‘Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.’ (Isaiah 43:18, 19 NIVUK)
Or “it is our head noise that ruins the present” (Graham Cooke). When I was in church yesterday I saw the distinct picture of a tightly formed fist. It opened really slowly to reveal a transparent box with no visible opening. But inside was a blossoming rose. I shared this with church but I think it is much bigger than the confines of Onslow Sq.
Due to past experiences we can really close ourselves off to people or the possibility of God making major changes in our hearts. Our friends and family may think they see more, but sometimes we can be really great actors and even they don’t know. Or sometimes we just don’t allow them an entrance to see or help. We think we’re fooling everyone, but we’re not even close to fooling Him. He sees that delicate, beautiful, colourful part of us. He sees the love, good and creativity that we house and He calls it into being. He says “I made you with all of these great qualities, but due to unfortunate circumstances you’ve closed these off to the world. Share them. Tell anyone and everyone you find of them, because I gave you them to build up the body of Christ, to share in love and strength with one another.”
I was reading a book today and came across Maria Woodworth-Etter (1844-1924). As a teenager she experienced God telling her to move in ministry. The man that she married didn’t believe in female involvement in ministry and five of her six children died whilst they were still young. In desperation, she turned to the Bible and discovered some of the awesome women of God like Esther and Mary. One day she prayed to God saying “Lord, I can’t preach. I don’t know what to say and I don’t have any education”. God gave Maria a vision in which she saw Jesus who told her to “tell of the glory and love of Jesus”. So she did. She preached, prophesied and healed the sick. Often she fell into trances mid-speech, her gift of healing was so great that she was twice charged with practicing medicine without a license !
“Let us not plead weakness; God will use the weak things of the world to confuse the wise. We are sons and daughters of the Most High God. Should we not honour our high calling and do all we can to save those who sit in the valley and shadow of death?”
So often we can hear words like this and think about their relation to other people, but not ourselves. God is always working on us, growing us, changing us. Really think about how this may apply to yourself. We can all learn something from Maria. Sometimes we say we’re not smart enough for things – culturally, she wasn’t educated to minister, she was the wrong gender and a disobedient wife, but God used her in amazing ways. The blood of Jesus granted us freedom from fear, addiction, guilt and so much more but we can drag insecurities, hurt and guilt from our pasts into our presents, severing our ability to seize the futures that The Lord sees for us.
If we’re honest we either forget or struggle to accept that we are the bride of The Lord, that He loves and delights in us. I’ll leave you with a few verses from the beautiful Songs of Solomon:
“My beloved responded and said to me, “Arise, my darling, my beautiful one, and come along.
For behold, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone.
The flowers have already appeared in the land; the time has arrived for pruning the vines, and the voice of the turtle-dove has been in our land.
The fig tree has ripened its figs, and the vines in blossom have given forth their fragrance. Arise, my darling, my beautiful one, and come along!” (Song 2:10-13)
God bless and keep you always x
Working Towards Calvary 