Now I would like to learn in a classroom what it means to be fully dependent on the Lord rather than in life’s circumstances but most of the time we learn through adverse times. Troubles come and God uses them to expose our weaknesses and to show us our need to tightly hold onto His strength, not our own. There are things that happen in life’s circumstances like a job loss, and we find out how we depended on our income rather than the Lord. Or maybe our marriage comes to an end, and we find ourselves lost without support and need His. There are also times God uses our circumstances to show a weakness in our character. Maybe we have experienced doing or saying something that we later thought, “I can’t believe I said that! I can’t believe I did that!” I’m sure Peter didn’t know he would deny the Lord three times, but he did. We all have weak areas, and the Lord wants to expose them so we can trust Him and draw our strength from Him.

When we choose to sit and listen to the Lord, we won’t know what He may say to us and sometimes it is not anything like we would have imagined. It could be a sense of comfort or a specific word we need to hear, but when we love, it is enough just to sit together even in silence. The other morning when I was sitting quietly, the Lord brought to mind words of song that I haven’t sung for a long time. It was composed long ago by Cesar Franck and often performed by the Mormon Tabernacle choir: “O Lord most holy, O Lord most mighty, O Loving Father, we praise forevermore/ Help us to know Thee, know Thee and love Thee. Father, Father, grant us Thy truth and love. Father, Father, guide and protect us.” The song goes on to ask God to rule in our willful hearts and to help us with our wandering thoughts and to show us mercy. I need that.

Another song that came to mind was, “Change my heart O Lord, Make it ever true. Change my heart, O Lord, may I be like you. You are the Potter, I am the clay. Mold me and make me this is what I pray.” It was written by Eddie Espinosa on his way to work, as he felt he had been drifting some from the Lord.  The words suddenly came to him, and he scribbled them down while at a stop sign and it has become a beloved song for many…. Me included. Another song also came to me as I sat in quiet, and the message was all the same to draw closer to the Lord and to know Him in a deeper way.

Paul says in Colossians 3:14 says, “Wrap yourself in (unselfish) love, which is the perfect bond of unity (for everything is bound together in agreement when one seeks the best for others.) “The Greek word for bond means “That which fastens together separate items into unity.” When we practice sacrificial love for others, we become one in Spirit and there is harmony and oneness. That does not always come easy for we seem naturally quick to want our own way and to be more concerned with ourselves than others. We might conclude that if we didn’t have to relate to others how happy we would be, but we in a sense are our own worst enemy. Anthony, a 20-year-old monk, was confronted by Jesus’ words to “Go sell what you have, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come follow me.” (Mark 10:21) He was so taken by those words that he sold his inheritance and went to the desert and was alone with God. But there he had to deal with himself, the forces of evil and his shadow side; but as he humbled himself and got victory over his own demons and became a changed man. Many others were healed through him and changed by his humble example.

Wouldn’t we all like to know that other lives were changed because of our witness, and selflessness. We need to come to know ourselves and our own hidden sins and passions so we can know our need for the Lord. The closer we come to the Lord, the humbler we become for we see our own hearts.  Let us not be mulling over the faults and sins of others, but humbly see ourselves and our sins and shortcomings, acknowledging our need for His grace. Then the fruit of the Spirit will grow in us, and we will have no cause to point it out to others.

Hope you have a good day with an openness to the Holy Spirit.  I had a wonderful afternoon yesterday as a friend invited everyone to her apt who desired to make greeting cards; tables were full of card stock and embellishments, and I made 13 cards. Such fun! Today we are invited to friends for the afternoon of fellowship. 

Come Holy Spirit, I need Thee
Come sweet Spirit, I pray
Come in Thy strength and Thy power
Come in Thine own gentle way.

How do we respond to the Holy Spirit when He is poured out upon us? Hopefully, we welcome Him and listen to Him and obey as He directs us. Sometimes we are like children who disobey in small ways and think it does not really matter, but each time we disobey, it makes it easier to disobey again and again. Gradually we become dull to the Spirit’s voice and end up going our own way continually. But there is deep peace if we welcome Him and listen and obey. When we catch ourselves compromising or disobeying even in small things, it is good to quickly ask for forgiveness.

A few days ago, I asked you all the question, “Recall a time you felt the Lord correcting you and how did you respond? Did you see fruit later?” I want to share one of the responses I received. “To answer your question from yesterday: Many times, God has convicted me of something and when I act on it, hard as it is, I am usually brought peace and sometimes reconciliation. One instance when I was a supervisor I offended a woman under me by my actions. I thought I was justified in what I did because what she did wasn’t on the up and up. The Holy Spirit convicted me, I had overstepped. I apologized to her, and she was surprised and accepted it. We became closer after that. God is a loving disciplinarian, and correction brings growth and blessing. Growth in my trust in Him and His great faithfulness and blessing in the lesson learned and relationship mended.”

I did not realize this before, but Jesus never had anyone come to him and ask forgiveness. No one said, “Jesus, will you forgive me!” But He forgave and often said to others, “Your sins are forgiven”. His life is the greatest example of unilateral forgiveness as He was crucified for our sins on the cross and asked the Father to forgive us. “While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Rom. 5:8) The Lord also expects us to unilaterally forgive all those in our life or we won’t be forgiven. It is hard when the other person doesn’t even acknowledge that they may have hurt us, but we still are called to freely forgive. God is the judge, and we are not, so let us leave the judgment up to Him and forgive, forgive, forgive.

Christianson gives an example when Corrie ten Boom met the nurse who had cruelly treated her sister when she was dying in a concentration camp by the Germans. Corrie’s first response was hatred and bitterness, but she confessed it to the Lord and asked forgiveness. She also invited the nurse to a meeting where she was speaking and afterwards led the nurse to the Lord. In a sense, both were set free. As we forgive unilaterally, we find it opens the door for God to deal with the other person’s heart. Let us be forgivers, not judges and leave the rest up to the Lord.

We also have to be dead to those closest to us, so we don’t judge them or allow their problems to become ours but to remain their own. We can pray for others and listen to them but there still has to be some distance, so we are not the one responsible, but they are for themselves. Just think of a therapist, if he could not get some distance between him and the person he counsels, he would not really be able to help him and he would tire out quickly.

We need to give others space for love and security, and freedom to decide when and if they want help; we do this as we release them and let them be responsible before the Lord. Let us not hang on or we cannot live our own lives freely before the Lord. It takes a lot of dying each day, but it is the best way to live our lives here on earth and also prepare us for what is ahead. Yes, let us live with death before our eyes, and be like the grain of wheat that falls into the ground and dies for if it dies, it bears much fruit. (John 12:24)