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 2/6/98 Good morning.... +†+ +†+ +†+ +†+ +†+ +†+ +†+ +†+ +†+ +†+ +†+ +†+ +†+ +†+ When we think that we've gotten so far away from Jesus, that it impossible to recapture what was once there, it's important to remember that He's as close as the mention of His Name. +†+ +†+ +†+ +†+ +†+ +†+ +†+ +†+ +†+ +†+ +†+ +†+ +†+ +†+ Good Morning Sweet Brethren! Hope this finds your Friday okay...The devotional for today, is chock full of "meat." Grab you a fork and a knife..and indulge, and if you bite into a piece of gristle...just chew on it awhile...hehe. Enjoy! Come unto me, all ye that labour
and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. I used to come here almost every day. In fact, coming seemed essential then. I was young and so full of life. He came here, too. Each day we were so glad to see each other. I couldn't wait to tell Him everything about my day. He would listen patiently, then tell me about Himself and His Father. I loved Him like a brother. But somehow He loved me even more. Suddenly I stopped coming to the quiet place and went away. I didn't tell Him goodbye. I knew He would be disappointed in me, and I couldn't stand to see that in His face. I ran fast and hard, rushing into the night until I reached a faraway place, a strange place. No one there cared about me; they were all running, too. After a few months, He sent a friend to find me. His message simply said He missed me. If I would return, we could go on as if nothing had happened. I didn't send a reply. I just packed my bags and moved on. I couldn't stand to think about Him still waiting for me. Months turned into years, and years into tens of years, and I wandered on. But I lost my illusions. All I had left were false promises. Surely, I thought as I traveled, it would not matter if I stopped by to visit the old place where we used to meet. Silently, I approached the quiet place. With shallow breath, I peered around the entrance. Suddenly I jerked back, my heart pounding in my ears. I saw a shadow and heard the rustling of a garment. Surely not--it couldn't be! Not after 23 years. Then I knew. He was still waiting for me. His words of greeting were quiet. In His face there was no blame. Smiling, He invited me to sit down. Filling a basin with cool water, He knelt before me. I tried to speak, to hide my face--to escape somehow. How could He? Why should He--after all this time? I had forsaken our friendship. Willingly - no, eagerly - I spat upon His will and ran to an idolatrous land. Squandering my good years, I returned a withered shell of what I should have been. And now--this. I hadn't known why I journeyed back, but He did. With tears to heal a torn and weary soul, I repented of the past, confessed my guilt, and asked to come another day to visit with Him. He smiled and wiped my tears. As He removed my sandals and washed my feet, He told me that I need not ask. He washed away my troubled past, not to remember even a day. Now we sit and visit as in days gone by, because that's God's plan. And that's God's way. THE QUIET PLACE »¥« † »¥« † »¥« »¥« † »¥« † »¥«»¥« † »¥« † »¥«»¥« † »¥« † »¥« Lord, bend that proud and stiffnecked
"I", »¥« † »¥« † »¥« »¥« † »¥« † »¥«»¥« † »¥« † »¥«»¥« † »¥« † »¥« MISSING YOU I sent a friend to comfort you today, »¥« † »¥« † »¥« »¥« † »¥« † »¥«»¥« † »¥« † »¥«»¥« † »¥« † »¥« Me again! I was in a chat room recently...and we were discussing the issue, "fasting." I know that the definition of that word, primarily exists around food, but, we touched on the subject of fasting things in our lives that can become "excesses".....(such as this thing here....ouch!) I could name off several things that could qualify as excesses in our lives. Not only excesses, but distractions. We get so caught up in the things of this world...that we find ourselves looking for an "escape" in anything that would result in immediate "relief." For instance, (now let's be real..hehe) don't you sometimes feel a "buzz" kick in when you click this thing on? I know I do. It's like..."Calgon, take me away!" Something happened yesterday, that really got me to thinking. I was encouraged, no...make that..."challenged" by a precious friend...to fast the computer for a day. Well, my mind is going.."Hey, I can do it!" She said to me..."Feeling the withdrawals already?" ™À™ "Yeah..right." So, I pull away, and "click." No sweat. Then, I found out something interesting about myself. I was getting dependent on this thing...and I will tell you how I knew it. When I make a decision to fast food...it seems like food is in my face constantly. When we get to the place, that we make a decision to deny our flesh the things it enjoys....our flesh starts freaking out. I was doing okay for the first part of the day, but then, as the day wore on, I felt this "anger" rise up in me. I couldn't understand it. It was so very real, and I could not ignore it. I went and looked in the mirror, and my countenance was terrible! I had to retreat...but where to??? Not to the puter..hehe. So, I made a dash for my REAL refuge. I went into my prayer closet, and with the lights off....I just sat there...and cried out to the Lord. I confessed my sin...and begged for help. I realized that somehow..over a period of time..I allowed the computer to take the driver's seat in my life. I allowed IT to be my refuge. Don't get me wrong, I was still spending time with the Lord...but not nearly as much as I was spending on the computer lately. I lost sight of the moderation. As I continued to sit there in the dark...in my "nakedness" (spiritually speaking).....I leaned my head back to the wall...and just basked in Him. It was very quiet..and very peaceful. No superficial facade...no talking...just me...and the Lord. And....it broke. The anger was gone. I felt the relief flood my soul. I could only sit there and thank Him, as I realized more than ever...that "God is my refuge and strength...a very present help in time of trouble." <Psalm 46:1> Then, as I got up and turned on the light, I noticed something crawling toward me. This big cockroach approached me, put his little leg on his side, and said, "You know we got ants???" (hehe..just seeing if you were payin attention....ain't I a stinker?) Anyway, (hehe), God did something else after that. As the day wore on...I found myself holding a little book, that I had read awhile back, and I felt the "nudge" to read it again. It was just a little book, one that could easily be read in one sitting. It's called Intimacy with the Almighty," by Charles Swindoll. And this one part...really hit home with me: In solitude I get rid of my scaffolding: no friends to talk with, no telephone calls to make, no meetings to attend, no music to entertain, no books to distract, just me- naked, vulnerable, weak sinful, deprived, broken---nothing. It is this nothingness that I have to face in my solitude, a nothingness so dreadful that everything in me wants to run to my friends, my work, and my distractions so that I can forget my nothingness and make myself believe that I am worth something. But that is not all. As soon as I decide to stay in my solitude, confusing ideas, disturbing images, wild fantasies, and weird associations jump about in my mind like monkeys in a banana tree. Anger and greed begin to show their ugly faces...... The task is to persevere in my solitude, to stay in my cell until all my seductive visitors get tired of pounding on my door and leave me alone. If the truth were known, most of us resist that kind of soul searching because it seems too radical, too severe. After all, time is short, and who needs all that kind of self-analysis? The religious show must go on! No, that's just the point. Through the discipline of solitude, we come to terms with the superficial "show," and we determine in our hearts that it will stop! An inner restlessness grows within us when we refuse to get alone and examine our own hearts, including our motives. As our lives begin to pick up the debris that accompanies a lot of activities and involvements, we can train ourselves to go right on, to stay active, to be busy in the Lord's work. Unless we discipline ourselves to pull back, to get alone for the hard work of self-examination in times of solitude, serenity will remain only a distant dream. How busy we can become....and as a result, how empty! We mouth words, but they mean nothing. We find ourselves trafficking in unlived truths. We fake spirituality. Whew! Talk about "slap in the face" truth! Brethren, I realize more than ever...that as I put God FIRST in my life...above EVERYTHING ELSE...EVERYTHING...it is including the fact, that I should allow HIM to be my escape. But, the first step, is to be real with God, spend time ALONE with Him, no distractions.. and allow the vulnerabilities to surface. It helps us to realize how very much we really do need Him. Isa 28:12 Self-examination....try it. It will make you see things about yourself, that you never even realize existed. And the neatest part is...God is right there to do it with you...and show you a solution. Himself. Be still and know that I am God. Psalm 46:10 <emphasis mine> I'll say bye here...but, I feel a need to leave you with one last excerpt from this little gem of a book. Harassed by life, exhausted, we look about us for somewhere to be quiet, to be genuine, a place of refreshment. We yearn to restore our spirits in God, to simply let go in Him and gain new strength to go on living. But we fail to look for Him where He is waiting for us, where he is to be found: in his Son, who is his Word. Or else we seek for God because there are a thousand things we want to ask Him, and imagine that we cannot go on living unless they are answered. We inundate Him with problems, with demands for information, for clues, for an easier path, forgetting that in His Word He has given us the solution to every problem and all the details we are capable of grasping in this life. We fail to listen where God speaks: where God's Word rang out in the world once and for all, sufficient for all ages, inexhaustible. Or else we think that God's Word has been heard on earth for so long that by now it is almost used up, that it is about time for some new word, as if we have the right to demand one. We fail to see that it is we ourselves who are used up and alienated, whereas the Word resounds with the same vitality and freshness as ever; it is just as near to us as it always was. God Bless you..! Love you guys! In Christ!!
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