This weeks concentration has been on prayer and on becoming more intimate with God, especially as our Father. Since we are trying to get to know each other as well, I am going to illustrate what I have learned with some stories from my life.
God did not create us because He wanted servants. He created us to be worshippers. His goal is not to make me a better servant, but a better daughter. He desires intimate relationships with us. He wants us to have such intimacy with Him that we know what is in His heart, and therefore know exactly what to pray.
My daughters and I have a very close relationship. When we are in a group all I have to do is look at them and they know exactly what I think about what is being said. They know if it is funny, or upsetting, or if it makes me angry. One glance across the room and they can tell what I am thinking. God longs for this kind of intimacy with us. The scriptures say that He will "guide us with His eye." (psalm 32:8) It is His desire that one glance from our Beloved and we know what is in His heart, we know what His desire is; we know what to pray.
We know God is Almighty, He is the King of Kings, Lord of Lords, the Lion of Judah. But God want us to know Him first and foremost as Father, as Daddy. This is the privilege. To be His daughter. At the time that my daughters boyfriend proposed to her I had taken a leave of absence from work to care for my mother who was dying of cancer. My daughter called me crying because she did not know where the money would come from to pay for the wedding. I told her that God was her Father and that He would pay for a beautiful wedding for her. That very night a stranger called me and said that someone (or Someone!) had called her and said I was available to work nights. My job was basically to go to her house and sleep and be there in case of emergency. She gave me full pay by the hour. It is the easiest job I have ever had, and it gave me a break from being consumed with the death and sickness of my mother.
As I walked my daughter down the aisle I was overcome with love for my Father. I was surrounded by the people I love, the air was full of music and the fragrance of flowers. Nothing was lacking, abundance and beauty overflowed. "Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!" 1 John 3:1
"The hour is coming, and now is when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such to worship Him" John 4:23 The word worship literally means: "to kiss".
Many years ago I heard a man speaking on the radio saying that when God wanted to tell him that He loved him he would give him a certain sign. I thought that was so cool so I asked God to do something special for me that would tell me that He loves me. All day I looked, I waited, I listened. Nothing. By the end of the day I wondered if I had been foolish to ask God for such a thing. As I came out of my last patients house I looked up and there was a tiny rainbow nestled in the clouds. I looked up at the sky above me. It had not rained, nor was it overcast. As I stood there, the Lord spoke so sweetly and said, "I love you Barbara". As my eyes filled with tears, I looked and there was another tiny rainbow on the next cloud. Again the Lord said: "I love you." My heart squeezed tight, and then amazingly I looked and there was one more tiny rainbow on the next cloud and the softly spoken "I love you". I thought of Peter, so broken about denying the Lord, and how Jesus in His great mercy and compassion forgave him and then asked about his love three times. I thought about the kind of love that would put rainbows in the sky, whispered words so full of passion, the kind of love it took to die on the cross. "Let Him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth, for His love is better than wine." Songs 1:2
"My beloved is mine and I am His." Songs 2:16
God did not create us because He wanted servants. He created us to be worshippers. His goal is not to make me a better servant, but a better daughter. He desires intimate relationships with us. He wants us to have such intimacy with Him that we know what is in His heart, and therefore know exactly what to pray.
My daughters and I have a very close relationship. When we are in a group all I have to do is look at them and they know exactly what I think about what is being said. They know if it is funny, or upsetting, or if it makes me angry. One glance across the room and they can tell what I am thinking. God longs for this kind of intimacy with us. The scriptures say that He will "guide us with His eye." (psalm 32:8) It is His desire that one glance from our Beloved and we know what is in His heart, we know what His desire is; we know what to pray.
We know God is Almighty, He is the King of Kings, Lord of Lords, the Lion of Judah. But God want us to know Him first and foremost as Father, as Daddy. This is the privilege. To be His daughter. At the time that my daughters boyfriend proposed to her I had taken a leave of absence from work to care for my mother who was dying of cancer. My daughter called me crying because she did not know where the money would come from to pay for the wedding. I told her that God was her Father and that He would pay for a beautiful wedding for her. That very night a stranger called me and said that someone (or Someone!) had called her and said I was available to work nights. My job was basically to go to her house and sleep and be there in case of emergency. She gave me full pay by the hour. It is the easiest job I have ever had, and it gave me a break from being consumed with the death and sickness of my mother.
As I walked my daughter down the aisle I was overcome with love for my Father. I was surrounded by the people I love, the air was full of music and the fragrance of flowers. Nothing was lacking, abundance and beauty overflowed. "Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!" 1 John 3:1
"The hour is coming, and now is when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such to worship Him" John 4:23 The word worship literally means: "to kiss".
Many years ago I heard a man speaking on the radio saying that when God wanted to tell him that He loved him he would give him a certain sign. I thought that was so cool so I asked God to do something special for me that would tell me that He loves me. All day I looked, I waited, I listened. Nothing. By the end of the day I wondered if I had been foolish to ask God for such a thing. As I came out of my last patients house I looked up and there was a tiny rainbow nestled in the clouds. I looked up at the sky above me. It had not rained, nor was it overcast. As I stood there, the Lord spoke so sweetly and said, "I love you Barbara". As my eyes filled with tears, I looked and there was another tiny rainbow on the next cloud. Again the Lord said: "I love you." My heart squeezed tight, and then amazingly I looked and there was one more tiny rainbow on the next cloud and the softly spoken "I love you". I thought of Peter, so broken about denying the Lord, and how Jesus in His great mercy and compassion forgave him and then asked about his love three times. I thought about the kind of love that would put rainbows in the sky, whispered words so full of passion, the kind of love it took to die on the cross. "Let Him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth, for His love is better than wine." Songs 1:2
"My beloved is mine and I am His." Songs 2:16
1 comment:
Awww...that is so cute! I am blessed by you as my roommate!
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