How amazing
is God’s love for us, that even when we are far off from His presence and
peace, He will still reach out to us and let us know that He is near if we but
call out to Him. I have had many
mornings when I have needed to call out to the Lord so that His peace would be
my portion for the day. I know it isn’t
that He is too tired (like I am) but that He is desiring that I make Him my
first priority and purpose in life.
Perfect
peace is knowing and encountering the presence of God in a tangible way, I have
known the presence of God for many years which to me is a stillness, an awareness
of His profoundness above and beyond my typical day to day experience. God brings character and depth to my morning,
like in the way I write these blog posts, I am only journaling what I see God
doing, otherwise, I would have nothing to write about.
I have found
that journaling is an effective way to communicate with God and with others
about what is going on in my heart, it is also a way of becoming personally
intimate with the Father and searching out those hidden things inside of me so
that God’s peace can enter into me and bring illumination so
that those hidden things aren’t hidden any longer. That
is where the peace of God takes on the role of healer and restorer of my soul.
Our purpose
is to also become a restorer, but we are in the healing process of being
restored ourselves. Being in the process
of healing does not disqualify us from restoring and healing others, but in
fact, gives us empathy and compassion which we would not have had if we were not
being healed and restored ourselves. It
is that empathy which conveys the heart of the Father for others which makes
His peace is so irresistible.
It is this
daily dialogue with God and myself that I have found that trust has been developed
over time, nothing comes overnight. When
you desire to go deeper with Christ you are essentially asking Him to heal the
deeper regions of the heart which have not been fully surrendered yet. It is those little revelations of the heart that
God wants to expose so that His light may reach down inside us and reveal
Christ in new and more powerful ways.
Like I said
earlier trust is developed over time, it is the awareness of God's presence as deeper areas of
our heart are exposed, God is willing to illuminate those areas with light. We can know that He will not harm us in any way, but will protect us and sustain us as
only a loving Father would. I remember at
first being afraid of what God would expose in my heart because I was unsure
that He would protect me, but God has proven Himself again and again to me that
He will not only protect me, but He has become my shield and defense when I surrender
the walls and fortifications that I have erected in my life to protect me from hurt
and pain. He lovingly steps in and
becomes my strength and my bulwark so that I can enter His rest, an trust Him to heal me.
There is a statement made in this Isaiah 26 passage above which is an impossibility in the natural world but is striking in its sheer scope as it defines God, it says to “Trust
the Lord forever” we have a finite time on this earth which has many limitations, what
Isaiah is essentially saying is “Trust the Lord without limitations” because time
and ability has no limitation for God and His love for us. Isaiah also says “He will always protect us”
which is another statement without limitations either by time or by ability,
God will always see us as His own and will be our defense, He is our ‘mighty man’
to come to our defense when we need a defender and protector.
I am so glad
that God gave this revelation to Isaiah which is only a glimpse of His wonderful character. It tells
such a great story about God’s ability to be our everything, our all in all.
Be Blessed;
Stephen
Barnett
Creativity is our call, restoration is our purpose!
(Genesis 1:26-28) & (Matthew 28:19-20)
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