Abide, Seek and Remain

The past few days during my quiet time with the Lord, I've really been sensing and experiencing a whole new renewing of the Holy Spirit. For me personally, I've been in such need of this "downpour" of revival in my heart. I don't know how or why it happened but it seemed like up until a few weeks ago, I was kind of lost on this barren plateau of spiritual wandering.

It's funny how these misdirections in your life start. A lot of times they're not a sudden, obvious diversion. No, most of the time they are just slight bumps that barely take you out of a direct path to where you're headed. However, as you begin to reach a point you previously thought you were reaching toward, you realize you are way off track and need to refocus your steps.

I believe this is how the enemy works in our lives a lot of times. When he's not attacking us outright and blatantly, he's scheming as to how he can divert us from the Lord's will. One of his more successful ways is to gently nudge us off course so that initially while we think we're still headed where God wants us to go, we're actually about to veer off the path in such a way that will see us miss the target by miles.

What are some of these bumps we encounter? For me, one prime example of this is my own "ego". This includes my literal ego, my pride, my own goals, my own agenda and my emotions. However, a friend of mine recently described the word "ego" in an acrostic.

EGO = Easing God Out.

How simple and yet how profound. When I allow my "ego" to cloud my vision, I begin to ease God out of my life...and then look where I end up.

In a spiritual wasteland.

For the past year or so, I've been fighting some big "ego" battles and of course, I realize how wrong I was. Granted, these are natural human emotions of disappointment, discouragment and occasional confusion. But we all need to learn how we deal with these emotions.

Do we continue to fight ourselves internally, wallowing in a cess pool of self-pity and whining like a spoiled child OR do we obey the Bible and "trust in the Lord" to show up and lead us to His will for our lives?

I was finally able to look past my own disappointments of the past year and trust in God that His will for my life was so much better than the things of life I wanted. My goals, my desires and my stuff pale in such comparison to the plans the Lord has for me. One of the books / devotionals I read in the morning is one called "Every Day With Jesus" by Greg Laurie. This daily devotion coupled with the Bible has so enriched my life and encouraged me to seek God's will for my life.

In fact, the past two devotions spoke about "abiding in Him" and "seeking His kingdom". These lessons have so quenched my soul, much like the rain is doing to the ground outside my window as I write this.

It's so encouraging to have prior Scriptures come to your mind at various times of the day that remind me that the Lord loves me, won't leave me and has so much more in store for me.

It's an incredible feeling to hear the Lord's voice comfort me in so many of the songs I listen to and the Scriptures I read.

It's a wonderful thing to commune with family and friends who not only share my love for the Lord but who also offer me such encouragement. Hopefully my words (spoken and written) will do the same for them. It's my hope that these words may become seeds of encouragement that point them toward God and eventually bear the fruit of His name.

Jesus spoke so often in parables and one that has really been on my mind a lot lately is the one about the vine bearing fruit. He spoke of how a dead branch with no roots cannot bear any kind of fruit and should be thrown into the fire. But, He also said that the vine whose roots remain planted will be fruitful.

John 15:1-8 says it like this:

"I am the true vine and My Father is the vineyard keeper. Every branch in Me that does not produce fruit He removes and He prunes every branch that produces fruit so that it will produce more fruit. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in Me, and I in you. Just as a branch is unable to produce fruit by itself unless it remains on the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in Me."

I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in Me and I in him produces much fruit, because you can do nothing without Me. If anyone does not remain in Me, he is thrown aside like a branch and he withers. They gather them, throw them into the fire and they are burned. If you remain in Me and My words remain in you, ask whatever you want and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this: that you produce much fruit and prove to be My disciples."

I am so grateful for His word and His promises. How they ennrich my life and encourage me each day!! I pray that my life will continue to remain in Him and that He will bear much fruit through me. I take such comfort in knowing I serve the God who is indeed THE everalsting God, the One who never sleeps, the One who comforts those who are weak, the One who sticks by us closer than any brother, the One who gives us strength to endure as we wait upon Him, the One who makes us soar like eagles, the One who causes us to run and not grow weary, the God who makes us walk and not faint.

Check this all out by reading Isaiah 40.

THAT is the God I serve!

What a great and awesome God!