My Sweet Creator

I just wanted to share this picture again because I just really love it.

The sweetness of Jesus' face, the place they are walking, AND the fact that Jesus is delighting in just letting the little boy look around. 

No rushing.

No tugging the boy along.

Just a genuine enjoyment of being together.

AND I know that Jesus probably would be able

to answer every single question asked, with the greatest patience.

It reminds me of the verse:

"I am the LORD, I have called you in righteousness, 

I have taken you by the hand and kept you."

~Isaiah 42:6~

I love this picture because that is often how it is between Jesus and I---Him taking me by the hand, sitting with me, smiling as I ask ALL sorts of questions. This week, I had a chance to just sit by a lake and as Jesus came to sit on the low wall with me, I started to ask Him questions that I was suddenly thinking of.

"Jesus, why do you create things no one will ever see? Or things only I will see?"

I had just been watching the waves dance on top of the water, and realized I was seeing waves no one will ever see. No one will ever see the EXACT same re-formation of water I was seeing (that kind of blew my mind). Why did he do that? To my surprise, Jesus answered me. 

"Because I actually love to create, Anna. It is not just some job---I enjoy cupping my 

hands to create small ripples on the water top, or combining colors until it

 is the exact shade of yellow that you see in the fall trees. 

I actually love my creations more than you enjoy it!"

Huh. Well. That makes sense. I hadn't really ever thought about how MUCH God enjoys creating--I mean, I know he loves to do it, but that he actually enjoys and has fun forming creation! I could just see Jesus forming the water with his hands..:)

"Ok, Jesus, so why did you make things only I will see? I know it is to bring you more glory because it is incredible, but is there any other reason?" ~Me

He smiled.

"I wanted to share it with you. You know how an artist will make something that he never shows to the public, but sometimes will show to a close friend?...It is the same with me. I want to share special things with my friends."

Wow. Pretty crazy, huh? I just sat there, staring at the water. God can share special things with those who are his friends. He has the ability to share nature with everyone, but those who know Jesus will actually appreciate it because each Creation bears the tag "Made by Jesus". I get to be on a first-name-basis with THE Creator. The Maker of the Milky Way was sitting on a wall with me. Just chatting and explaining things. Because He loves me.

In Him, 

His Perfect Choice

Today's post is a little more on the serious side, mostly because I have been in a place of prayer and doing a lot of quiet thinking before the Lord.

"You shall surely destroy all the places where the nations whom you shall dispossess served their gods, upon the high mountains and upon the hills and under every green tree; and you shall tear down their altars, and dash in pieces their pillars, and burn their Ashe'rim with fire, you shall hew down the graven images of their gods, and destroy their name out of that place. You shall not do so to the LORD your God. But you shall seek the place which the Lord your God will choose out of all your tribes to put his name and make his habitation there." ~Deut. 12: 2-4~

I have been thinking about this portion of scripture the last few days. This chapter is continuing to instruct the Children of Israel about what they are to do when they go in to possess the land which God had given them. Call me crazy, but it is seemingly pretty clear. Go in, destroy every single thing that is dedicated to idols, associated with idols, resembles idols, or bears the name of the idols. The people do not get to pick an choose which are the "less harmful" or learn to tolerate certain things.

Nope.

Go throughout the land and destroy ever. single. thing. Everything. No exceptions.

God is pretty straightforward, wouldn't you agree? :) I underlined one specific part of it because it really stuck out--"destroy their name out of that place." Utterly wipe the land clean of anything to do with the idol. Make it so that if anyone mentions the name of the idol, it will be a foreign word.

God is Holy.

He is Pure.

He is Righteous.

Why would we expect Him to dwell fully alongside things that are less than righteous? 

The last few months, I have realized that God is really doing a deeper purification in my life. Not to say in a boastful way that I have become more righteous than you. :P But God has been continuing to pinpoint things--even seemingly small ones--that stand between me and His full presence. He's showing me things "far in mountaintops" of my heart that are still kept separate from Him. 

One of those things was an electronic device. It actually (to me) did not seem like an "idol" (they usually don't..haha), and I tried to be careful of how much I used it. Yet, it captured my attention and my spare time in a way that only God should. I would use it before I went to bed, and first thing when I got up, simply because it was accessible and easy. So, God asked me to get rid of it (in a very unusual way), and after too long on my part, He gave me the strength to follow through! Praise God! And did you know, I have not missed it at all? Nope.

Can I also just say that it is the sweetest thing, knowing that God is not satisfied with 3/4 devotion? He wants my whole heart--my undivided heart. I want to get to a place where these things in my life become a foreign word---a distant memory. 

I love Jesus.

Yet, I want to love Him more.

And, little by little, He is showing me how.

In Him, 

Obedience In Faith

So, I'm back in the Old Testament--Deuteronomy to be exact. What can I say? I really actually love it.

Yesterday and today I have been reading in the first 4 chapters, and to give you a quick summary, it is a recapping of Gods deeds for the children of Israel. If you haven't read Deuteronomy, I would actually encourage you to take a look. It is a very rich book. I was reading in the same room with my friend (who was working on an email) and I basically stopped every 3 minutes to read her a verse. *teehee*

I just get excited, ok? ;)

I was reading today of the victories God did----and I mean things GOD clearly did----through the Children of Israel. It is remarkable. If you think about it "logically", this group of people were formerly making bricks and used to doing manual labor! Yet God used them to completely wipe out cities "fortified with high walls, gates, and bars [...] and we utterly destroyed them" (Deut. 3:5,6). Just stop and think about it for a minute..............a people who were mostly builders defeating armies.

Pretty crazy,huh? 

But in all actuality, what I really have been blown away with is in chapter 1. The chapter is describing how the people of Israel moved God to anger because of their unbelief. Even after all He had fulfilled, answered, rescued, and preserved, they allowed themselves to forget his goodness. They forgot his favor, his tenderness, his mighty hand, and his victorious right arm. As a result, that entire generation was prohibited in seeing a promise fulfilled. Because they did not believe God would actually follow through in His word, they missed out on seeing yet another incredible miracle. When God sent them to scout out the land he promised that they would inherit, most of the scouts allowed their fear to creep in. They only saw (and found) reasons why they should not obey God--why it would be wise to rethink directions directly from Jehovah. 

Except 2 men.

2 men who believed God.

 And they were not forgotten by their Master.

Nope. 

And He called them out---by name.

"Not one of these men of this evil generation shall see the good land which I swore to give to your fathers except Caleb the son of Jephun'neh; he shall see it, and to him and his children I will give the land upon which he has trodden, because he has wholly followed The Lord! [...] Joshua the son of Nun,who stands before you, he shall enter; encourage him, for he shall cause Israel to inherit it."

-Deuteronomy 1:35,36,38-

My heart even now quickens at the thought of being singled out of an entire generation---to be singled out by I AM? To be chosen from a generation of faithlessness because of true belief?  The boldness that Caleb and Joshua took in seeking out the goodness of Gods commands, and how they
sought to find the joy of following Gods commands. They sought to urge the people to obedience, to pursue righteousness, and believed God despite what their peers urged them to believe.

  But, if you pause to think about it, God has given us (as followers) the same opportunity. Jesus has proved himself over and over to us, yet how quickly we forget his blessings, his favor, his protection and when he intervenes on our behalf! We have the opportunity to step out into situations where it may seem daunting or difficult--I am kind of in a situation like that currently, as a matter of fact.  Situations where God has asked us to step out in bold faith, not clearly seeing the end result, but having the opportunity to take God fully at his word! 

The question is how will we respond? 

In bold, faithful (joyful) obedience like Caleb, or will we forfeit our opportunity to see the full glory of God revealed?

~

I cannot express how much I want to be like Caleb and Joshua. To be bold, zealous for my God, and earnestly believing my Lord at His every word! All I know is that my Jesus is still working on me--I am a bit timid of heart and feeble of strength. 

Yet I trust Him.

I believe he is fully able to take this little heart, 

and make me as courageous as Caleb!

Praise God!

In Him,

Anna