Monday, March 31, 2008

God Stops

"Sometimes the God of the universe pauses in the midst of all His creation to touch the heart of one person. Today, He paused for you." Lysa TerKeurst

Over the last couple of weeks God has been "pausing" for me in such incredible ways...and I don't think it's so much something new that God is doing...I just haven't been recognizing His "God stops" in my life. God's been pausing, but I haven't been responding. I've been like Isaiah 6:9 describes, " 'Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving.'" I've missed seeing God working in my life. I feel like the Lord is removing scales from the eyes of my heart and I'm actually seeing Him for the first time.

What has blinded my vision of Christ? There's been a variety of things that have cluttered my faith and obscured my view. Self-imposed restrictions and rules that have made trusting and seeing God difficult at best, impossible at worst. My own self-sufficiency...a try harder, do better mentality.

I asked Jesus in my life when I was 8 years old and I've been living in the freedom from the penalty of sin, but not in the liberty of the power over sin. My Pastor has described it as living like justified slaves after being declared righteous. My life has been filled with struggle, effort, doubt, but I can't experience Christ by trying harder. I can only know Him by trusting. All my attempts to surpress and cover the 'bad' in me...the things I want to change...on my own, I'm only restraining who I continue to be. God wants to fill me with Himself and give me His divine power. He is showing up all over my life and calling me not to more Biblical teaching or attending more Women's conferences or reading more books, but leaning on the truth I already know. Leaning on The Truth, The Life and The Way.

The Power available to me is more than enough for any and every situation I will ever face. God is stopping to show me His love. He's pausing to show me His power. He's communing with me and displaying His splendor. I'm in awe, yet at the same time I wonder...how have I missed this all my life? Where have I been? How come this truth is just reaching my heart now? Why wasn't I living in God's power and recognizing Him before? I've attended church all my life. Did the words become too familiar? Did I become complacent in my Christianity? Did pride keep me from seeking Him? Did fear silence His voice?

There's a commercial I've seen on television where a young man is sitting in a restaurant and a waitress walks by with a tray of beverages. Upon seeing the drinks on the tray, the gentleman slaps his head with the palm of his hand and says, "OH, I could have had a V8!" It's like the light just came on. The thought had never occured to him before. I feel like that right now. I'm wondering how I could have grown up in the church and missed the power of the cross all these years. I'm hitting my forehead and saying, "I could have been living in the power that Christ died and made available to me".

So thankful God paused today to speak this truth into my heart.

7 comments:

Yolanda said...

What an incredible posting! You rock, as we stand on The Rock.

God Stops....aren't they precious and oh what a thought.

Wow, we could have had JC! Truly, thank God that you and I do, have JC, JESUS CHRIST.

I've been pondering (wow, isn't that amazing...pondering) how He has gotten a hold of my heart, and for the past 8 months or so, I have such a much more deeper understanding of what it is He wants from me. Love, and obedience. Obedience comes from trust. And how I came to finally grasp this for me, is by doing "Believing God" by Beth Moore.

Love to you,
Yolanda

Kelley said...

Hi Joy,
You know, when you write like that I am just rivited to my computer screen! I found myself nodding in agreement throughout this whole post. We, in our flesh, have no idea how much God wants to bless us if we just take the time to accept His blessings. If we would just open our eyes to what He is truly doing in our lives. I think that is a great reason for keeping a journal. So you can have tangible evidence of what He has done. I know I have seen some amazing things when I looked back at my journal.

Have a great day and I am so glad I got some time to visit you today, it always perks me up!!

Love,
Kelley

elaine @ peace for the journey said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
elaine @ peace for the journey said...

Our churches are full of them. People...good people...Christians...going through the motions of religion and never quite grasping the vital, life-breathing Truth of who God is and what his cross has done for each one of us.

I've been a Christian since a very young age. I have never known a time when I didn't believe in a great big God, but five years ago, I had a head on collision with his Word and its effecting power.

I remember sitting in bed one night and crying out to the Lord my sorrow for missing so much of his truth...for wasting so much time. So, I can understand a bit of where you are coming from.

I know this...I don't ever want to recover from that head on collision! I want to keep going on with God until I see him face to face.

peace~elaine

Marilyn in Mississippi said...

Joy,
You have shown such an insight as to what it is that we all should be looking for.....those moments when we stop and realize how great, how awesome, how powerful, how holy, how all-consuming God is. You really put it in a way where it just reaches out and hits home. How many times we just pass God by and detour around Him when he's stopped right in the middle of our road....waiting to bless us and we walk around Him!
I always look forward to seeing your next post!
God bless you.
Marilyn

pam said...

So life has been good and you just didn't recognize it? hmmm, good post. Why oh why? A question many of us could ask in our relationship with God. So much we miss, BUT He is so gracious to just keep pouring it out. Bath in it, soak it in---His love, His presence, His peace. He is with you. You are loved!

Anonymous said...

Joy,
thank you for the post. My big God moment has happened last week for me... where I finally was able to let Him hold my heart in His hands, and actually trust Him. Knowing in my heart of hearts that I don't have to be afraid of Him

Finally to hold nothing back from my Jesus, and to then see how He is teaching me a new facet of my faith, of how He wants me to grow, a new way to think... it is amazing.

I pray that everyone has these God moments. where God just stops you in your tracks and you can't help but notice Him.

Your description of Him taking the scales off your eyes. THAT is it exactly!!!

Love you, and thank you for your couple of most recent posts. they have been amazing. i just didn't have the words to comment... my heart was too full after reading them.

God Bless,
Heather