There is a word in my spirit that I feel like needs to come out however, I am not 100% sure what it is. Isn’t that funny? It’s as if there is a bubbling coming from deep within and rationally speaking, one would know what it is but, when you catch a glimpse or feel the surge, it quickly disappears from your sight or turns to a trickling that you can’t drink from.
Then one decides. I am going to sit. I am going to write about whatever it is that eludes me in hopes that it reappears and I am able to discern whatever it is because I myself am curious. So, here I am sitting, writing, wondering, praying, pressing in, listening, expectant and attentive to that Still Small Voice that might reveal Himself at any moment and the glimpse becomes a vision and the bubble becomes a river.
It’s been a season of waiting. It’s been a season of “one-day-at-a-time”. It’s been a season of I can’t. It’s been a season of weakness. It’s been a season of limitation. It's been a season of isolation. It’s been a season of patience. It’s been a season of hope. It’s been a season of grace. It’s been a season of rest. It’s been a season of nearness. It’s been a season of no limits. It's seems contradictory doesn't it? Yes, I agree.
Even still, it’s been all of this and more. This is the tension we live in isn’t it? It’s the “now" and the “not yet” of God’s Eternal Kingdom in all of its' glory but, we still see so dimly what awaits us. The decision to live Faith that says, the fullness of waits for me tomorrow, is accessible today but, as long as it stands in the distance, I will need to stand firm today in the midst of pain and suffering.
Standing. It’s about standing. How do we stand? I must go back to the importance of practice.
During this season especially on “those days” you know “those days”, don’t you? We all have them. Practicing on “those days” becomes a sacrifice of praise like no other. Even when you don’t feel like practicing, you do anyways because you understand that in order to stand, you must practice.
I don’t know what you are needing to practice in the season you are in but these have been the three things that I have been practicing in order to continue to stand as I wait:
1. Nothing compares to the Power of Praise. NOTHING.
2. God is Sovereign. Always. He is good. Always.
3. I don’t know what I lack until it’s lacking. Lack is a blessing. Lack reveals His power and provision.
I humbly encourage you to pen what are you needing to stand in today. We need to remind ourselves that standing requires practice and we need to know practically and tactically what we should be practicing.
Do this in the encouragement today of what John Piper says so eloquently, “Not only is all of your affliction momentary, not only is all of your affliction light, in comparison to Eternity and the glory there, but all of it is totally meaningful. Every millisecond of your pain from the fallen nature or fallen man, every millisecond of your misery in the path of obedience is producing a peculiar glory you will get because of that.”
"All of it is totally meaningful." There is so much to unpack here however instead, just take a moment, breathe in Life and allow it to permeate your circumstances. This one phrase inspired by Truth makes all the difference in the seemingly non-sensical journey that is life this side of Eternity. Nothing is meaningless in light of Eternity, in light of God's Eternal glory, in Light of who He is and in light of Whose we are. Nothing is lost on Him. Everything is absolute in meaning.
So what is there left to do? Stand my friends, stand. Stand firm. Hold fast. Be relentless in your stand. Remember. Practice. And when you have done all you know to do, stand. - Ephesians 6:13. I am praying for you today.
This is just the beginning of a vision, just the beginning of a flow, but standing is a good start. Stand my friends, stand.
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