To Know Him

          Lord, I pray that your beauty, your grandeur would invade my mortality and penetrate deep into my spirit. That the Spirit would be brought to the forefront of my life, to the center of the stage, so that by Him I would worship, by Him I would pray, by Him I would live.

          Lord, I dare to traverse into the profundity of your love, of your nature; into the mysterious waters where my flesh cannot endure the frigidness.  And there I will know You.

Unhindered

 I am not willing to be lukewarm for man, but I am willing to be burning for God!!!!!

Hebrews 2:14-15

          "Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless Him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives." (Hebrews 2:14-15)

          The mercy and compassion and wisdom of my Savior is beyond my mind's ability to comprehend.  The chains of death that once tightly constrained the wings of my spirit have been broken. I have been released into true freedom.  A freedom to fly up out of the murky puddles in which I used to wallow and up into the higher place where my God, my Redeemer dwells.  To my astonishment, the God of all creation has become the Author of my salvation.  He has liberated me, and my lips will sing, declare, and proclaim His goodness for the rest of my days.

          You see I not only know of the power of my God, how He rendered death insubstantial, therefore, stripping satan of power, by His grace I LIVE in that power.

          Praise King Jesus!  He has freed me from that fear that so grips the human race, the fear of death.  And, consequently, a sweet tasting life river has been released in me and it gushes forth from my spirit.  It's constant life-giving flow refreshes and calms my spirit and that of others.

Making the Father Happy

          Today, during youth group, I had a simple revelation: I can make the Father happy!  I realized that I have an opportunity in my uniqueness to give the Father something that no one else can; that is my individual, unparalleled worship, and unparalleled simply because He, in His wisdom, crafted my heart like that of no other.  He delights in my genuine, heartfelt praise, and he takes pleasure in the devotion of my heart, simply because it's MY worship that I'm giving Him and it's the devotion of MY heart to Him.

          I say it again: He delights in my uniqueness. The very thought that I can bring a smile to His face by the pouring forth of my unique portion of worship on Him is more than I can stand.

          In light of this, my pursuit of Him will be all the more passionate and focused.  He is beckoning me to run after Him.  And I will do so with the knowledge that my violent pursuit of Him makes Him happy!

Christ's Supremacy

           Christ is supreme over all.  His power, authority, reign, and place are supreme.  His rule, His dominion is higher than any form of government.  Christ is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.  All things have been created through Him and for Him.  He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.  Indeed, Christ descended into the lower parts of the earth.  And He who descended is Himself also He who ascended far above all the heavens, so that He might fill all things.  He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything. (Colossians 1:15-18 , Ephesians 4:9-10)

          In spite of all this, Christ will not necessarily impress His supremacy on you, although it will always be in existence and prevail whether you recognize it or not. For He desires for you to be in cooperation and willing subjection to His will.  When you do acknowledge His supremacy, you position yourself to fall into  synchronization with God, where every area of your life overflows with a superabundance of God's presence.  God's desire to be in you and reveal Himself to the world through you is great indeed.  For that's the way God operates...through people!!!

          Therefore, let us live in the revelation of Christ's supremacy.  Let us recognize that His rule is supreme in our own lives, and that no earthly circumstance can overrule it.  And let us daily declare Christ's supremacy so that the reality of it is further solidified in our hearts. 

          

          

Living Under an Open Heaven

          Do not let apathy or disturbing, discouraging circumstances lessen your expectation of awesome and mighty miracles done by the power of God.  Your level of faith, your attitude, your state of mind and your heart should not be determined by earthly circumstances, but by the atmosphere of heaven.  Know that you live under an open heaven, and that you have the power to loose and bind things on earth that shall be loosed and bound in heaven, by the authority you possess in Christ.