Sunday, May 3, 2009

The Walls Came Tumbling Down

The walls around my world have come tumbling down.


As I was contemplating the agony of my situation God said "Go read from 'Come Away My Beloved'." I couldn't move. If you have ever been REALLY depressed, you know what I mean. I couldn't go to that book because getting up from the couch was going to take too much effort. He told me 4 times. "Go Read. It has what you need." I finally decided I wanted to hear from God more than I wanted to be depressed, so I got the book. I am going to quote the entirety of the passage here because I do not know how to do less. Let me first say that as I read I cried and when I finished I wept, because God is so alive and He had me to the place in that book where I would read the words He had for me yesterday. Another day they would not have meant much, but yesterday they were a lifeline.

Head Into the Wind
Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God,
that He may exalt you in due time.
I Peter 5:6

O My beloved, do not be anxious concerning tomorrow. You shall encounter nothing of which I am not already aware. My mercy is concealed within every storm cloud. My grace flows beneath every crosscurrent. My wisdom has conceived a solution to every perplexity.
I have deliberately set obstacles in your path to test your prowess. I will not always cause favorable winds to blow upon your life, for then you would be at ease and would soon grow soft and dull. It is when the wind is high and the waves are threatening that you become alert and keen, and then I can strengthen your spiritual fiber.
The storm is not a thing to fear but rather to welcome. As soon as you have made the discovery that in the time of stress and strain you have the clearest revelations of Myself, You will learn to head into the wind with sheer delight.
Was this not true of the disciples? Looking out across the raging waters, what did they see? Was it not Jesus? Jesus - coming to them! To have had this happen only once would have been worth weathering many storms.
In the midst of the multiheated fiery furnace, what did the three Hebrew lads see? Was it not the living form of Jesus Christ Himself having come to join them? Yes, He shone so brightly to them that His brilliance obliterated the sight of the flames!
No, you need have no fear. You need not fear the fickleness of providence - for behind whatever looks to you like utter chaos, I have a plan working for your good.
You need never fear whether I will be faithful to you, for if I have never failed anyone else, why would I fail you? You have an innumerable company of spectators cheering you from the ramparts of heaven, reminding you of what I did for them and encouraging you that the struggle is not interminable; surprisingly soon it shall end in victory for you also - if you endure faithfully.
Do you fear the weakness within your own self? I have put it there to drive you to Myself. I may never answer your prayers to be made strong, but I will give you the same promise I gave the apostle Paul, that in your weakness I will be your strength. It is still true that My grace operates most effectively when you have a conscious sense of need - yes, even a desperate awareness of your own complete helplessness.
Miracles burst forth out of the moist, cold soil of human tragedy. Moist with tears and cold with hopelessness. I never get a chance to do miracles for you when you are occupied with self-realization - while you are entertaining ideas about what wonderful thing I am going to make out of you. I do not use you for material for miracles; I make miracles out of My own Being. I allow you to watch Me after you thoroughly understand that it is I who am supernatural, not you.
You do not have to be other than what I created you: human. You are only obligated to do that for which I created you: glorify Me. Stand back! Let God be God. Let man be man. Once you accept your limitations and settle the fact once and for all that I will never ask you to perform Herculean feats, you can begin to learn what I really have in mind for you.
I am not discouraged with you, but you will become discouraged with yourself if you are not able to comprehend the truth of what I taught through Paul, that it is the foolish whom I use to confound the wise, and the things which are nothing to shatter man's pride in the things he has made himself.
I am the Ruler, and I will reign. You can resist Me, but it shall inevitably be to your own destruction. Love Me and trust Me, and stay in a place of humility. Mind you, God will exalt you. You need not exalt yourself.
You need only stay humble.

4 comments:

  1. The words of my wise old father ring in my ears as he handed me that book.
    "Besides the Bible, this book will be the most comforting book you'll ever read"

    I totally agree with you~ L It has always brought tears to my eyes, and peace to my heart.

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  2. And I hope whatever you are going through, that you emerge refined and victorious.
    My prayers are for you.

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  3. Thanks KC. I believe I will emerge refined as gold. That hope and expectation makes the storm worth it.

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  4. Wow. The post and the video really ministered to me a whole lot. I am praying for you.

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