Letter Written
"Be still, and know that I am
God" Psalms
46:10
God often tells me to be still. He tells me to be quiet and listen...to
Him. You see, it is in the stillness of my mind that I can hear Him most
clearly. I have to submit completely to Him...I have to submit even my
mind. It is then that I hear Him speaking most clearly..always saying "Do not be afraid." Ge 26:24, Ge 50:19, Dt 1:21, Dt 1:29, Dt 20:3, Jos 10:25, Ru 3:11, 2Ki
25:24, Isa 44:8, Jer 1:8, Mt
10:28, Mt
10:31, Mk
5:36, Lk 12:32, Jn 14:27, Ac
27:24, Rev
2:10
The first of these is Genesis
26:24:
"That night the LORD appeared to him and said, "I am the God of your
father Abraham. Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bless you and
will increase the number of your descendants for the sake of my servant
Abraham."
The last of these is Revelation
2:10:
"Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the
devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer
persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I
will give you the crown of life."
And yet...my mind still often wanders from the stillness and I get afraid...
This is just a simple glimpse of how wretched I am.
There is so much I want to share with you...more than you could possibly
imagine...more than I could possibly imagine...more than our minds and hearts
can handle! I burst with an excitement...a joy...a peace...a love!
A perfect love! A love for life! A love for myself! A love
for my family! A love for my friends! A love for my enemies!
A love for all people! A love for the entire world! A love for the
entire universe! A love for all that is seen and unseen! A love for
God!
I see nothing but hope for the entire world!
It is finished...
It was never not finished...
It's all good...
It's all God...
I have just begun...and yet it is already finished.
Therefore I begin nothing, for He is the Beginning and the End...the First and
the Last...the Alpha and the Omega. Rev
1:8, 21:6,
22:13
Be still.
I leave the stillness in my excitement and my heart rejoices with love.
It is uncontrollable. It is unreasonable. It is the light.
"The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it."
Jn 1:5 The world does not understand it...and must
conclude about me, "He is out of his mind." Mk
3:21
But He responds to this comment made by the world on my behalf, on Paul's
behalf, and on the behalf of all others within the body of Christ: "If
we are out of our mind, it is for the sake of God; if we are in our right mind,
it is for you. For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced
that one died for all, and therefore all died. And He died for all, that
those who live should no longer live for themselves but for Him who died for
them and was raised again. So from now on we regard no one from a worldly
point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no
longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old
has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to
himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation. We are
therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through
us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be
sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." 2Co
5:13-21
Then, my mind starts chasing after worries, even as I write this letter to you!
But He lovingly says again to me, "Do not worry..." Mt
6:25 "...o you of little faith" Mt
6:30, 8:26,
14:31,
16:8
So here is another glimpse of how wretched I am. I wander from the
stillness, I get afraid, I worry, and I have very little faith...
And then I cry out... How unworthy I am! How undeserving! God
has blessed me so much! Why?! Why?! Why?! I don't
deserve it! Why not someone who would be better... Why not choose
somebody else for Your work, o Lord? I cannot do
it! I cannot handle it! I will surely thwart the truth and push
people further away! There is so much I don't understand! There is
so much I don't know!
I leave the stillness in my doubts and my heart sinks with fear. If I
return immediately to God though, he stops me. He says,
"Shhhhhhhh.................listen...........shhhhhhhhh.........listen." He stills my mind
and reminds me, "Be still, and know that I am God"
Psalms 46:10 and "Do not be afraid." Ge 26:24, Ge 50:19, Dt 1:21, Dt 1:29, Dt 20:3, Jos 10:25, Ru 3:11, 2Ki
25:24, Isa 44:8, Jer 1:8, Mt
10:28, Mt
10:31, Mk
5:36, Lk 12:32, Jn 14:27, Ac
27:24, Rev
2:10
How amazing is this LORD of mine! How amazing His grace! How
amazing His love! His "perfect love drives out fear." 1Jn
4:18
And He does. He drives out ALL fear.
And then...
I am no longer afraid of what I have done, said, or thought,
I am no longer afraid of death,
I am no longer afraid of hell,
I am no longer afraid of the devil,
I am no longer afraid of fear itself,
I am no longer afraid of being killed,
I am no longer afraid of suffering,
I am no longer afraid of persecution,
I am no longer afraid of losing anything or anyone,
I am no longer afraid of what you or anybody does,
I am no longer afraid of what you or anybody says,
I am no longer afraid of what you or anybody thinks,
I am no longer afraid of driving you from the truth,
I am no longer afraid of thwarting the truth,
I am no longer afraid of what I shall wear or what I wear,
I am no longer afraid of what I shall eat or what I eat,
I am no longer afraid of what I shall do or what I do,
I am no longer afraid of what I shall say or what I say,
I am no longer afraid of what I shall think or what I think,
I am no longer afraid of who I am to be or who I am,
I am no longer afraid of life,
I am no longer afraid of living,
I am no longer afraid of the future,
I am no longer afraid of God.
I am afraid of nothing.
I am full of a joy, peace, happiness, and love that I cannot understand, nor
contain. It is the vine and the fig tree, and I am inviting you and
everybody in the world to it! Zechariah
3:10
Furthermore, I am here to warn you and myself that if you fill the emptiness
inside you with anything but Jesus Christ, the emptiness will consume
you. Anything is just that...anything. It includes everything
except Jesus Christ. And everything obviously includes at the
least: religion, spirituality, good works, relationships, career, stuff,
and busyness. None of these will bring you the joy, peace, happiness, and
love that God offers you
through His precious gift, Jesus
Christ. Ezekiel
3:16-21
Come!...and
in His time, He will say and write more about Him for His glory through my
wretched and twisted mouth and crooked fingertips. It is His work, not
mine. I will leave you, but He continues forever and will never leave
you. For it is not about me, but Him. Through the amazing grace of
the LORD Jesus Christ, may He open and expand all of our hearts and minds
continually in this life. May He enable us to immediately and continually
accept the LORD Jesus Christ as the living water that fills and overflows the
continual emptiness that is created by the continual opening and expansion of
our hearts and minds. Let us all walk with Him
daily in this manner loving Him with all of our hearts, souls, and minds and
with all of our strength and overflow with the joy, peace, happiness, and love
He gifts us with until we sleep or He returns. Amen.
From the Spirit and the bride:
"Come!" Rev
22:17
From all who hear:
"Come!" Rev
22:17
To all who thirst:
"Come!" Rev
22:17
To all who desire:
"Come!" Rev
22:17
Mission
Trip to Kabul, Afghanistan
Commissioning
Dream and a Modern-Day Parable