Welcome Home... sisters in the LORD. I have been thinking of you and waiting on the LORD for His message. Thank you for continuing to allow me to share with you the things He lays on my heart and from His wonderful Word. Last week I shared with you some thoughts regarding difficult things we face. Maybe you... face these things... or similar things.
You see, it is His lovingkindness that has drawn you to Himself... and
it is His lovingkindness that will cover you. It is His lovingkindness
that will free you... and it is His lovingkindness that will keep you.
There have been times when I have felt so lonely I thought I would
die. So worried and afraid was I at other times that I truly wanted
to die. Maybe you have felt this way... maybe you feel a bit like
this today. I realize now that those were days I spent trying to do
things on my own... trying to be good enough, clean enough, right
enough, strong enough. The problem with that thinking is that the
focus is totally on self instead of where it must be... and that is on
God and His Truth, not my perceived reality or perceived truth.
Then one day I was faced with the question... the question of what I
really believed. What *did* I believe? I was saved... I believed in
Jesus... I believed in the Truths of the Bible... I believed God had
sent His Son to die on the cross to save me from my sin... I believed
that He was the Way the Truth and the Life and that no man could come
to the Father but by Him. I believed. But then what was I to *do*
with this question: what *did* I believe?
I was at that cross roads... I had to make a decision---several
decisions, really...I had to decide to give God my life...I had
accepted Him as Savior several years before that, but I know He didn't
fully have my heart. I had to acknowledge and accept that the sinful
things that I had done had been covered with the blood and I had to
decide to walk in faith. But then what!?
Those were difficult days because it meant several things-several
immediate actions. It meant that I needed to let go of bitterness
that had formed in my heart. I had to let go of the pride of being in
perfect control of my body and very low weight. It meant I had to
give up a job to stay home and care for, at that time, our two very
small children. It meant that I needed to trust God to provide for
us. It meant I could no longer harbour anger and bitterness against my
stepfather who had sexually abused me during my adolescent years. It
meant I couldn't be angry with my mother or with my father for their
decisions. It meant that I needed to be truthful in all my
dealings...not stretch or omit parts of the truth of my actions or
thoughts. It meant I needed to trust my husband, not resent him and
not live in fear of his death, or leaving me. It meant I couldn't
remain fearful of the bad or difficult things that might happen to me
or to us as a family or to our children. It meant I needed to go on
with God. I needed to grow on with God...
Now how was I to do this? I didn't really *know* Him. I believed, but
I didn't realize that it was my job to walk in that belief. I needed
to learn that Jesus is LORD even if I didn't *feel* like He was LORD
and He was LORD even when things didn't *seem* to be going so well. I
needed to learn to pray and to wait on the LORD and to hear His
voice... but I wasn't sitting still long enough to hear Him.
I didn't know to cry out to Him and to regularly meet alone with Him
and to praise His Name. I needed to learn that He didn't come for
me... to fit my agenda and He wasn't more concerned about my comfort
than my character. I needed to learn that He doesn't move in
prescribed ways...He is God. I think I was hiding from Him... I think
I was afraid to trust Him. You see? Maybe you have experienced this
very thing I have described or maybe you have moved way beyond.
Praise Him. But then, maybe you haven't moved on, maybe you don't
know what to do next.
Could I encourage you today? Could I encourage you to rest at His
feet and then walk with Him?
I am going to suggest something that I have known for years is a
necessary part of growing in the LORD. It is suggested many times by
many women... early on, I balked at this... saying it was
legalistic... a bondage... unnecessarily restrictive... O, how foolish
was I, with so much to learn (and still much to learn)! I often
rejected Truth because it was too much of a stretch for me. I thought
one could come and go, pick and choose and that it didn't really
matter. O, how I wish I had learned and applied early on what has
become so precious to me today. So necessary for my personal and
Spiritual health was this practice. It is so necessary, that in human
terms, it is like the sexual aspect of marriage and the desires and
needs met only with that intimacy, and it is like our necessary food
in the physical sense for our health and strength; and in the natural,
it is like sunshine and water for growth and fragrance in flowering
plants. And it is this: growing in the LORD requires time with Him.
I recently heard a Bible teacher say, take a few minutes a day to
pray... and I will say I was disappointed with his response to the
listener's question. O, sisters in the LORD, I would so
wholeheartedly say that you will never grow in the LORD if you don't
regularly spend time with Him. I used to make all kinds of exceptions
as to why a woman didn't have time to have Bible reading and prayer
time. I used to think that any time of the day was okay... morning or
afternoon or evening... I used to think it really didn't matter... but
the longer I live and the longer I study the Word, the more I see that
the LORD has inspired men to write about seeking the LORD early and
the more I see there is instruction for us.
I don't know of a more peaceful time of the day than early in the
morning before the rest of the family awakes, when the day is new,
unspotted, unblemished by the wear of the day. It is the pleasant
time of the day before any regrets or disappointments or interruptions
occur...
If you are burdened by a world of cares and your heart is heavy laden
and you feel you cannot imagine doing this, then may I encourage you
to set your mind to meet the LORD early... pray to Him and ask Him to
gently tap you on the shoulder in the morning to prompt you to get out
of your cozy bed... set your alarm... seek the help of your husband...
you know that if your husband were to be coming in on a plane that
you'd rise up early to meet the plane... and so it must be with your
precious LORD.
I have been lighting a candle and setting it on the table beside my
chair each morning... its fragrance reminds me to pray to the LORD to
be a fragrant offering for Him to those in our home and to those I
meet, it's light reminds me to be cheerful and bright and truthful in
my home, its wax reminds me to be sincere... in olden days, potters
would cover a pot with wax to make it appear smooth and perfect,
hiding the nicks & cracks... but I long to be used of the LORD... even
as a chipped or cracked pot, blemishes and all. Its container reminds
me to remain in the Hands of the Potter...
Sometimes I will make a pot of tea... sometimes not. Lately, I have
this time before my bath... other times it's right after.
I have my Bible and my journal, my Bible for studying and for reading
the Psalms and the Proverbs... my journal for remembering prayer
requests and for occasionally writing out the prayer of my heart to
the LORD. In the front of my Bible I have a long list of things the
LORD has done and ways He has moved in our lives...
I have words to some hymns and choruses and I have even begun to sing
to the LORD in my quiet time.
Occasionally, one of the children will come in before I am finished...
and if I am praying, I don't lookup... they know this means to be very
quiet and they snuggle up on the sofa or in my lap. I don't let this
discourage me.
I know this may sound like a prescription for how to do it the right
way... O, no... it is not like that at all... I most humbly and
sincerely would implore you to set your own time and do it your own
way... the only thing I would gently and yet firmly say is to not go
another day missing the greatest delight your soul will know and that
is time away with your Heavenly Father, the Eternal Savior of your
soul, your God and your King, your Rock and your Redeemer.
Jeremiah 31:3 says: "The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying,
Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with
lovingkindness have I drawn thee."
I often read prayers that I have written to Him in the past... and I
pray them anew... I ask Him to work in and through me to conform me to
His image... and I know that some of the layers He chooses to peel
away are thick and painful sometimes. I know more than this, that He
loves me too much to allow me to stay in my sin... He loves you too
much to allow you to stay in your sin. Now, some nights I go to bed
and I can't wait until I can get up and spend time with Him in prayer
and in the Word.
I pray that you will let Him draw you today and that you will let Him
work in those areas of your life that hurt you so much. No program or
mindset can take the place of God's work in your life. No formula can
take away the pain you may be suffering in your heart... I pray that
you will allow His perfect plan for your life to be carried out. I
pray that you will allow Him to do the reworking in your heart... He
is the only One who can heal your broken heart and open those prison
doors that keep you in bondage to sin and to bitterness. You must
allow His redemptive work... He will not force you---you must choose
to believe and not go back into bondage of slavery to sin again. You
have His Word on it.
John 4.10 "Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift
of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou
wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living
water."
Romans 8.1-2 "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which
are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the
Spirit, For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me
free from the law of sin and death."
John 8.10-11 "When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the
woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath
no man condemned thee? She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto
her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more."
I pray that you will drink in the rich water from the well of God's Word...
John 4.14 "But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him
shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in
him a well of water springing up into everlasting life."
And I pray that you will rise to seek Him early...
Psalms 63.1 "O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul
thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty
land, where no water is"
Proverbs 8.17 "I love them that love me; and those that seek me early
shall find me."
And I pray that He will joy over you with singing...
Zephaniah 3.17 "The LORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he
will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his
love, he will joy over thee with singing."
With love and flowers to you....
In Jesus---ps
The Welcome Home
pamela spurling
©
2000
http://www.achristianhome.org
