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God will eventually test you in all areas of your life, but He will not let your trials become greater than you can bear. Let God use trails to help you grow. Do not try to measure your progress, your strength, or what God is doing. His work is not less efficient because what He is doing is invisible. God does not transform you on a bed of light, life and grace. His transformation is done on the cross in darkness, poverty and death. Francis Fenelon in 100 days in the secret place
I think what strikes me most about this quote by francis fenelon is the call to NOT BE DISCOURAGED that rings behind the words.
Growing as a Christian can sometimes be hard. We think we should be “past” this, and are surprised we still react with anger/fear/insecurity/envy/pride etc. In a way we’re like an onion… as Shrek would say… with many layers… and it takes time and experiences to remove those layers as we grow.
“When a man sets out of a journey to a great city, every step he takes is voluntary; he does not need to say, “I wish to go to the great city, I wish to go to the great city.” That first step is an indication of his intention. He journeys without saying it, but he cannot journey without intending it.” Molinos from 100 Days in the Secret Place
This resonates within me. I often say that “God you know my heart.” Not in the cliché excuse-ladden way that that phrase can be used but meaning – God, you know who I am, my desire is for you, and I want to do your will… every step God I want to honour you and love you and obey you, even though my circumstances and my actions may fall flat…” There are times when we look at our life and think that it doesn’t reflect our heart desire. There are times when the circumstances don’t seem to make sense in regard to the end result we dream for. Remember, who is the author of our faith and our life. God. Who has written all the days of our lives before they occur? God. Even in the daily circumstances and occupations we do God is at work to transform and use us. There is not one day when God’s loving hand is upon us. No day is wasted in the grand plan of God.
God knows how many hairs we have on our head, and how many hairs we have on our toes. He watches over us and cares for us. His thoughts towards are more numerous than the grains on all the beaches on the earth.
Life is a journey. Becoming a better mother is a journey. Becoming a better wife is a journey. Becoming a better preacher, communicator, writer, editor is a journey. Becoming a better human is a journey.
Let us set our eyes upon God and walk forward. God orders the steps of his children. His Word guides our feet. Let us be people who consider the end destination and determine to follow God as He leads, and live the journey.
A journey begins with one step. One step towards the destination. As long as we are moving we are moving forward towards the goal.
Paul puts it this way… I press on towards the goal, i don’t look back but i forget the past and i look forwards towards the prize ahead of me. i press on. i step.
it takes faith to step forward and press on. it takes faith to obey. have faith in God, have faith in the one who formed you and has a plan and purpose for you. have faith in the one who loves you with an everlasting love, who has your name written on the palm of his hand.
It is the nature of each of us to be rather base, proud, ambitious, full of a great deal of appetite, judgments, rationalizations and opinions. If something does not come into our lives to humiliate us then surely all these things will undo us.
You must believe in the fineness of the Divine mercy… even when that mercy humbles, afflicts and tries you. Even if these times are caused by the devil, you are nonetheless in the sovereign hand of God, and these things will turn out for your gain and your spiritual profit.”
Molinos from 100 Days in the Secret Place
Its true.
We are all ratbags.
We all make mistakes and have flaws and fragility written into our personality.
Be it pride or insecurity. Selfishness or envy. Fear or doubt.
We all have things in our lives that need the hand of God to work on or else left to our own fleshly desires we could be distracted away into sin, and undo ourselves.
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Hebrews 12:1
God works on us to make us more like His Son, and thus more effective in His service. As we are more and more refined we should thus have less and less to detract from the glory of God and knowing Him and walking with Him. Our desire for service should be more pure. Our hearing more clearer. This may seem naive… There is always till the day we die issues and sinful desires that God is working. We should always be learning and always be being transformed.
We must continue to surrender to Him, deny ourselves, keep our eyes on God and make conscious choices to obey God and be a godly person.
In the misdt of whatever we face we must have a constant trust in God. W
We must remember that he is indeed Good and Merciful and Wise and Loving.
We must remember that in all things God is at work and is working to outwork them for good for the purposes and glory of God.
We must remember he walks through the valley of the shadow of death with us, as well as the flame and fire and the hard times.
We must know that God is good so we are content in his presence. we must know that God is gracious so that we can find peace in his presence while everything else feels like it is in turmoil.
We must know that God is loving so that we will find refuge and shelter in His arms.
These truths will hold us on course when the going gets tough. These truths will encourage us to remain faithful when difficulties arise. These truths will comfort our heart and grow our faith.
Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. Hebrews 10:23
it is the graciousness of God that he refines us.
it is the graciousness of God that he disciplines us.
it is for the sake of his church and his lost and his plan (and our call and our families and our friends!) that we are not left broken and ugly and sinful and selfish. it is the nature of all of us to be rather base, proud, ambitious, full of a great deal of appetite, judgments, rationalizations and opinions. If something does not come into our lives to “humiliate us then surely all these things will undo us.”
that something is the Lord God, who loves us and transforms us. he uses the fire of testing and trial. he uses the flood of life to wash us and transform us. but he is with us in the whole process. transformation and discipline and change isnt usually easy. but worth it.
God is the one who begins a work in our lives, redeeming us and making us righteous and holy and new and clean. He will continue to take that inward work from the inside out. He makes broken ugly hearts, motivated by selfishness and sin and ambition and pride and fear and anger, into beautiful hearts motivated by love and grace and hope and joy.
You must believe in the fineness of the Divine mercy… even when that mercy humbles, afflicts and tries you. Even if these times are caused by the devil, you are nonetheless in the sovereign hand of God, and these things will turn out for your gain and your spiritual profit.
“Come To God often just to sit in His presence and renew yourself. Nothing is as important as lowliness of heart and detachment from our own opinion and will.” Fenelon in 100 days in the secret place
I lay in bed last night thinking about this segment of my devotional book. Often when we are going through a hard time sitting down to pray and read the bible and talk to God is soooo the last thing we want to do or do full stop. We can get angry with God – when will this stop? Why wont you intervine? Pleeeese God come? You know… all of those things are valid. David was a big stomp ya feet say how he really felt kind of guy. His psalms are filled with WOE IS ME and emotions that I read as angry and depressed (its all in the tone of voice…) but then he also gets it in perspective and remembers God and His ways and that gives him peace and strength to carry on.
Psalm 73:16-17 When I thought deeply in order to understand this, it was painful for me, until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I understood their end.
In this Psalm David is going through a really hard time on all fronts. His understanding came when he went and spent time with God. Likewise for us – we may look at our circumstances and go “da wah?” and throw our hands up in despair. We need to remember to come and sit and pray and read the Bible. Sometimes just even putting on a good worship CD can bring us into the presence of God.
Hebrews 4:16 Therefore let us come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Psalm 23:1-6 A Psalm of David. Jehovah is my Shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul; He leads me in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table for me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; my cup runs over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I shall dwell in the house of Jehovah forever.
We may not get any answers from God. We may come away from a prayer time with no firm understanding. But we need to UNDERSTAND that God is God and God is good and loves us and is at work in our lives, to work ALL things for good for His glory and purposes. Your hard times may give you the experience that is able to help others.
2 Corinthians 1:4 He comforting us in all our trouble, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in every trouble, through the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.
The value of spending time with God is that we hear His voice, we can feel His presence –we can remind ourselves of WHO he is and draw closer, knowing that as we draw near to Him he draws near to us. Even if God is silent the time is not a waste. It is relationship building. It can bring comfort when we drop the walls. It changes us whether we feel like it or not.
the challenge for us to to be still and know God, to be still from our own efforts and to recognise who God is – the one who loves us and cares for us and is at work and is also refining us. he is our strong tower, our refuge, our Father. he cares for us so much. he is with us.
when we stop and take time to pray and read the Word we are fixing our eyes upon him, not upon the cirucmstances of our life and not upon the hard times. we fix our eyes on the rock that is greater than us, greater than all things. we build our faith.
there is one key aspect of prayer that we sometimes forget, esp if we are going through the flood and fire. that is to listen. to listen to what God is saying IN that time. God is with us, he promises to walk with us in the flame and flood and though we feel scorched and drowned we are not. we need to be encouraged by God. just a glimpse of him makes it all worth it. makes life do-able. just a glimpse of him gives us hope.
keep coming and pressing in untill you get that glimpse and that hope. dont give up. dont stop for a minute and then give up because “God didnt come right then.” sometimes part of the challenge of a hard time is that we need to persist and press in and seek God and not give up. the Word of God is truth and right. we need to trust it and live by it and have faith in it.
we need to be like the woman who had the issue of blood who did not give up on her miracle because of the circumstances. did you know that because of Levitical Law that she was unclean and had to live in isolation and that everyone she touched was also made unclean. she was not allowed to be near people let alone in a crowd! but she had heard about Jesus and his power and said to herself, encouraging herself, building faith in herself, if only i touch his cloak i will be healed. she went into the crowd. and she touched Jesus. she graspedthe edge of his cloadk and was healed by the power of God. She did not allow her circumstances to limit her. she pressed through.
in our own lives we face obstacles and hard times. have faith that God can use them to shape your character and conform you into the image of Jesus.
know also that he loves you and that as you draw near to him he DOES draw near to you.
be encouraged that he is with you as he promises in isaiah 43:1-2
have faith in God.
dont give up.
God’s way accomplishes His purpose quicker than anything you could think of. God is able to seek out and destroy the roots of self-love. God is able to seek out and destroy the roots of self-love. You, on your own, could never find those hidden roots. God can see the entrie path of self-love within your heart. Let Him attack self-love at its strongest point. Pray for strengtth and faith enough to trust yourself completely to God. Follow Him simply wherever He may lead you and you will not have to think up big plans to bring about your perfetion… Fenelon from 100 days in the secret place
So what is so wrong with self love you may ask? Perhaps we need to define it more. We need to look at it in the context that Fenelon is talking about above. Self love isnt about regarding ourselves well or looking after ourselves. It is about selfishness and me me me.
I think it is because sin has a root in selfishness – its all about “me” and what i can get and is “good” for me and protects ME. it puts me before God and others. i make choices that are sinful to make me happy or “safe”. Self love as Fenelon describes it leads to sin. It doesnt listen to God and doesnt obey God. It runs away from God and does its own thing. We can see its effects everywhere in the world. Greed. Hate. Prejudce. Murder. Rape. Abuse. Fear. Loneliness. Sorrow.
Galatians 5:13 says we are “called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature, rather, serve one another in love.”
Galatians 5:16-21 instructs us to “let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves. 17 The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions.”
Our self-love is often fighting against the best/pure actions that glorify God. It is putting God first and surrendering to him, allowing him to shape us into the character and heart of Jesus.
God is shaping us to conform to the character and heart of Jesus. ( Romans 8:28-30 )
He is calling us and MAKING us holy – not only in spirit/soul but in EXPRESSION and DEMONSTRATION – in outworking that holiness in REAL LIFE… its not just a spiritual thing but a real life expression of how we interact in teh real world…
God knows how to deal with the sinfulness in our lvies. Apart from Jesus’ death on the cross which paid for our sin, God also knows how to deal with the sin we STILL do – he exposes teh causes and works on our character, drawing us to him… He brings us continually to the cross, where we find forgiveness daily/minute-ly, bringing us to His throne of grace…
David prays often for God to teach Him to walk a life pleasing to Him…
Psalm 25:3-5
4 Show me your ways, O LORD, teach me your paths; 5 guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior,
Psalm 51:5-7
6 Surely you desire truth in the inner parts [a] ; you teach [b] me wisdom in the inmost place. 7 Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
Psalm 86:10-12
10 For you are great and do marvelous deeds; you alone are God. 11 Teach me your way, O LORD, and I will walk in your truth; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name. and my hope is in you all day long.
We must remember that God is our loving Father and he corrects and teachs us because he loves us and for his glory… Job says “Blessed is the man whom God corrects; so do not despise the discipline of the Almighty. For he wounds, but he also binds up; he injures, but his hands also heal.” (Job 5:17-18) Surrender to that teaching will make the road easier, only by our attitude working with God instead of against it. Working with God to shape us goes against self love often. Self love often trys to preserve us from hurt and change, but change is a good thing that often comes through hurts and experience. These experiences which may be painful teach us hope and peace and faith.
Romans 5:3-4 says “Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.” (NIV)
“We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. 4 And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation.” (NLT)
Francis Fenelon says, “pray for strength and faith enough to trust yourself compeletly to God. Follow Him simply wherever He may lead you and you will not have to think up big plans to bring about your perfection.”
We often think of ways that we can WORK on ourselves, give more, do more, go to church more – t hat might make it look like we are working on our heart character… but may feed the self-love more. God knows the perfect road to “perfection” for each of us. It involves death, fire and flames. But He has promised to be with us THROUGH the fire and flames ( Isaiah 43:2). God knows the limits of our strength to resist tempataion and gives us strategies to succeed in the midst of hard times, ( 1 Corinthians 10:13) so that we form character and holiness… not fall and fail. As Fenelon says we need to pray for strength and faith in the God who loves us and leads us.
I hope you are encouraged. It is never easy to examine ourselves or expose ourselves, even to God. It is never easy to surrender to him – giving him a free reign to shape us and transform us. God is gentle and he knows us. He knows our strengths and weaknesses. His love is everlasting. He gives us peace. He walks with us. He gives us mercy and grace.
You cannot give place to the world, to your passions or your laziness. Words are not enough to claim the kingdom of God. It takes strength and courage and violence. You must violently resist the tides of the world. Violently give up all that holds you back from God. Violently turn your will over to God to do His will alone. This violence is what I pray you will come to know, for how else will you know anything of the life of the Lord Jesus? Fenelon from 100 days in the secret place
The violence that Francis Fenelon is talking about in this above quote is not about arrogant rough hit and punch violence. it is not the voilence we see on tv or read about in the news. it is not filled with swearing or expressed with fists. It is the passionate pursuit of ones goals – in our case – the Kingdom of God. With force and decision and resolve we must resist the desires of the flesh and hold onto the course before us – the narrow path of holiness and surrender. It takes guts to follow Christ. Jesus himself said:
Matthew 16:24-25 If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life shall lose it, and whoever desires to lose his life for My sake shall find it.
Sometimes following Jesus isnt all happiness and roses… it is loneliness and suffering, discipline and sacrifice. There are times when God works on our character that just arent pleasant… when we feel like we are walking through the fire and flame, and feel like we are walking those paths alone. God seems distant and prayers unanswered.
i was watching Rob Bell’s Nooma dvd NOISE today and i was again stirred by Elijah meeting with God on the mountain top – not Mt Carmel, but a forgotten, hidden mountain where he had run away too. he had run away from his ministry and the people and the opposition – he was running away from life. While on the mountain there was an earthquake, a mighty wind, a raging fire – but God was NOT in the fire or the wind or the earthquake. he was not in the loud demonstration. he was in the small quiet voice… Rob Bell pointed out that this really means SILENCE. God was in the silence. God is in teh silence we face in our lives, when he seems far away he is so near. do we hold on and hear him and find him or do we continue to run?
Take hope in the words of the Bible, that say that God IS with us through the fire and the flame (Isaiah 43) and that He does hear our prayers always.
1Peter 1:6-7 in which you greatly rejoice, yet a little while, if need be, grieving in manifold temptations; so that the trial of your faith (being much more precious than that of gold that perishes, but being proven through fire) might be found to praise and honor and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ,
Our faith is regarded as being much more precious than gold to God. It does go through the fire of refinement as we are shaped into the character of Jesus.
We must be committed to following God, to allowing His way in our lives and to walking one step at a time forward. We must be committed to making God-decisions, not just good ones, and to rejecting the things we must reject. No one ever said it would be easy, just worth it. Eternally. we must press on, as Paul said.
Do not add to the cross in your life by becoming so busy that you have no time to sit quietly before God. Do not resist what God brings into your life. Be willing to suffer if that is what is needed. Over-activity and stubbornness will only increase your anguish. God prepares a cross for you that you must embrace without thought of self-preservation. The cross is painful. Accept the cross and you will find peace even in the middle of turmoil. Fenelon – from 100 days in the secret place
In this modern age busy busy busyness is one of those things we just accept. Busy traffic. Busy lives. Busy schedules. Yet we have dishwashers. Microwaves. Even OVENS are much faster and more efficient than the technology of Fenelon who warned against busyness shutting out God… or he rather that when we are busy we “forget” to make time for God.
God brings things in our lives to shape us and change us. His purpose is to make us like Jesus. ( Romans 8:28-30 ) His purpose is to use us as ambassadors ( 2 Corinthians 5:20 ) to reflect His own glory ( 2 Corinthians 3:18
But most of us are selfish creatures living by our own agenda, giving God a slot on Sunday morning. God wants us to know him all week and to be used by Him all week.
He wants to shape us and transform us. We are renewed and changed by the transforming power of the Word of God which challenges our thoughts and actions, changing our minds and attitudes and flowing into the way we act. ( Romans 12:1-2 )
We are changed through the experiences we go through. Experiences that are hard teach us to have hope and faith in God and strengthen us. They are HARD to experience but they outwork good and glorious things in our lives. ( Romans 5:2-5 ) The hard times shape our character to look more like Jesus.
Often we find ourselves hitting the same wall over and over again. Look up – is it a mountain? Are we like the israelites going round and round the mountain again and again due to their unbelief and stubbornness? Lets be people of FAITH and HOPE and in whatever experience let us look up and see GOD and trust Him and let him work JOY and LOVE and the heart of Jesus into our lives.
Embrace the work of God. It sounds contray to what we could do in a hard time – stamp our feet and moan. And that response is okay, when followed by a “BUT I WILL WORSHIP AND TRUST YOU” – david was a stomp ya feet and moan kind of guy in the psalms, but he then would remember WHO God is and worship him and surrender to the work of God in his life.
“You must walk the path of temptation.” Molinos from 100 Days in the Secret Place
An interesting quote isn’t it. We must walk the path of temptation. Most would say flee from temptation – but to do that first we must face temptation. Though we pray in the Lord’s prayer “lead us from temptation and deliver us from evil” we learn from facing and overcoming temptations. We learn obedience. We learn surrender. We learn to be led by the Holy Spirit within us, who is transforming us into the character of God.
Jesus was tempted.
Luke 4:13 And when the Devil had ended every temptation, he departed from Him for a time.
Hebrews 2:18 For in that He Himself has suffered, having been tempted, He is able to rescue those who are being tempted.
Jesus was tempted, not only by the devil in a determined pattern of distraction and attack, but throughout life, because Jesus was human. Because of that he has full understanding of what it feels to be tempted and is the one to run to in our time of trial.
What is the purpose of temptation? Does it have a purpose???
I do think God uses temptation for a purpose. Does he tempt us? No.
James 1:13 Let no one being tempted say, I am tempted from God. For God is not tempted by evils, and He tempts no one. But each one is tempted by his lusts, being drawn away and seduced by them.
But He uses all things together for good for His purposes and glory. So thus God uses temptation. Temptation is a fire that refines us. It shows us our weaknesses so we can cast them upon God and draw upon His mercy, grace and strength. It allows the work of Grace to be wrought within us.
Temptation comes from within us. It is the fleshly desires we have for things. Be it another person, something we don’t have, power, to react just as we want to, to lie – to whatever.
The good thing is we are not alone in facing temptation. As said above Jesus is with us. So too should our friends. We ALL go through temptation. Be honest with each other and support those who need support.
The other and the most good thing is that God makes a way to escape. He delivers us from temptation. We must take HIS road, HIS way. Sometimes that will be to flee, to remove ourselves from that place (ie nightclub, boys bedroom, shop etc) Other times it will be to talk with someone and share the burden and with the grace and help of God tough it through (so to speak).
1 Corinthians 10:13 No temptation has taken you but what is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted above what you are able, but with the temptation also will make a way to escape, so that you may be able to bear it.
James 1:12 Blessed is the man who endures temptation, because having been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.
2 Peter 2:9 The Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptation
Now I am NOT SUGGESTION we deliberatily put ourselves in harms way (in temptations way). But temptation will happen in the course of normal life. Dont go looking for trouble. Dont go looking for temptation. Keep living a life walking to please God.
2 Timothy 2:20 But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honor, and some to dishonor. Therefore if anyone purges himself from these, he shall be a vessel to honor, sanctified and useful to the Master, prepared for every good work. But flee youthful lusts, and follow righteousness, faith, love, peace, with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.
So where does this fit in the 100 Days series… we are studying the “way of the cross”, embracing the changes and the path of change that God outworks in our lives. We must walk the path of temptation and allow it to transform us. We must walk a close walk with God, drawing near to Him.
“God loves not the believer who does the most, now who feels the most, now who thinks the most cleverly and best, nor even one who shows the greatest love, but He loves him who suffers the most.
God is impressed with the purity of the intent of your heart. He wishes to see the inward part of you humbled, quiet and totally surrendered to Him and His will, whatever it may be. You may not find emotions to produce such a relationship, but you will find a door by which you will enter into your nothingness and His ALL.”
Molinos from 100 Days in the Secret Place
I would just like to begin by saying that God wants your inward part to be strengthened and formed into the character of Jesus. He wants us to know Him more and make Him known more.
What does our suffering show? It shows our commitment no matter what, our trust in God no matter what, that we do believe WHO He is, and that we have surrendered all to Him for His glory and good purposes. When we suffer and suffer “well” we area allowing God to transform us and who that we will let Him lead us and recognize that He does know us more than we know ourselves and that we are just flesh, weak with weaknesses and that God knows the perfect path for our lives.
God is not sadistic. We do not suffer for the sake of a cruel joke.
We suffer in the painful experiences of our lives. We suffer in the loneliness and insecurities. We suffer in the sicknesses we bear. We suffer in the sickness our friends and family bear. We suffer in the relationship difficulties and in the kids that go astray. We suffer in the discouragement and disappointment we feel. We suffer as we try to temper our pride, anger, envy, lust, unforgiveness. We suffer in the loss of friends and family to death or broken relationshps. We suffer in prayers that don’t get answered the way we want. Paul suffered in beatings, shipwreckness, homelessness, starvation, persecutions. Most of us don’t get that opportunity. Most of our sufferings could be labeled insignificant – BUT they are NOT – they are what we feel and go through and are the path that God takes us to know Him and trust Him more and be transformed.
It would be nice if there was a super switch at salvation that made us pure and righteous ON THE OUTSIDE all at once. We are made righteous and pure in our spirit by the righteousness and purity of Jesus – but this needs to outwork from inside out.
The path of painful experience (suffering) is partnered with the action of surrender and trust. We trust God to care for us and deliver us and shelter us. We trust that God is for us (in the bigger picture, not our selfish self desires! Not the easy path) and at work in every part of our lives. We trsut that God knows how much we can bear. We trust that God is able and mighty to save. And so we act out our trust with surrender and “yes God”.
I am not saying we cant cry and pray hard and honestly with God about what we are going through. David did it all the time. I’m not saying we should paint a smile on and get a tshirt saying “yay I’m suffer-ing 4 The Lord” and that everything is butterflies and daisies. Part of the learning in suffering is how to pray and how to persist and how to seek and find. Part of the learning of suffering is to hear from God in the hard times.
“When a man sets out of a journey to a great city, every step he takes is volunatary; he does not need to say, “I wish to go to the grat city, I wish to go to the great city.” That first step is an inciation of his intention. He journeys without saying it, but he cannot journey without intending it.”Molinos from 100 Days in the Secret Place
This resonates within me. I often say that “God you know my heart.” Not in the clich?excuse-ladden way that that phrase can be used but meaning – God, you know who I am, my desire is for you, and I want to do your will… every step God I want to honour you and love you and obey you, even though my circumstances and my actions may fall flat…” There are times when we look at our life and think that it doesn’t reflect our heart desire. There are times when the circumstances don’t seem to make sense in regard to the end result we dream for. Remember, who is the author of our faith and our life. God. Who has written all the days of our lives before they occur? God. Even in the daily cirucmstances and occupations we do God is at work to transform and use us. There is not one day when God’s loving hand is upon us. No day is wasted in the grand plan of God.
Life is a journey. Becoming a better mother is a journey. Becoming a better wife is a journey. Becoming a better preacher, communicator, writer, editor is a journey.
Let us set our eyes upon God and walk forward. God orders the steps of his children. His Word guides our feet. Let us be people who consider the end desitination and determine to follow God as He leads, and live the journey.
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