Good That Is Not The Best

But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.
2 Corinthians 3:18

The words “one thing is needful” came to me so clearly as I cried my way through my morning routine. It was many, many years ago but it is one of those rare encounters between my heartbroken self and the Holy Spirit I can remember as if it were yesterday.

This morning reading from Oswald Chambers’ My Utmost for His Highest, I was reminded of that time.

You see, I spent much of my earliest mothering days overwhelmed and overly consumed with burdens I didn’t feel I had the strength to carry. Even though my three young children were each wonderful and smart and good, each day seemed a bigger challenge than I was capable of mastering. Every problem – even the small ones- began to feel like a mountain standing in the way, blocking any slight progress.

The golden rule for your life and mine is this concentrated keeping of the life open towards God. Let everything else - work, clothes, food, everything on earth - go by the board, saving that one thing. The rush of other things always tends to obscure this concentration on God. Chambers

It’s not as if I didn’t know God. I did. I was serving my church, reading my Bible, praying, volunteering at my children’s schools, keeping up with the house, the extracurricular activities of my children’s sports programs, doing everything I knew to do to please God and be the best wife and mom possible. This was my deepest heart’s desire. It was my pursuit really. Still, it seemed as if with every positive step forward in this pursuit there would be several backward and, for me, it began to feel like a chore to stay married.

You always know when a man (non-gender, my insert) has been beholding the glory of the Lord, you feel in your inner spirit that he is the mirror of the Lord's own character. Beware of anything which would sully that mirror in you; it is nearly always a good thing, the good that is not the best. Chambers

I’d NEVER want to throw Mr. Meems under the bus on the Internet (or anywhere- although I’ve been known to do it- ACK! shame on me). He is kind, merciful, generous, the best father in the world and a loving man.

That said, a truth we both faced along the way in our commitment is that we have the same basic conservative philosophy toward life in general but our personalities are completely opposite. So let’s just say for the sake of understanding my point … That dynamic leads to the fact that our approach in how to carry out that philosophy in each situation of life can be quite different in many cases.

Back to that day I was working my way through my morning routine. I was making the bed and I honestly thought my heart might shatter into a thousand pieces if I didn’t get some relief. Those four words "one thing is needful" came floating up to my brain from somewhere in the core of my being. I recognized them not with an address to locate them, but as fresh words ... words that gave me life ... words from God. They came gently and yet with an authoritative tone as if they were meant just for me, just to bring me the relief I needed. They were words that soothed and calmed my agitated soul all at once. They were words that resonated with my understanding. Not because I understood their exact meaning immediately but because I understood now was the time to grasp onto God Who was there to sort it all out with me.

To be continued …

Whose Birthday Is It Anyway?

My heart is full today. I’ve so many things bubbling up in my soul this morning. This might be the result of waiting too long in between posts. Not sure about that but I am sure God is filling my heart to overflowing. I learned a long time ago that if we are willing to open up our hearts to God just a little bit… kind of like barely opening up a door … He will always, yes always, without fail, come in through that opening. Don’t get me wrong. He will not shove the door the rest of the way open like the devil tries to do when we crack a door open for him. No, God is the ultimate in gentle, loving, kindness. He waits for us to give him more and more access. Whatever the amount of access we give Him is the amount He will fill up. When once we yield even the smallest part of our souls to Him and we allow Him entrance it is His ever tender and peaceful love that we subsequently yearn to embrace with wide open heart. Yielding is up to us. Filling is up to Him.

It is crucial if we want to keep an open heart to God that we make our lives fit around spending some time with Him. As we launch into hyper-busy season with the celebration of His Son’s birth at hand, it is so tempting to let that time with Him be the thing we lop off of our day. Every year I remind myself how bizarre that notion really is. “I’m too busy trying to prepare for the celebration of His birthday to sit down and open my Bible and spend some quality time talking to Him.”



SO, in these days of hustle and bustle I’m still doing my best to make sure I put first things first! Life certainly goes better in every way when I follow my own advice here.
I hope you let this be encouragement for you today as you determine where the Christmas decorations will be placed and set about to purchase gifts and bake cookies. Let’s all endeavor to give our first minutes to God. All the rest will fall into place so much better when we do.

What about you? Do you have tips for making sure you don't let this part of your day slide into oblivion? Would love to hear from you.
Blessings,
Meems

Thankfulness Will Change Your Outlook

It's a good time to think about all the reasons we are grateful. My heart is full today as I give glory to God for who HE IS and how He saved me so many years ago and took me off of the path of destruction I was running down. He's continued to keep me in the palm of His loving hand to deliver, to heal, to love, to make me a partaker of all His glorious goodness... always preparing me for what He has prepared for me.

The days and times we are living in might be screaming all sorts of contrary and confusing messages but I'm endeavoring to let peace be my umpire. Peace that can only come from God. One of the spiritual truths I learned very early in my walk with God is that no matter what changes occur around me, Jesus is the same. If I'll keep my thoughts and heart directed toward Him through the word and worship peace rises bigger than any situation I face.

I'm looking at the realities of heaven today. I'm setting my sights 'above' where Jesus is seated at the right hand of God in the place of honor and power. I've found out through practice that as I set my face like flint in His direction all the troubles of earth fade away into the sweet presence of God and nothing else looks as big as HE does.



Jeremy Camp - Give You Glory

So through all the hustle and bustle of the Thanksgiving week I encourage you to make sure you allow God and His immutable presence to wrap around you in all its glorious power. As you do, He will lovingly and mercifully reach into the deepest places of your being and help you sort out every trouble and every success. In the light of His mercy with a thankful heart to Him every good thing comes into view!

Then spend your days being thankful! Spend your thoughts being thankful! Spend your energy being thankful! Right in the face of disturbance and irritation if necessary.

You might be surprised how your outlook on life changes.

Never Enthrone Common Sense

God has the answers we need. He is not withholding His goodness. But as believers we are responsible to put ourselves in a position to hear Him and know Him.

If we ever get to the point of thinking we can make major decisions and/or know His will without living daily contact we might end up calling on reason/common sense rather than God’s wisdom. (That’s not to say we throw common sense and reason away, but that’s a subject for another day.)

Is the Lord Jesus Christ being abundantly satisfied in your life or have you got a spiritual strut on? Never let common sense obtrude and push the Son of God on one side. Common sense is a gift which God gave to human nature; but common sense is not the gift of His Son. Supernatural sense is the gift of His Son; never enthrone common sense. The Son detects the Father; common sense never yet detected the Father and never will. Our ordinary wits never worship God unless they are transfigured by the indwelling Son of God. We have to see that this mortal flesh is kept in perfect subjection to Him and that He works through it moment by moment. Are we living in such human dependence upon Jesus Christ that His life is being manifested moment by moment?

I keep reading and re-reading that particular question posed by Oswald Chambers in his devotional book, My Utmost for His Highest.

Is the Lord Jesus Christ being abundantly satisfied in your life or have you got a spiritual strut on?

I know, for me, it is easy to talk the talk. I’ve been a Christ-follower for a long time. I never want to put my heart and mind on automatic. Oh, I know how; because I’ve been in church for years and because I know the “Christianese” language.

Is the Lord Jesus being abundantly satisfied in your life or have you got a spiritual strut on?


So just how do I know if the Lord Jesus is being satisfied or if I have my spiritual strut on?

Firstly, it is up to me (and you) to keep my fellowship with God living and vibrant.

I open my heart to Him through reading the Bible as discussed in my previous post. Because His word is God-breathed; it is alive and full of power… It really helps to picture God Himself ministering to me personally as I read. The words of God actually have the power to penetrate between my soul and my spirit and the deepest parts of my nature, exposing and sifting and analyzing and judging the very thoughts and purposes of my heart. (Heb 4:12 amplified)

This tool is much cheaper than a therapist.

As my heart is tender before God allowing the process of exposing, sifting, analyzing, and judging the purposes of my heart the word does something else too. It is profitable for instruction, for reproof and conviction of sin, for correction of error and discipline in obedience, and for training in righteousness. II Tim 3:16 (amplified)

When I keep my heart open to the word of God and allow it to have its way in my mind and heart then I’ve positioned myself to yield to the Spirit of God. Think of it as relinquishing control. Giving up or giving way to a greater power.

Learning how to yield to God will open my spirit wide for growth in God. This is how we draw close to God. Prayer becomes a flow out of this time spent with the living God rather than a duty. Worship comes easily as God and His love are revealed to my heart.

Through the study of God’s word, prayer led by the Holy Spirit, and worship from an overflowing heart my life is not a spiritual strut. I don’t ever want to live my daily life out or give my service to God in my own strength.

Complete dependency on this vital fellowship with God through the indwelling Holy Spirit every day must be the steering mechanism for our daily world.

School of the Holy Spirit

In the days of my youth (in God) it was quite common for me to spread out all my Bibles and concordances on the kitchen table and spend hours doing word studies. I had an insatiable appetite for learning how to become the image of God on the outside. I knew what He had done on the inside but living it out is sometimes a whole other story. God ministered to me in such miraculous ways for many years while getting me grounded in foundational truths of the Bible.

Now I sit at my computer and use on-line references. Biblegateway even parallels any number of translations for me without my ever turning a page.

Word Studies
Word studies are a great way to get God’s thinking and heart on a given subject. I'll share one way this works for me.

If I am having a particularly difficult time grasping or (more likely) living out a Biblical truth that serves as a clue to me I need to spend more time in scriptures having to do with that truth or topic. For instance… there was a time I looked up every Greek word in I Cor. 13: 1-8. I wrote them all down (on paper at the time) and cross-referenced other scriptures having to do with God’s love. Then I looked up (and typed out) those verses in every translation of the Bible I had at the time. I ran across that typed out document yesterday and it brought back a lot of memories. I used that document for years to quote out loud to my own heart and head! It served as a tool for getting those truths deep in my heart where they became a part of me instead of words on the written page.

I can’t tell you how many relationships and situations that background has saved me. I was moved to go to all that extended study during a very difficult time in my marriage. At the time I knew I had to make some changes. One thing that has proven out over and over in my Christian life is when I wish someone else would change, it always comes back to me that needs to make some changes. Besides that, I've learned (sometimes better than others) that I AM THE ONLY ONE I CAN CHANGE. Spending my time mulling over God's words to me of His precious love FOR me is a doorway into the spirit realm. From there, you don't want to put any limits on God to lead you into worship and prayer that will miraculously change and adjust things on the inside. Things we don't even know need to be adjusted. That's just how He works when given the opening. That's why it's spiritual! Spiritual things are difficult to describe but they are the most real changes one can make. And when it is the Spirit of God doing the changing the results are always right and good and true and ... lasting.

Back to word study...

This method is so valuable and has taught me how to rely on God’s word and His Holy Spirit for the power to ‘be’ who/what God has given me the ability to be and called me to be. The Holy Spirit is our helper AND our teacher but we have to let Him be those things to us by using the tools God has given us.

We can't really expect that attending one or two church services a week is enough to go against the tide of carnality and worldliness we are faced with daily. We have to open our hearts to God every day and allow Him access to everything we are if we seriously want to make changes.

There certainly are many ways to learn God's word on our own. For me, I couldn't have made it through some of the circumstances life has thrown my way without roots firmly planted in God and revelation of His character. It has been my anchor in the midst of every trial.

What about you? Do you have ways you draw closer to God? What methods do you use to study God's word?

Is He Easily Lord?

Today's reading from Oswald Chambers' daily devotional My Utmost for His Highest particularly struck my heart. It has been a few months since I even opened this wonderful little book. But you know how that works when words seem to leap off the page and into our core and bring life. It was like that for me this morning. God is like that though... He always knows just what we need and knows how to provide it. We just have to be listening and following.

Below is today's writing copied from the Internet site where My Utmost for His Highest is recorded in its entirety.

Mastery Over the Believer
John 13:13 You call Me Master and the Lord, and you are right in doing so, for that is what I am.

Our Lord never insists on having authority; He never says - Thou shalt. He leaves us perfectly free - so free that we can spit in His face, as men did; so free that we can put Him to death, as men did; and He will never say a word. But when His life has been created in me by His Redemption I instantly recognize His right to absolute authority over me. It is a moral domination - "Thou art worthy . . ." It is only the unworthy in me that refuses to bow down to the worthy. If when I meet a man who is more holy than myself, I do not recognize his worthiness and obey what comes through him, it is a revelation of the unworthy in me. God educates us by means of people who are a little better than we are, not intellectually but "holily," until we get under the domination of the Lord Himself, and then the whole attitude of the life is one of obedience to Him.

If Our Lord insisted upon obedience He would become a taskmaster, and He would cease to have any authority. He never insists on obedience, but when we do see Him we obey Him instantly, He is easily Lord, and we live in adoration of Him from morning till night. The revelation of my growth in grace is the way in which I look upon obedience. We have to rescue the word "obedience" from the mire. Obedience is only possible between equals; it is the relationship between father and son, not between master and servant. "I and My Father are one." "Though He were a Son, yet learned He obedience by the things which He suffered." The Son's obedience was as Redeemer, because He was Son, not in order to be Son.
_________________________________________________

Can I just say here ... all the words in this writing are strumming my heartstrings this very moment. The way Chambers puts into words the sweetness of our Lord's character makes my heart go pitter patter in love with my Savior.

Everything in life is by choice. Our Lord will never make anyone yield to Him. He presents Himself oh so humbly as an offering, a substitute for the sin that once separated us from God, an open door to partake of His love, His character, His power. II Peter says it this way... His power has bestowed on us all things that are suited to life and godliness... His precious and exceedingly great promises... and made us sharers of the divine nature.

There are so many great points/statements Oswald makes in today's writing. What I typically do is re-write in my journal the phrases that leap off the page as if they were speaking to me personally. I also do that with Bible passages. That way I can go back and re-read them as they are dated and included with the rest of my spiritual/prayer journaling. Just writing them down helps me to "get it". I guess it is sort of the reinforcement method... I don't know. It is an extra step of mulling over words that we don't hear in every day speak. Our world isn't exactly leading us towards a life of obedience or "living in adoration of our Lord from morning till night." So as a Christian it is my responsibility to do whatever it takes to keep my mind and heart pointed toward my Savior and His teachings.

As Oswald says today, "... when His life has been created in me by His Redemption, I instantly recognize His right to absolute authority over me... He never insists on obedience, but when we do see Him we obey Him instantly, He is easily Lord, and we live in adoration of Him from morning till night.

I want to "see Him" like never before.

Hope you all have a great weekend!

How do you decide?

How do you decide what you will read in your Bible each day?

I admit that I spend a lot of time in the New Testament. I just feel that no matter how many times I read through it and study the different books, that I have so much to learn. I feel like I am really getting a lot of applicable information that applies to me as a believer today under the new covenant. I could read the epistles over and over again, and I find myself doing it. I wonder sometimes if I am missing something not spending nearly as much time in the Old Testament.

Got Questions

Recently I heard a minister speak some Truths that spoke to my soul AND it answered some questions I've had for a long time. You know the kinds of questions that we learn to place on a shelf somewhere in our brain until the answer comes. Not questions of doubting God or questions wondering if I can really believe God... just the kinds of questions only the spirit of God can clarify. I know God knows the questions I have on the shelf. So when the answer comes - it's almost as if I say, "oh, that's the answer to such and such and it almost takes me by surprise."

I have seen over the years that if I'll keep my heart pointed toward the goodness of God and just keep trusting Him, keep loving Him with all my heart, keep steadfast in whatever He's called me to do at the time ... the answers come... eventually. It's important that I do my part to stay in the Bible, stay in His presence, listen to good teachers and preachers.

I've learned not to let my faith in HIM waiver just because I DO have questions. And I NEVER, NEVER, NEVER get angry at God. He is NEVER my problem! HE IS ALWAYS MY ANSWER! I am convinced any questions I have or any confusion I have is more about ME getting in a position spiritually to understand the answers more than it is about HIM withholding any good thing from me. AND because I trust Him with my life... I am fully persuaded He gives me what I need when I need it. So I don't have to be nervous or anxious or fearful... I just rest in knowing I am on His mind and He is helping me get to a place where I can receive answers for every need.

Ahhh... now that's peace.

2008

As the memories of 2007 turn into looking forward to 2008 we can't help but think of ways to improve and goals to set and progress to make. My mind is full of all the things I want to accomplish this year-- spiritually, naturally, physically and emotionally. Not in a bad, overwhelming sense but in a "it's a new day" sort of way.

I've never been one to make much of New Year's Resolutions. I am all about setting goals, however, and every year I attempt to realistically do so. As I seek God's guidance I write down the ideas He affirms in my heart.

What do you do to signify the new New Year? Are you a 'resolutions' person or do you treat it like any other day of the year?
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Daily in my "Inbox" arrives a brief devotional from Ed Young. When I read through them I often think "that would be a perfect post for Walk Wisely". His edifying words are most often concise and yet thought provoking. On this New Year's Day I am going with it... I'm giving Ed his time here with words I wish I would have written myself on a subject dear to my heart.

As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, "Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!" "Martha, Martha," the Lord answered, "you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her."Luke 10:38-42

Everyone is busy these days. We've got a million things to do. We have so much going on that we can barely focus on what we are doing right now. Some of you are even trying to focus on the verses you just read while fighting thoughts of work, family, and other responsibilities. We all have moments when we are extremely busy, but we cannot be so consumed with a "million things" that we forget about the most important thing.

Martha had a million things to do when Jesus came. She was responsible for making Jesus' stay at her house comfortable and enjoyable. Martha wanted to sit at the feet of Jesus, but she had so much to do for him before she could sit with him. Can you relate? You would like to sit with Jesus, but there are so many things that need to get done first. A lot of those things are good things. Some of them may even be things you want to do for Jesus. But Jesus doesn't want us to get so caught up in doing good things that we forget about the greatest thing, which is spending time with him.

Don't wait to accomplish your "million things" before you spend time with Jesus. Learn from Mary and sit at Jesus' feet. When you spend time at the feet of Jesus, he will help you sort out your "million things" and protect you from being fragmented in so many directions.

What better way to start the New Year than to spend time with the lover of our soul, Jesus Christ?

I pray you each have a very happy, prosperous and healthy (spirit, soul, and body) 2008!

Which One Will You Be?

Often during my morning jog the praise songs from my i-pod move me along and the time I spend exercising becomes a time of my prayer and worship. What could be better? Exercising physically on a beautiful Florida morning while communing with God is hard to beat.

My spirit many times will latch on to words from a particular song and it is as if the Holy Spirit takes a highlighter to the words to speak something to me. Monday morning was like that. As I listened to the song Two Sets of Joneses by Big Tent Revival my heart leapt and my mind was full of thoughts about the two kinds of houses (life) one can choose to build as taught by Jesus in Matthew 7. In the Philips translation it is stated this way, everyone who hears and practices these words of mine is like a sensible man who builds his house on the rock.

I actually didn't read MLM's Monday post until Wednesday morning. When I saw she posted on this subject I got giddy thinking about how the Holy Spirit works in hearts. Since this message has been stirring in me since Monday I am going ahead with it here -- hopefully it will layer on top of MLM's post to speak to someone.

We can be certain the winds and the storms are going to come as long as we live on this earth. Whatever our beliefs, our thinking, our character, our opinions, our values, our insecurities, our strengths and weaknesses we've been practicing will be revealed when the storms of life rock our world.

I once had a house built on my own ideas, my own philosophies, my own understanding, and lots of mixed up doctrines and justifications. Sandy soil at best. What a night and day difference my life is now that I depend on my heavenly Father's word, wisdom and love to lift me out of the storms of life as I trust Him and know Him better and better all the time. It's vital to know Him and His perfect character of goodness and love toward us in order to trust Him. Trust is not automatic. Trust grows as we step out in faith on God's word and we experience the beauty of a life filled with joy, peace and blessing.

I Will Sing, Yes, I Will Sing Praises

My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast;

I will sing, yes, I will sing praises! Psalm 57:7

To any of you who might be going through some storms in life and feel like your world is crashing down around you, I want to encourage you to hold on to what you know to be True.

Don't give up, don't give in. Keep looking to Jesus-- He knows the beginning from the end-- AND He has given you the power to make it!

He will never leave you and He will never forsake you. You can say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper, so I will have no fear." (Heb 13:5)

While you are holding on sing praises and worship Him. When you worship-- even in the hardest times -- it will keep your heart steadfast. God is on your side!

And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. Romans 8:38

33 Miles; Hold On

Taste and See

Open your mouth and taste,
open your eyes and see—
how good God is.
Blessed are you who run to him. Ps 34:8

I bless you, Lord, with all my soul and all that is deepest within me. I won’t forget even one of your benefits. You forgive all my sins; You heal all my sicknesses. You redeem my life from the pit and corruption. You beautify, You dignify, You crown me with loving-kindness and tender mercy. You satisfy my mouth with good so that my youth, renewed, is like the eagles. Lord, You execute righteousness and justice to all who are treated unfairly. You are merciful and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in mercy and full of unfailing love!

Lord, You made the heavens, the earth, the sea and all that is in them. I will sing praises to You while I have any being! You keep truth and You are faithful forever. You execute justice, You set free the prisoners and open the eyes of the blind, You lift up those who are bowed down. Lord, You protect and preserve. You will reign forever.

It is good to sing praises to You. You are gracious and lovely; You heal the brokenhearted and bind up their wounds. You are great, Lord, and of great power; Your understanding is inexhaustible and boundless. You lift up the humble and downtrodden; You take pleasure in those who honor You. You fulfill my desires because I fear You; You hear my cries for help and You rescue me.

Blessed are You, Lord, my rock and my strength, my steadfast love and my fortress. You are my high tower and my deliverer, my shield and it is in You that I trust and take refuge. Lord, you are on my side and You take my part; I will not fear. Out of my distress I called upon You, You answered me and set me free. You have delivered my life from death, my eyes from tears, and my feet from falling. My heart is firmly fixed trusting in You. You sent Your word and healed me and rescued me from the pit and destruction.

The works of Your hands are absolute Truth and justice; and all your decrees and precepts are sure, fixed, established and trustworthy. You have commanded Your covenant to be forever; Holy is Your name. I give great praise and thanks to You, Lord, with my whole heart.

Be exalted, O God, above the heavens, and let Your glory be over all the earth.

Getting Fit and Staying Fit

How often have you heard or maybe even said yourself, “You don’t understand, I have no time for reading my Bible, no time for praying just now?”

In his devotional My Utmost for His Highest, Oswald Chambers makes this note: "The private relationship of worshipping God is the great essential of fitness. The time comes when there is no more "fig-tree" life possible, when it is out into the open, out into the glare and into the work, and you will find yourself of no value there if you have not been worshipping as occasion serves you in your home. Worship aright in your private relationships, then when God sets you free you will be ready, because in the unseen life which no one saw but God you have become perfectly fit, and when the strain comes you can be relied upon by God."

In keeping with the last several posts, I can recall the very first time these words of Jesus rang clear in my heart... “One thing is needful.” It was many years ago as a young mom with 3 young children. I was oftentimes overwhelmed with the tasks of everyday life. When I heard those words it was one of those unusual times that marks your life forever. The tender voice spoke to my heart, as I was making my bed and lamenting to God how I wasn’t sure if I could ever get everything done that was demanded of my day, my week, my life. No matter which season of life we are in, isn’t that the way most of us can feel on any given day?

At the time, my relationship with the Lord was fairly new. The scripture in Luke 10 wasn’t all that familiar to me but I knew those words were from God so I set about to find them in the Bible. Jesus clearly states here that Mary had chosen something that was 'the good portion' and the thing that 'was to her advantage'… 'something that couldn’t be taken away from her' (amplified). He then defines Martha’s role as 'anxious' and 'troubled about many things', 'overcharged with care', 'distracted and too busy'. Ouch!

Where was Mary? Seated at the Lord’s feet, all of her attention on Him. While there are numerous layers in this passage I want to stay on subject here of being fit for service. We need to realize God isn't teaching us here NOT to serve and "do"; but He is giving us a major tip on how to be successful in service.

Are we making absolutely certain we are fully engaged in our personal worship time at the feet of our Master or are we going about the busyness of serving without it which is making us anxious and stressed and troubled? Worship is the place of fueling for the tasks. At the feet of Jesus in total devotion and attention is where we connect spiritually, it is where our heart is laid down for the work we are called to "do", it is where the Spirit of God works changes in the areas of our life where change is needed and desired. Worship is the place where the Word and the Spirit work together and as we pour our hearts out in adoration for all God's goodness He pours out His powerful love into us. It is the experience of this love that sets us free from bondages and sin. As we are filled with His love, we are set free and we are fit for service.

Oswald Chambers goes on to make this profound statement: "If you have not been worshipping as occasion serves, when you get into work you will not only be useless yourself, but a tremendous hindrance to those who are associated with you."

How would you assess your own hidden, personal, worshipping life? I encourage you to make whatever adjustments necessary to devote your heart and mind in daily private worship to the Savior of your soul. One thing I learned from the loving words spoken to me all those years ago in the midst of my busyness is this: no amount of extra sleep in the morning will ever come close to giving me what I need in order to master my day. Only time with Him imparts what is necessary for my journey.

One Thing is Needful

I want to piggyback off of Meems’ post from Wednesday. Before I do let me address my last post. I would like to say I wasn’t happy with it. I didn’t quite get out what was in my heart. If you were disappointed by it, please know that there is more to come. You will hear the best news I have ever heard in full.

Right now I feel a tug in this direction. I want to take you to a familiar passage in Luke 10:38-42. I am sure most of you have read this and heard sermons about it, but has it changed your life? This passage should change your life. It should shift all of our priorities and redirect the course of our life.

You may already know where I am going with this, but stay with me. Read like you’ve never heard this before. It’s the story of Martha and Mary. They are preparing for the arrival of Jesus into Martha’s home. Religion would say, “You better get that house in tip-top shape to receive the Son of God. The law would say, “You better mow the yard, trim the bushes, pull weeds, edge the grass, clean the garage, mop the floors, vacuum the carpets, wash the windows, go to the grocery store and on and on…”

Look at what Jesus (grace) says we should do to prepare for His arrival. In the last verse he says that there is but one thing that is needful. Another definition for needful is necessary or requirement. Jesus wants us to make sure if we don’t do anything else in life that we do this one thing which Mary chose to do. She sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His Word. A lot of times we are stressed out in life because we haven’t done this one thing. We can’t be stressed out in the presence of God. He said there is fullness of joy there and at His right hand are pleasures forevermore. Guess where you are seated right now in the spirit? At His right hand. We’ve got pleasures forevermore and fullness of joy just waiting for us to enjoy. You might be saying, “How do I do that?”

It’s a simple solution that very few find. I have often complained to the Lord about how little teaching there is on spending time with God. I think the reason for that is so few really know how to. I am not going to pretend to have the market on this either. I don’t, but I have learned something valuable. How bad you want it has a lot to do with whether or not you will find God. Jeremiah 29 supports this thought. Verse 13 says that you will find God when you search for Him with all your heart. Once you find Him, you find everything because He is everything!

I tend to give up too quick when my alone time with God doesn’t go the way I expect it to. I have learned that there is a veil of the flesh that you have to rip off or get through. It’s kind of like a test to see how bad you want to enjoy your alone time with God. He isn’t going to let us do it our way. We can’t pop it in the microwave. He wants us fully engaged with Him alone. He wants all of our attention. He is a jealous God. He is jealous of anything (not anyone) else that has our attention. Proverbs tells us to attend to God’s Word.

Remember Jesus’ words to Martha. He is saying it to us today. “You are worried and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary.” If we will do the one thing, all our worries and troubles will disappear. There’s a song that says, “Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in His wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.” I want to encourage you to spend time with Him today. Block some time in your schedule for it, and keep doing it until you find Him.

Isn’t that the way we do other things we are passionate about. We continue to tinker with them until we figure them out. Keep tinkering with your private time with God. Don’t give up. He wants to be found, but He will remain in hiding until we give Him our full, undivided attention.