Greetings to you – grace and peace in the name of Jesus Christ – THE Risen Saviour! I trust that you have found a ‘dry’ place of refuge with a good wind-break…this is still a late winter day. I will be praying for you today, asking Father to r grant you an extra measure of wisdom so that you can respond to today’s challenges with confidence.
I have been checking out some new releases in Christian music…Passion, Travis Cottrell, Meredith Andrews, Joey & Rory, Bethel Music, Elevation Worship, Steven Curtis Chapman – to mention a few. One song caught my attention, for it puts words to a spiritual condition that exists within the life of a maturing Christian. The words of the chorus go like this: Take me deeper to where You are that I might find You – Take me further than where I’ve been, I wanna be with You – sung by Meredith Andrews.
It is my observation that as a person really starts to grow in their faith, they reach a point where the spiritual experiences and disciplines that brought them there…are no longer sufficient. They want to go deeper and further. The answer to that is simple and easy to give…what you are asking isn’t simple and easy! I know that I have stated this before but this is where surrender plays such a key part – to get more of what we want requires giving more of our ‘self’ away so that there is room. It requires following His leadership even when it doesn’t make sense or isn’t even clear.
An old gospel song by Suzie Swift puts it this way: Mine to follow – His to lead / mine to step forward -His to open doors / mine to smile when I have been defeated – His to instill joy and encouragement / mine to experience bitterness – His to sweeten / mine to lose myself – His to reveal himself to us. I was mulling that over as I opened the Psalms and came across these words: I hear the Lord saying, “I will stay close to you, instructing and guiding you along the pathway for your life. I will advise you along the way, and lead you forth with My eyes as your guide. So don’t make it difficult, don’t be stubborn when I take you where you’ve not been before. Don’t make Me have to tug you and pull you along. Just come with me!” Psalm 32: 8-9 TPT.
One of my favourite one-liners to give to people, in reference to spiritual growth and going deeper/further, is: You are as close to God as you want to be…and anything more requires less of you – surrender!
Something to think about! Be blessed!