This morning, I am lifting my arms in praise to God my Savior! I want to share a lesson that I have JUST learned with Him. It is both humbling and exhilarating at the SAME time!
First of all, if you think once you have accepted Jesus as your Savior, made Him Lord OVER your life that you will now skip merrily to your lou (what is a lou anyhow? 🙂 ) I hate to break your happy little bubble, because that is not the case. You have now enrolled yourself in the “Holy Spirit School of The Called Remnant, Follower of Christ, School of Life.” In other words, you are a new recruit in the Lord’s army! And Holy Spirit has now come to reside inside of you, and He is going to WAKE you up in a way that will rock your new-in-Christ world!!! I mean, your life is no longer your own! You have given your life over to Jesus! And while it is the BEST eternal decision you could EVER make, your new life in Christ is going to transform you from what you once were to what God wants you to be! You are being given a life-time God-given eternal makeover! 🙂 Romans 12:2 says:
“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”
I was 21 Years old when I heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ for the first time and made a profession of faith, accepting Jesus as my Savior, making Him Lord OVER my life. That is 21 years of living according to the world’s standards. A foundation had been set within me that did not necessarily line up with the foundation God originally intended to be the heart of me! Holy Spirit has had to (and is still) breaking up a lot of hard ground (thought processes, habits, beliefs) that need to be changed, and here is the thing – as long as you have breath in your body and allow Holy Spirit to change what needs changing in you – He will! Right up until God calls you home.
Jeremiah 18:4 is what Holy Spirit gave me this morning when I woke up, I was going through a very difficult time, my faith was being challenged and I was feeling hurt and frustrated with the Lord because I couldn’t hear what He was saying to me, and I had been praying and believing Him for very specific things. Things that were causing me to be filled with worry and anxiety (which are not from God). This is what Holy Spirit (through Jeremiah 18:4) showed me:
But the pot He was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so, the Potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to Him.
I had long hair as a child, and I remember my mother having me sit in a chair before her while she brushed and combed out my long hair, getting me to sit still and not to squirm took some effort on her part, I didn’t want to submit. Having tangles and snarls or knots combed out of my hair was not my favorite past time to endure. And sometimes it really hurt! But the end results were two neatly plated long braids with pretty ribbons on the ends on each side of my head. Sometimes God is asking us to do according to Psalm 46:10:
“Be still and know that I am God.”
And we become frustrated because we live in a microwave society, where we want:
TO HEAR FROM GOD NOW! NOW! NOW!
And we rant and we rave like a child having a hissy fit because He is making us do something we don’t want to do – which is to sit still.
Are you not hearing what God is saying to you because this is the case? That has been the case with me… And I had to repent of it and ask for God’s forgiveness because I was being an impatient, demanding, hardheaded child. It wasn’t until I had tired myself out (physically, emotionally and even yes – spiritually) that I had no choice other than still my mind, still my thoughts, still my body that I could hear what God was saying ALL along. I just couldn’t hear above my own noise of fear, anxiety, depression, grief and so many other things that were yelling louder than the voice of God. So up until yesterday, I was like a child hiccupping from a long round of crying and having a temper tantrum.
HOLY SPIRIT NEVER YELLS AT ME. HE ALWAYS SPEAKS IN A CALM, QUIET VOICE THAT I CAN EITHER CHOOSE TO LISTEN TO, OR TO MISS. THANKFULLY GOD IS LONG SUFFERING WITH US, AND WILL PATIENTLY WAIT UNTIL WE TIRE OURSELVES OUT, BEFORE HE SAYS:
“Kelly, are you done now? Are you ready to listen?”
And this morning, when I woke up, I was ready to listen. And this is what Holy Spirit taught me through the reading of a devotional that had come by way of email.
GOD’S WAYS ARE HIGHER THAN OUR WAYS, GOD’S THOUGHTS ARE HIGHER THAN OUR THOUGHTS
Isaiah 55:8-9 God is telling us the following:
“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.”
Ephesians 2:1-10 tells us:
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience – among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved – and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages He might show the immeasurable riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
There was something that my husband and I had been believing God for, stepping out in faith and entrusting a desire we had for Him to make happen. Even after my husband’s death this year, I STILL stood on faith to what God would do. But the way that God chose to do it, is not the way I thought He would. Basically, I was trying to take God’s hand and show Him (even by faith) how I wanted Him to do it. And when it didn’t occur the way I thought it would, I lost faith, and I lost heart. This is when I “stopped squirming” in my seat and quieted myself to listen to what Holy Spirit was saying. And this is what He said:
Daughter, your life is not your own – you gave it to Me 36 years ago, yet you continually try to take the reins from my hands instead of allowing me to lead you in the way I have for you to go. You cannot have it both ways.
And then He said to me:
“You have been walking by faith through the trials and storms that have been coming your way, and I am so very proud of you for doing that. Do you not remember that my Word says in Galatians 6:9 ‘And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.” and I have said in Isaiah 40:31 ‘ But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.” Do you choose to believe what you think are your circumstances instead of what I have already told you what will be? If I have told You I have something for you, is anyone more powerful than I to take it out of MY hands?”
That was a seriously “ouch word” and I was being admonished, and rightfully so – I lowered my head this morning and I repented. I hadn’t realized that I was even DOING that. And because of it, I was adding to my own misery. Listen – because someone reading this (like me) needs to hear these words. Sometimes we just have to submit and trust HIS leading – like Abraham in the Old Testament did. Like ANYONE who God is calling to be part of His Remnant in these last days must do! The minute we take the reins of our lives back into our own hands, we get ourselves in binds. We can do NOTHING without God. We make a complete and serious mess of things by thinking the way things should happen – even if we are believing BY faith for it to occur. This is what my response was to the Father this morning when I realized how I had been acting:
“Father, I thank You for your patience with me. I thank You Holy Spirit for being long suffering over the things you are changing within me, even when I fight You on it. Thank You for NOT giving up on me. I reaffirm my desire to live for and follow after You. Father God, my true desire is to be after YOUR heart! Please forgive me for trying to direct my own steps. I confess that I don’t know the way of this new chapter of life I am in, but I DO know that YOU are the Way, the Truth AND the Life, so Father God please continue to lead me by Your Holy Spirit. Your Word tells me that NOTHING will separate from Your love! NOT circumstances! NOT people! NOT Principalities! NOT demons or the devil! NOT even my OWN stubborn self! And so I pray as in Psalm 51:10:
“Create in me a clean heart Oh God and renew a right spirit in me!”
“For I am YOURS Father and I trust in YOU alone. Please be glorified in Jesus’ precious name I pray, amen.”
Dearest Remnant, called BY God – there is NOTHING sweeter than hearing Holy Spirit’s direction for your life. If God has told you that something you have been praying for will come to pass –
BELIEVE HIM
Let God make it happen! God doesn’t need your instruction or your help! He just wants you to BELIEVE and to TRUST and rely SOLELY upon Him and His promises to you which He has given you in His Word. We have to remember that He has set us apart and consecrated us to do GREAT works in His name! When Ol’ Slewfoot tries to derail us by doubts or accusations we need to remember that as in Jeremiah 1:5:
“Before I was in my mother’s womb You had ALREADY called me!”
Did you read that?
BEFORE YOU WERE EVEN BORN, GOD HAD PLACED A CALLING ON YOUR LIFE. THE CREATOR WHO KNIT YOU TOGETHER IN YOUR MOTHER’S WOMB!
Listen! As I stated at the beginning of this post, you have been enrolled in the “Holy Spirit School of The Called Remnant, Follower of Christ, School of Life.” A wise sister in Christ said to me yesterday the following:
“Kelly, think of this like your being in a classroom (you are) and Holy Spirit is your Teacher (He is). When He is teaching you and showing You things in the Word of God, and having you study it, and He is teaching you how to pray, and ANYTHING else He is revealing to you, there is a time when the testing comes and the Teacher is quiet it’s because He wants to see how much you have learned and where you need more instruction and teaching. It is NOT that God is forsaking you, it is that YOU are being Tested!”
And when she said that to me, I snorted in stubbornness, because I have NEVER liked tests. NEVER. But it doesn’t matter because I gave my life to Christ, and it is NOT MY OWN it is HIS. And here is the thing, in order to grow in our walk with Christ and to mature and not stay “spiritual babies who can only handle drinking milk” we need to allow those changes that Holy Spirit is revealing to us He needs to make, occur so that we can spiritually grow and mature to become ALL that God wants us to be. Otherwise, we will stay stuck in that SAME class until we get it right, learn what it is God wants us to learn and be able to graduate and move on to the deeper things of God. We ALWAYS have a choice; He NEVER takes away our free will. Will you allow Holy Spirit to grow you OR are you content to staying RIGHT where you are and miss out on ALL God has in mind for you to be? So that you can be a fruitful vessel for Him in your calling? It is your choice (as it is mine…) I CHOOSE to TRUST and Obey, even though it sometimes hurts and smarts! But they are “spiritual growing pains.” And how glorious is it to know that????? God LOVES you SO much. He has a PURPOSE and a PLAN for you! And NOTHING can stop it!
So, knowing that, don’t you feel like you can just BASK in His love right now??? 🙂 Just allow yourself to sit on the Father’s lap, just like a little child (because YOU are His!) Lean against His chest and let Him love on you and trust that He is holding you through ALL you are going through, through ALL life is throwing your way. Stop squirming, and let Holy Spirit turn you in to that beautiful persona that God always knew you would become. Because He IS our potter and we ARE His clay and He is in the process of turning you into a unique and BEAUTIFUL piece of art that will come forth AS gold in these difficult days, because He has ALWAYS and IS in control even when we feel “out of control.” And YOU belong to Him. \0/ \0/ \0/
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