So until a couple days ago, I was having a hard time for the past few weeks being disciplined to read His Word. So the other night I got to thinking. I usually read the Bible on my bed.
I guess that just doesn't create the best environment for devotion to His Word. So I created a little space of my own in the next room.
A little table and a wicker chair. A nice little old-fashioned desk lamp to set the mood :)) haha...but really. Also a lilac candle, I love the smell of lilac. Once Jesus took me to a lovely garden in prayer and there were purple lilacs. So it's OUR special thing :)). MY bible of course! My journal. My colors for coloring verses. Ohh and Bach and Chopin on my Pandora music station. Oh and my chai tea.
From here I was led to 1st John.
So the ninth verse of chapter one spoke to me.
"If we confess our sins, He is FAITHFUL and JUST to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
Wow!He made it so easy for us.
Can you imagine how He must feel when we don't just reach out to Him.
When He has done all the hard work and made a way.
And then I got distracted by my candle...
Fires trait is to consume. And in Hebrews it says He is a consuming fire.
So this is my prayer.
"Lord God I want to be consumed by you. That means surrendering everything. Trusting, being vulnerable. Not caring for myself. Leaving no thought of myself...
...consume me!"
The burning of the candle releases a fragrance pleasing to Him. I want so badly to please Him. And what pleases Him is so good for me. Sweet sweet LOVE, sweet sweet God.
He is like honey to my lips. SWEETER than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb. (Ps. 19)
Back to 1st John
2:15-17 "Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him, For all that is in the world-the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and the pride in possessions- is not from the Father but is from the world. and the world is passing away along with it's desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.
3:9 No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him, and he cannot keep sinning because he has been born of God.
Wow! Guess what I just finished watching? "I Survived..Beyond and Back." And guess what one of the near death experiences was? A man drowned in a pool and when he died, he heard voices whispering for him to proceed on the path he was on at that moment in death. He sees two lights burning in the distance and the whispers keep saying, "go ahead, it's ok," so he moves forward. When he gets close enough he begins to realize that the lights are actually 2 torches. On the other side of the torches is Satan. And guess what Satan is sitting on in this man's "experience?" A pile of gold. He said he acted like he didn't see the man until the man began to fight and yell, "come and get me!" He said the devil then turned and looked right him, leaned forward as if to identify who the guy was, realized who he was (whatever that meant to the guy in the experience) and then leaned back as if to say, "oh, it's you, I can't have you." The pile of coins is a perfect representation of "the world." You can find the story on Biography.com. Look for the story about the black guy named (of all things) Mesiah. That's how he spells it. His real name is Marcus but he changed it to Mesiah and died and went to hell. How ironic is that?!
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