We can be aware of the devices of the wicked one, without letting that awareness control every interaction. Scripture calls for us to recognise these devices not for us to be controlled by them
Big P.S: That verse was NOT an instruction to the church directed at unbelievers. It is not a weapon of caution to be weilded against outsiders that we are supposed to engage with in the hope of turning them towards the Light.
In fact, this verse was used in the context of forgiveness and restoration!
It is not a religious cloak of judgemental suspicion, to keep at bay, those we should embrace with the love of the Father.
Psalms 139:5 AMP “You have enclosed me behind and before, And [You have] placed Your hand upon me.“
Psalms 139:5 NIV “You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me.”
Hemmed in, enclosed, these words feel like restriction, something to escape from not to rest in and enjoy. But, it is a very vivid description of God’s all-encompassing presence.
Much more than Omnipresence – God everywhere, it’s OmniNear, God with us, you and I.
It’s all well and good when everything is fine, when we feel like we deserve to be there.
Yet, paradoxically, when internal storms torpedo our life boat, and external forces, like icebergs and gale force winds, tear apart our ship — our instinct is not to stay within the enclosure of God’s abiding presence, our instinct is to run, to flail, to try to right the ship with our hands.
The enclosure of God’s presence, the shadow of the Almighty becomes our least favourite place at the junctures when it should be our only option.
Likely because it requires nothing of us, except submission and surrender. To trust that the noisome pestilence, rather than evidence of abandonment, is a guarantee of His nearness because He is close to the broken hearted.
So like David, in this chapter we run from pillar to post, hiding in darkness. Hoping to shake off His presence because we’re unworthy, or to somehow make ourselves “useful” so we can deserve His presence.
The good news is we cannot outrun His presence, the depth of our despair does not put Him off. Wherever we run, it is all still within His encompassing presence, His mighty loving hands, afterall, He holds the whole world in His hands.
Stay hemmed in, enclosed in His love!
We are Easter people, with no barriers between us and the father— no veil, no wall of separation, no distance.We are Easter people, fully living out the resurrected life.
We are Easter people enabled by the resurrected life to forever live in, and from the Father’s presence.
We are Easter people, bearers of His glory, partakers in the divine nature, not subject again to sin and condemnation but living above flesh by His Spirit.
We are Easter people, no longer slaves to sin or fear, but living out loud the life of God we now possess.
Nothing wrong with planning and prepping spiritual things because the Holyghost inspires in the planning.
You should plough the land, sow some seeds, take out the weeds. These are all not just good, but absolutely necessary to getting a good harvest. But after all that, you need fresh rain.
So plan, prepare, and in the moment, be malleable enough — like clay in the porters’ hands to let the HolySpirit in, and trust Him in the moment as you’ve trusted Him in the preparation. Afterall, the preparation is all so the soul is ready for when the rain comes. It all adds up, it all works together!
This trust, in God’s chosen methods and timing in the moment, can be a real test. Because, expectation is fundamental to planning. So in that moment, when the expectation does not appear to match His move.
Trust, that He is able to do far above your expectation and imagination.
That He is able to bring the rain, both the former and latter, together. That the Lord of the Harvest knows exactly what the field needs, and He’ll supply according to His riches in Glory.
There are boundary lines in our relationship with the Father. Yes, they are pleasant, designed for our good to bring us to an expected end in Him, but they’re no less boundaries.
Eternal pleasures are found within the remit of His presence.
So Yahweh, in His love, will move us, shift us, push us until we come into the places He has prepared for us before the foundations of the world. The Lord’s favour doesn’t cement us on the paths that we have made; it elevates us and moves us into our inheritance in Him.
To consider God’s power outside of His love will produce an image of a powerful unibrowed ruler, striking at will and without recourse.
We can only begin to fully comprehend His power, when viewed from the lens of His immeasurable love.
What kind or manner of love the Father has given unto us, that we should be called His own.
We don’t talk enough about the dissonance of holding two contrary realities. Of a consistent walk of faith, an unwavering belief in God’s goodness and sovereignty while in the midst of challenges and storms.
To acknowledge the fierce storms and the drums of trouble, yet stay resolute in the knowledge that those troubles do not change the eternal truth – that God is and He is good.
We don’t talk enough about the dissonance of holding two contrary realities. Of the inevitability of human frailty and failings, existing side by side with the surety of God’s goodness.
Yet the walk of faith is often wrapped in acknowledging this dissonance. For without acknowledging troubles, what then is the need for faith?
The challenge, the journey, the maturing as daughters and sons is to acknowledge the storm and its impact, it is to shiver as the cold draught comes in. But to also know, to acknowledge in the midst of the storm, the goodness of God, His sovereignty, and His power. Not just so He can take us out of the storm.
To worship, to lift up praise right in the middle of the storm with one hand as you hold on for dear life in the dangerously rocking boat.
We don’t talk enough about this dissonance, and so many think we have to stuff our pain and disappointment deep down and come correct, with a painted on smile and call it faith.
This Christmas, as we celebrate the King, please know that it is okay to bring your gift to the king, even if it is bathed in the tears of promises yet to come.
It is okay to raise your hands in honour of the king, even if it is shaking from the weariness of holding on. The King doesn’t mind.
The call is to “come all ye faithful” and the faithful is you, still in awe of the King even when it’s hard to find wonder in your circumstances.
Here’s a promise just for you –
The prince of peace Himself fills you with His peace at all times and in every way [that peace and spiritual well-being that comes to you who walk with Him, regardless of life’s circumstances. 2nd Thes 3:16
Merry Christmas
“Your perspective is a function of your posture/position” – George Eyitayo
I sat beside my snoring daughter, dangling my glasses in my hands and it cast a shadow, only it was two shadows. I had a passing curiosity about how if I changed positions or held the glasses differently, the shadows I see would change.
I found this quote in my notes from 2019 not long after and it kinda fit my musings. That what we see and perceive depends on our posture – where we stand and how we stand.
A reflector positioned just right to the sun can be a conduit of fire. Many have tried this experiment and failed, but it’s not the principle that is the problem. Often, it is the positioning.
That is why we have to look constantly unto Jesus, to sit with Him, waiting on Him and receiving illumination for our imagination, so that our view of our world is shaped by who we behold and what we behold!
We can be conduits of heavenly realities to our world.Our world, our personal space as well as our sphere of influence, only looks more like God’s intentions, to the extent that we look to Him until we see as He sees.
I
Try to tell a grieving mom that her pain will pass away, or a person buried under the weight of delayed or deferred promises that it’s all working out for her good. Yet the Bible is unequivocal about this promise, that the troubles we see now are “light” and “passing”, that there’s yet glory ahead, an endless blessedness, a weighty glory, full in splendour.
So we can choose to compare and contrast our present situation with the promise. We can choose to go in concentric circles of why, when, how? Or we can look away from the things that we see, the realities before our eyes, because they’re temporary, and will pass and look to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.
We can choose to lift our eyes to the hills, from where our help comes. We can choose to focus on the one who is eternal and forever.
We can choose to trust that as we behold Him, He’ll fill us with joy that infuses us with strength. He’ll fill us with joy that allows us draw whatever we need for the now from the well of salvation.
We can choose to trust in the Lord with all our heart and lean not on what we know and see. For he who gave the promise is faithful.
We are micro expressions of God’s macro self, we’re just like the Father. The dominion mandate that we received is to cultivate the God-potentials in the earth. God made us as light, so that we can dispel the darkness that is around. The light that we received is because of the darkness that exists.
Too often in recent times, I query God’s promises over my life, His confidence in me and my capacity to deliver on heaven’s commissions.
I will ask, often in heart whispers tinged with fear; Will I make it through the storm? Will I trust you until there’s a good outcome? Will I have the strength to deliver on these assignments? Will I have the faith to bear and birth these? Will I survive these pressures, Will I bring You glory?
And always, the Father’s answer is the same, Yes, you will! He’ll whisper it in moments of deafeningly loud silences, He’ll shout it over violently crashing waves, He’ll paint a picture of grace within the enemy’s confusing paint strokes,
Abba will tap out a rhythm of Presence in the midst of the enemy’s melody of war; and His answer is always emphatically, resoundingly the same;
Yes, you will!!!
It’s too easy, too convenient to focus on the clouds. So easy that we forget that there is a promise in the gathering of the clouds, so we fail to prepare for the promise.
What’s the promise in the dark clouds?
RAIN – the wilderness is about to become fruitful, the dry and parched lands will become a river of refreshing.
Ask Questions, Just like Little Children
In asking us to be like Children, Jesus is asking us to trust Him, yes, but also to be curious, to ask questions, just like little children.
Secretplace Musings
Memoirs from the Throneroom
Memoirs from the Throneroom
Memoirs from the Throneroom
Memoirs from the Throneroom