on my bed doing my devotions, all of a sudden a thought struck me: How can I know if I'm even growing spiritually? Obviously, a person who is maturing in their walk is growing, but then again, What determines spiritual maturity? I mean, a lot of the spiritual walk is so "unseen" (meaning so much of it involves the heart and not simply "cut-and-dried" steps along the journey of life, if that makes any sense). To walk hand-in-hand with the Lord throughout each day and grow closer to Him differs a lot from building a relationship with a friend face-to-face! It is hard, and sometimes, it is difficult to even determine if this relationship with the most important Person in my life is even making progress!

So, with that thought in mind, I am kind of hoping to start a personal list of the different characteristics of a growing Christian that I find as I read the Bible. Even today, while reading in Psalms, I read Psalm 122:1, which I think gives a good clue to one of the first things that should be happening in the life of a person who is growing in Christ: "I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the Lord."(KJV) How basic can it get? If I don't even have a desire to go to church, well then, that is probably a good sign that there isn't any growth taking place in my life!

In Him,
Angie

Confident (through Him Alone)

I guess you've probably noticed by now that I like to share things from my devotions. :) I would like to share with you though, a little something that I learned the other night while reading Proverbs 14: 26--"the fear of the Lord is strong confidence: and His children have a place of refuge." I don't about you, but when I read this verse, it struck me as being a little "contradictory", or maybe a better word would be a little confusing. I mean, how does "fear" bring "confidence"? Like I said, that's confusing! So when I finished the chapter, I jotted down the question: "How does the fear of the Lord bring confidence?" and these are a few thoughts that came to mind:

1) When I fear God, it really doesn't matter what happens or what the world
does to me, because it is God who I fear and not the world (or man).

2) Also, by fearing God and having Him in the right place in my life, I can
have confidence because I know that God is my authority and He is on my side (kind of going along with the first point.)

3) A healthy fear of God is brought about through an understanding of who God is--He is Omniscient, Omnipotent, and Omnipresnt, to mention a few, and by understanding these things, I can then have confidence in life.

4) I fear Him because I love Him, and "perfect love casts out fear" (1 John
4:18), thus giving confidence and boldness.

I think this verse (Proverbs 14:26) stood out to me because lately, I've really felt rather "afraid" of what others think of me--especially while helping with the different ministries at our church this last month. I've often subconsciously asked myself "Do I measure up to what others expect of a 'MK' girl?" I'll be honest: I've stuggled with this subject a lot lately.

But you know, it all comes back to the verse I mentioned in the beginning: If I really were fearing God, I wouldn't be so afraid of what others--even Christians--think of me! I would help in the different ministries without always wondering what others think of how I teach the lesson to the children, or fearing that someone else might come in and watch me as I minister to the children. No, I would be bold and confident that what I am doing is for the Lord, and that is all that matters! Period! Through God, I have no reason to be anything but bold and confident!

It is easy to write this all, but much harder to actually put it into practice.... My prayer is that we can encourage each other in our walk with God and help each other to look to Him for the strength to be bold for the cause of Christ and to put aside those fears that always arise.

Desiring to walk closer to Him,

~Angie