But God...

"But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with him, and made us sit with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus." (Ephesians 2)

"BUT GOD, when he walked by my open grave, instead of turning away from the stench, he said to his Son, 'I want that mess alive. Will you die for him?' And he said yes. And that's how I got saved. And that's how you got saved—or can get saved." (John Piper)

Holy of Holies

Some more from A.W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God:

“We sense that the call is for us, but still we fail to draw near, and the years pass and we grow old and tired in the outer courts of the tabernacle. What hinders us? (...) What but the presence of a veil in our hearts?- a veil not taken away as the first veil was, but which remains there still shutting out the light and hiding the face of God from us. It is the veil of our fleshly, fallen nature living on, unjudged within us, uncrucified and unrepudiated. (...) It is woven of the fine threads of the self-life (...). They are not something we do, but something we are (...). Self can live unrebuked at the very altar. It can watch the bleeding victim die and not be in the least affected by what it sees. (...) There must be a work of God in destruction before we are free. (...) We must prepare ourselves for an ordeal of suffering in some measure like that through which our Saviour passed when He suffered under Pontius Pilate (…). In human experience that veil is made of living spiritual tissue, it is composed of the sentient, quivering stuff of which our whole beings consist, and to touch it is to touch us where we feel pain. To tear it away is to injure us, to hurt us and to make us bleed. To say otherwise is to make the cross no cross and death no death at all. It is never fun to die (…).

Let us beware of tinkering with our inner life, hoping ourselves to rend the veil. God must do everything for us. Our part is to yield and trust. We must confess, forsake, repudiate the self-life, then reckon it crucified. But we must be careful to distinguish lazy 'acceptance' from the real work of God. We must insist upon the work of God being done. We dare not rest content with a neat doctrine of self-crucifixion. That is to imitate Saul and spare the nest of the sheep and oxen. Insist that the work be done in very truth and it will be done. The cross is rough and deadly, but it is effective. It does not keep its victim hanging there forever. There comes a moment when its work is finished and the suffering victim dies. After that is resurrection glory and power, and the pain is forgotten for joy that the veil is taken away and we have entered in actual spiritual experience the presence of the living God.”

Gold

My heart turns to gold at the touch of Thy hand; the miracle of a sinful life surrendered to Thee.

More than Words can tell...

Again, I have no words to speak of the worth and beauty of the God who is there. As I've said elsewhere, the alphabet has not the means to even come close to a representation of Him, and even the most glorious and beautiful language will only ever describe a shadow of what He really is like. God's love (what a small word for a thing so everlasting and deep!) is more than this heart can bear, and yet I know that He Himself will help me not be blinded by His radiance.

Oh, the limitations of this world... I cannot wait for the day when finally I will see Him, and be able to fully gaze into this Sun, and be able to express my praise fit for the throne room.

“Father of Jesus, love's reward!
What rapture it will be,
prostrate before Thy throne to lie,
and gaze and gaze on Thee!”
(Frederick Faber)

Just dwell in His Presence for a moment when you read this –

“He is eternal. He antedates time and is wholly independent of it. Time began in Him and will end in Him. To it He pays no tribute and from it He suffers no change.

He is immutable. He has never changed and can never change in the smallest measure. To change He would need to go from better to worse or from worse to better. He cannot do either, for being perfect He cannot become more perfect, and if He were to become less perfect He would be less than God.

He is omniscient. He knows in one free and effortless act all matter, all spirit, all relationships, all events. He has no past and He has no future. He is, and none of the limiting and qualifying terms used of creatures can apply to Him.” (A.W. Tozer, 'The Pursuit of God')

“All our lives long we might talk of Jesus, and yet we should never come to an end of the sweet things that might be said of Him. Eternity will not be long enough to learn all He is, or to praise Him for all He has done, but then, that matters not; for we shall be always with Him, and we desire nothing more.” (Frederick Faber)

I pray that this Christmas we would dare to put ourselves out there and come defenceless before our Father. Let us not be hindered by this veil over our hearts, “the veil of our fleshly, fallen nature living on, unjudged within us, uncrucified and unrepudiated” (A.W. Tozer). Let us give Him all, surrender all, and ask to see His glory.

I know that from this side, it seems a risky thing to do. But from the other side it is the very best that could ever happen to us, because

“God formed us for His pleasure, and so formed us that we, as well as He, can, in divine communion, enjoy the sweet and mysterious mingling of kindred personalities. He meant us to see Him and live with Him and draw our life from His smile.” ( A.W. Tozer)

To think that “God of God, Light of Lights, Very God of Very God” is only WAITING for us to run into His outstretched arms, that He rejoices over us with loud singing (Zeph 3:17), that He pursues us with His mercy and goodness (Psalm 23) makes my head reel. And this is only the beginning...

Meet you

Hold on tight, my daughter,

hold on to me.

I'm cracking open that heart

for the joy to come out.

Let go, let go.

There's a treasure I hid for you

worth more than a thousand sun rises.

Shed the old leaves, my love,

and let me adorn you

I have a plan.

I'm not allowing the mourning to last

You are my chosen one

my pride and my prize.

I sing over you, can you hear it?

Let me lift you up

so you can whisper to me

I'm right there. And so excited

to meet you.

To God on my 24th birthday

Not every Isaac I was asked to sacrifice was offered back to me alive. And yet

You do not burn unless You want to purify

and ashes are the fertile ground for all new wonders. I am one.

The beaten desert tracks You have permitted me to know so well

where all the things I carry seem so futile, needless

have taught me how to travel light and leave it all behind

when You are beckoning out of the darkness.

In one stroke of Your eternal story

Your tender shoot was pierced with my crown of thorns

and the parched land was forever beaten when

You gave Yourself as ransom for this little broken one.

When Your rain falls, o God,

I cannot but soak

and let the drops gather

to become this ocean of love.

O Father of the fatherless

to think that You have knit me together in my mother's womb,

that You have chosen me before creation, to delight in me and delight in my praise

to make me beautiful in Your sight, and present me whole,

means I need Your help to bear Your very own love.

You are the God of beauty

so continue to write the chapters of my life according to Your pattern and design

and let them testify to Your glory and grace.

I have been and will be Yours, forever.

“And life, I love thee, not because thou hast done great things for me, but because I have thee from God.“ Jim Elliot – one of those who have gone before me.

Love Affair

There must be time for Him, just to love Him and have Him love us, no other agendas, no lists of prayer requests. These may come later, but we need to put loving Him first, because only as we are filled with His love, do we have love to give away. So many Christians cannot rest in His presence but must constantly be on duty... Our highest calling is to intimacy with the living God. I do not want to hear the words, "Depart from me I never knew you". I want the love affair to grow.

- Carol Arnott