be my everything
Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, having been born again, not of corruptible seed, but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever. 1 Peter 1:22-23
Lord, I pray, be our everything when we have everything. Be our everything when we have nothing. Just please be our everything.
I think in our callings we get to realize the slavery that Paul writes about in Romans 6. In my enslavement to Christ, he births my intercession. It does not make up my total slavery to him, but it definitely has more than a few links in the chains. So what does joyful slavery look like?
Sometimes it looks like pressing through the hurts, the rejection, the misunderstandings that we all incur in ministry and holding high the chains that link our hearts to His. It means begging him to be our everything. It means rejoicing over the fact that we share in His sufferings. He was rejected, He knew and bore every single dart that is aimed at our heart by satan...He knew it much more than we will ever know it.
I have complete confidence in Christ in the days I doubt myself, because I know my strength for ministry does come from Him. Christ in me, the Hope of Glory. He will be my source of joy in it, He will light my path. He is faithful, He is good. He wants to heal, He wants to fix the broken, He wants to restore hearts.
I can't stop mentioning God, I can't stop interceding. My heart is enslaved to Him.
His word was in my heart like a burning fire shut up in my bones; I was weary of holding it back, and I could not. Jeremiah 20:9
God is calling us to birth new things for His Kingdom. Will we answer His call?
In Jeremiah 1, the Lord asks Jeremiah what he sees. This statement alone is astounding to me, that God is asking Jeremiah what he sees, then later goes on to confirm it. Jeremiah was alone in ministry, he wasn't seeing the fruit of his labor and man was not confirming what he heard from God. He was rejected, thrown into a pit. How many of us could stand a ministry like that for a month, let alone 70 years?
Jeremiah tells the Lord, "I see a branch of an almond tree." (Jer. 1:11) The Hebrew word for almond is shaqed and the Hebrew word for waking is shaqad...the almond in Hebrew thought is considered the "waker" because it, of all trees, blossoms early, watching diligently as the other blossoms in the garden unfold.
In this word from God, the Lord confirms to Jeremiah "that you have seen well, for I am ready to perform My word." (Jer. 1:12) That like the almond tree, He is watching over the events that are ready to unfold.
Unless the LORD guards the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. Psalm 127:1
The Lord promises to Jeremiah that He will watch over His people to build and to plant.
And it shall come to pass, that as I have watched over them to pluck up, to break down, to throw down, to destroy, and to afflict, so I will watch over them to build and to plant, says the Lord. Jeremiah 31:28
What are we building and planting? Do we live in the knowledge that God is watching over it? That He is speaking to us, that He is confirming to us what no man can confirm or speak?
And all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withers, And its flowers fade away. But the word of the LORD endures forever. 1 Peter 1:24-25
Cling to Him. Build it. Plant it. He will watch over it. If He is in it, it will surpass your wildest imaginings. If you have a well-planned itinerary, a schedule of how He will work, I advise you to tear it up. The road He leads us down has only visibility for the next few turns; you will have to follow Him into the dark. He created the road, so cast down His seeds as you go.
By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. Hebrews 11:8
Lord, I pray, be our everything when we have everything. Be our everything when we have nothing. Just please be our everything.
I think in our callings we get to realize the slavery that Paul writes about in Romans 6. In my enslavement to Christ, he births my intercession. It does not make up my total slavery to him, but it definitely has more than a few links in the chains. So what does joyful slavery look like?
Sometimes it looks like pressing through the hurts, the rejection, the misunderstandings that we all incur in ministry and holding high the chains that link our hearts to His. It means begging him to be our everything. It means rejoicing over the fact that we share in His sufferings. He was rejected, He knew and bore every single dart that is aimed at our heart by satan...He knew it much more than we will ever know it.
I have complete confidence in Christ in the days I doubt myself, because I know my strength for ministry does come from Him. Christ in me, the Hope of Glory. He will be my source of joy in it, He will light my path. He is faithful, He is good. He wants to heal, He wants to fix the broken, He wants to restore hearts.
I can't stop mentioning God, I can't stop interceding. My heart is enslaved to Him.
His word was in my heart like a burning fire shut up in my bones; I was weary of holding it back, and I could not. Jeremiah 20:9
God is calling us to birth new things for His Kingdom. Will we answer His call?
In Jeremiah 1, the Lord asks Jeremiah what he sees. This statement alone is astounding to me, that God is asking Jeremiah what he sees, then later goes on to confirm it. Jeremiah was alone in ministry, he wasn't seeing the fruit of his labor and man was not confirming what he heard from God. He was rejected, thrown into a pit. How many of us could stand a ministry like that for a month, let alone 70 years?
Jeremiah tells the Lord, "I see a branch of an almond tree." (Jer. 1:11) The Hebrew word for almond is shaqed and the Hebrew word for waking is shaqad...the almond in Hebrew thought is considered the "waker" because it, of all trees, blossoms early, watching diligently as the other blossoms in the garden unfold.
In this word from God, the Lord confirms to Jeremiah "that you have seen well, for I am ready to perform My word." (Jer. 1:12) That like the almond tree, He is watching over the events that are ready to unfold.
Unless the LORD guards the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. Psalm 127:1
The Lord promises to Jeremiah that He will watch over His people to build and to plant.
And it shall come to pass, that as I have watched over them to pluck up, to break down, to throw down, to destroy, and to afflict, so I will watch over them to build and to plant, says the Lord. Jeremiah 31:28
What are we building and planting? Do we live in the knowledge that God is watching over it? That He is speaking to us, that He is confirming to us what no man can confirm or speak?
And all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withers, And its flowers fade away. But the word of the LORD endures forever. 1 Peter 1:24-25
Cling to Him. Build it. Plant it. He will watch over it. If He is in it, it will surpass your wildest imaginings. If you have a well-planned itinerary, a schedule of how He will work, I advise you to tear it up. The road He leads us down has only visibility for the next few turns; you will have to follow Him into the dark. He created the road, so cast down His seeds as you go.
By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. Hebrews 11:8