Be Still part 1
The deep calls out to the deep. We communicate--really CONNECT--with each other Spirit to Spirt, holy to holy. The Jesus in me and the Jesus in you. There's a still, small voice on the inside whispering the ultimate truth of the universe, that Daddy loves you. But to hear that still, small voice... we need to be still. Psalm 46:10, "Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth." Catch this now, God is not exalted among the heathn, and exalted in the earth, by us running around like chickens with our heads cut off. He is not exalted by how hard we TRY to be "good Christians." And I think the reason for that is, when we try to be "good Christians" the only thing we can think of to do is make someone else look small so we can look big in comparision. I think that's why it seems like so many churches are constantly on a sin hunt, instead of a righteousness hunt. Why so many preachers seem to tell people what to do instead of telling people who they are. And I think it's ironic that when someone preaches hard against a certain "sin" (in quotation marks because sin is unbelief, not bad behavior), it's the same thing THEY struggle the hardest with. They are trying to fight the darkness, instead of just letting the light shine. Trying to take the Kingdom of God by force and the violence of human effort instead of knowing and believing that the Kingdom of God is within them! Working and laboring instead of being still. I've found in my own life that the harder I try to fix things, the worse things usually get. When I bang my head against the wall, all I ever come away with is a headache. And let me say this: Just because I think something is best, doesn't mean it is. Remember Proverbs 14:12, "There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death." And Proverbs 21:2, "Every way of a man is right in his own eyes: but the LORD pondereth the hearts." We always think we know what's best. And it's easy to get caught up in our "good ideas." By the end of OUR way is the way of death. Adam and Eve went their own way and ate of the tree of death. They didn't listen to God's warning. But Jesus is THE Way. It's not us working for Him... It's Him working in, and though, and as US! Let me say it another way, "Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain" (Psalm 127:1). It's not what we do, it's what HE did. What He did on the cross 2,000 years ago, and what He's doing in us today. But if you're trying to do everything yourself, you're not giving the Lord any room to operate. I don't think God will very often force His will on us. I think He wants what's best for us--I KNOW He wants what's best for us--but He has given us a measure of free will. If we want to try, He'll let us try. But there's a more excellent way. And it's called, "Be still, and know that I am God." It's called presenting our lives as a living sacrifice. Letting Him exalt HIMSELF by letting Him BE Himself in, and through, and as us. Not Jesus AND me, but Jesus AS me. My mouth is His mouth. My hands are His hands. My feet are His feet. I'm not trying to be LIKE Him, I'm simply being myself--my true self--and doing what comes naturally to me. Which, believe it or not, is love. We know He is God. We know He is love!