June 3, 2011

 "But the fruit of the Spirit is...joy"

-Galatians 5:22

This morning as I drove to work I asked the Lord to fill me with his Spirit. After thinking about Hosea 12:6 from yesturday, "observe kindness and justice", I was encouraged to be an employee who overflows with kindness.
Now, to put this all in context, I started work at 7:00am (by no means am I an early riser...) and was feeling quite sick- not a very joyful start. But as I talked with God and started to consciously look for how he might show up today, He began to give me an overwhelming sense of joy (which, cooincidently, seems to have spread like wildfire).
Joy, according to Galatians 5, is a fruit of the Spirit- a thing that I cannot produce or force in myself, but something that simply happens as the Spirit of God gets control of my heart.
Through the "dark season" of the past 9 months, joy has been the most notable lacking feature. I have often considered myself "robbed of my joy"...  But the reality is this: No one can steal such a thing. I only loose my joy when I cease to walk by His Spirit.
But what a good gift it is to know joy today! And how contagious! Today I have felt as though the Lord has blessed me with his joy in such a tangible way that it has literally overflowed without me trying at all. As I have silently meditated on His joy, I've watched the people with whom I interact laugh and smile and be blessed. What a neat thing to draw near to God and to see him produce the "fruit" of contagious joy!

What is more, today I read John 15:

⁵ I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. ⁶ If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned. ⁷ If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. ⁸ My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples. ⁹ Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love. ¹⁰ If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. ¹¹ These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full

Joy was God's gift to me today.

Oh Father I am so sorry for the ways that I have greived you and your children: not surrendering, not embracing your joy. Thankyou for the overwhelming joy that comes from dwelling in your presence!

June 2, 2011

After a long, cold, and oh-so-snowy winter, the newness of spring is a long-awaited joy. The city has come to life again: people actually use the local parks, watermelon is on sale, and I everything just smells like new. I love the beauty of the changing seasons. This year in particular, spring seems to have come at just the right time...
The past nine months have, to a large extent, represented a season of darkness for me. A combination of being hurt and living in bitterness gave Satan footholds in my life, footholds that I am only now beginning to break free from. A few weeks ago the Lord spoke to me through Ephesians 4:31-32 "Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you." It hit me like a tun of bricks as the Holy Spirit reminded my of how I had been grieving Him. It is time to be done. It is time to return. It is time to move out of the dark, cold season and into the newness and joy of "spring".

"Therefore, return to your God.

Observe kindness and justice,

and wait for your God continually"

Hosea 13:2

As a deliberate act of returning, and in order to obediently "tell of all His wondrous works" (Psalm 105:2), I am committing to write daily about how God has shown up in my life. 1 Chronicles 16:12 tells us to "remember His wonderful deeds which He has done". So, what wonderful work has God done today?

he's got the whole world in his hands....

Putting the more "common" miracles aside (like the fact that He currently holds the entire universe together- Col 1:17), today the Lord blessed Brian and I in a very special way. After years of praying for a dear friend of ours, Brian had an incredible opportunity to share Christ with him. Brian came home ecstatic from their meeting, filled with the obvious excitement that comes only when God has shown up! A conversation that went from marriage, to legacy, to eternal security left Brian with an divinely-appointed opportunity to share the Truth in love. A definite answer to prayer.

Lord thank you for being a God who hears our prayers. Thank you for showing up and revealing your glory through Brian's conversation with His friend. I pray that you would soften his heart and lead him toward the truth of all that you are. I'm so sorry for the darkness that I have dwelt in for the past months- would you draw me back to yourself, restoring my own brokenness and letting me see who you are once more.