My heart has heard you say, “Come and talk with me.” And my heart responds, “Lord, I am coming.” Psalm 27:8
I’ve seen it often enough in the past forty years of ministry, and
experienced it myself, that awakening of the soul. It’s when that part of you no one else can
see, that inner-awareness, awakens to the gentle invitation of God. And a blossom of faith unfolds in the most
unlikely place. It’s unexpected,
unexplainable, and without limit. It’s
when a heart responds, Yes, Lord!
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“Yes” and “Lord” – these two words form the outward response generated by the inward call of God’s loving offer to come close, to be loved and held by the everlasting arms. YES |
“Yes” is that surrender of the heart, when, despite all the inner fears that
you would stand anywhere near the God whose power is infinite, you simply open
your heart and soul for Heavenly inspection and resurrection. It is what John Wesley (and so many others) experienced;
at Aldersgate, Wesley’s heart was strangely-warmed by the assurance of divine
love and care.
It is knowing (for the first time) genuine love.
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LORD |
In the glow of the “yes” comes the realization that there is a corresponding
desire to commit your life to He who loved you enough to awaken and warm your
heart to love. It is when you give all
that you know about yourself to all you know about Him.
And that phrase all you know about you and Him, is a
confession that there are lots of things you don’t know
about yourself and Jesus. It’s signing a
blank check of your life, acknowledging that He will fill-in the blanks.
Nothing could be more exciting or dangerous.
The “YES” is salvation; saying “LORD” is commitment to a lifetime of
serving God with all that you surrender to Him…life, resources, family, energy,
reputation, and anything else you can imagine, and watching Him turn that life
of yours towards the magnificent, marvelous, impossible, and eternally-useful. And when that begins to take hold it is as
wonderful and refreshing as a flower pushing up through the snow in early
spring. There was some anticipation that
something might happen, but you never suspected how beautiful, or different it
would be.
Awakening is the territory of surprise and joy.
For You Today
The odd, and eternally repeated, always
validated fact of this awakening is, that it is not open only to monks and
Christian superstars, or apostle material; this is the substance of whosoever
will, may come.
The invitation of Christ is for you.
Has your heart heard him say, come
talk with Me?
You
chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!
Title image, Pixabay.com and W Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©
For other posts on Psalm 27 see: Lent! and
All the Days of My Life
