Attempting...

I'm not sure if it's the right time to get this out(uncooked vs. cooked), but I'm attempting at least a preview of what has been and still is marinating within me. God has really been messing with me, changing my thoughts, opening my heart, stretching and growing me, filling me, emptying me....this process is in no way comfortable or easy. At times I feel like throwing in the towel, but as soon as that thought comes in, that thought goes right back out. There is no "back" to go to. Everything there has been burnt up, what would I go back to? Ashes? "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come." (2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV) However, regardless of that thought not being able to manifest further, it's the other feelings and emotions that once surrounded that thought, led up to that thought, or are left behind by that thought that remain the thing I must push past.

I know the reality, the truth, that No Easy Button Exists! I know it, I believe it, I do not look for it, but at times I sure do want it. Easy way, easy road, easy path, everyone happy, everything good, everything smooth, easy breezy pumpkin pie! There is no such life! Except however, for those who are in Christ Jesus...you see by the "Transforming and Renewing of our minds" we are able to have a completely different outlook on our surroundings. "Easy" means something different depending on which side of the spectrum you are gazing. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control....sound familiar? The trustee Fruits of the Spirit right here! These are the things we are called to walk in. "For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace." (Romans 8:5, 6 ESV)

Now herein lies the problem so many of us face...we try to walk according to the Spirit not by the Spirit, but by our flesh. Repeating, We Try To Walk After The Spirit Accordimg To The Flesh! We don't mean to, or often realize that is what we have done. We sit and wonder and ponder, why oh why are we seeing "failures" in life...why aren't things going according to plan, why are things so difficult, why have I not seen the changes that You promised God? Am I doing something wrong? Am I out of order in some area of my life? What do I need to see, to change, to remove? Is this a really long storm I must suffer through? [Enters in Loud Scream Stage Left!] lol! The secret, the key, the answer.....

Stay tuned for next season of.....hahahaha, just kidding! Seriously though, the answer is so simple...we are trying to serve God, worship God, live according to His word, all on our own strength. WE are MOVING first! We are doing the right things, on the right path, yes, yes, yes...God sees us and it's not that He is displeased, the problem is how often we are being weakened, how often we are finding ourselves on an empty tank when we just filled up the other day, or earlier that day...what? Am I making sense? I sure hope so! You see NOTHING has ever happened without FIRST the moving of the Spirit..."In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be...."(Genesis 1:1, 2 KJV). Before God said Let there be, before He created Light, before He created the beauty we see, Life, Man and Woman, Creatures....PICTURE THIS..."The Spirit moved upon the face of the waters." At the Day of Pentecost when the beginning of the workings of the Disciples happened, the boldness, the one accordness, the unity....THE SPIRIT OF GOD FELL UPON THEM! "When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance." (Acts 2:1-4 ESV)

Ah, so powerful!

You move and we want more, You speak and we want more, You move and we want more, More of Your Spirit! Release the Fullness, of Your Spirit, Shekinah Glory Fall, Shekinah Glory fall!

Worship! Prayer! Walking! Warring! Declaring! Stretching Forth! Release! Nothing can happen until the Spirit First Moves!!! If the Spirit of God, which is Life, is noth there, then it is a dead thing!

Now maybe you are perfect, maybe you don't experience failures, maybe you got everything together, maybe you are right on track, or maybe you see how easily one can move before the Spirit and becomes weakened. You see if you fail, if you fall, if you are weak...it is your flesh. You see God cannot, will not, and does not fail! God is righteous, God is just, God is Faithful.

I'm going to stop here...again, I'm still marinating and it's hard to articulate what God is doing in me, the next levels, the new changes, without sounding jumbled. I'd love to hear your thoughts about this, maybe a revelation God gives you as you read this, I don't know!

Toodles for now,
Christina