05/23/2022
Where Do We Stand?
You know? I was standing in the kitchen today, fixing some lunch, and the Lord said to me, "accepted in the Beloved." Now this was a mighty strange thing to hear as I was cooking. But, I had been angry with Him today and had told Him so. I was yelling. I was blaming Him for things that happened to me that I thought were gone forever through healing and forgiveness. But I guess not. I left without saying thank you. I just said some bad things about myself, got up and walked away.
The Father did not rip His robes, nor did He fall off the throne. He listened. And then He said I was accepted in Jesus Christ. What a great picture, to stand before the throne and have Jesus be in us and we in Him as it says in John 14:20. Jesus is in the Father, Jesus is in us, we are in Him and the Holy Spirit is one in the Father as He is in Jesus.
Where then does that leave us? Well, it leaves us standing in Jesus, in the Father's cloud of Glory and surrounded by the sweet Spirit of God. This is love that overcomes the world. This is the love that conquers death, even death, spiritual or physical, by anger. There is nothing we can say or do that will strip us of His love for us. He may not condone, nor protect the one who willfully goes his own way, but He does not forget us and stands ready to reach out and pull us up from the mire of our destructive emotions.
He alone knows what grief we have carried. He alone knows what pain and sorrow we have suffered. He knows because He first suffered and carried before we did. We love because He first loved us. We no longer have to just quote Scripture and hide our true feeling behind His word. Such behavior is really a lie and does nothing to glorify Him. Rather, we need to express the truth to the Father. Even if it is anger, hatred, disrespect or just plain being mad and flustered at His handling of the situation. The Father himself has felt anger toward his stiff-necked people. He understands, in Jesus, that even though we are alive in Him and endevour to keep Jesus' commandments, that there are things that hurt and we just aren't joyous in that place. How, then can we live the admonition to "rejoice at all times."
Maybe we have carried this hurt a long time, maybe only a recent wound, but still, honesty before God is true humility. It says ot Him, "I can't do this myself. I can't get past this alone. Please use Your mighty power and your work on the cross through our dear Advocate, the Holy Spirit, to cleanse our wound, heal our sickness and bind up our broken hearts."
Not doing our utmost to be straightforward with the Lord is keeping ourselves from facing our true failings. It does not mean that affirming the truth of His word is not in keeping with His will for us. It does mean that we cannot hide things in a closet and think they will clean themselves just because we know chapter and verse.
I urge you, Brothers and Sisters, to pour out your hearts in a new way that is full of grace and belief that Our Lord has paid the price for our anger, too. That He knows, even if we don't admit it, that things exist in our lives that He longs to make right. And, that peace follows us when we are transparent with our loving Father.
God bless all of us in the mighty name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and in His name we pray. Amen.
