Revival, Part 2

I'm not sure of the wisdom of posting this on my blog. Not because I'm ashamed to post it at all, but rather, I am afraid it is too stark and bare for some to bear. (I had to do it, I HAD to put that extra bear/bare in there...sigh.) If there is a post topic you will want to skip it will be these. Just sayin'.

MY life is over. You know, the one I call my own. The one in which "I" think I make all the decisions. If I want to experience Christ in a REAL and lasting way, then I have to cease the exercizing of my will. This is the gist of the first chapter of Roy Hession's book, The Calvary Road. Every aspect of my life is to be submitted to the Lord. My will is to be broken before His.

This whole idea really came home to me when I read Isaiah chapter twenty. I have read Isaiah twenty before but I was disturbed to read that Isaiah walked around naked and barefoot for THREE YEARS!!! I thought about this a lot because, well, as I said, it's DISTURBING.

Isaiah was being obedient to what God told him to do. The truth is, we don't know what obedience will always mean for us, but we must decide if we are willing to be obedient anyway. I'm fairly certain that as Isaiah stood there in chapter 6 in awe of God's throne room, he never dreamed that by chapter twenty he'd be walking around naked and barefoot. (Now, I haven't looked the word "naked" up in the Hebrew, that's not my point. My point is that Isaiah obeyed what seems like a REALLY difficult to obey command to prove God's point to the people.) You know of what else I'm fairly certain? That the vision that Isaiah had was powerful enough to carry him through the rest of his life. He had a vision of God AND himself and he KNEW. He knew who he was in comparison...what comparison? Is there a comparison? No, not at all.

Isaiah is one of the few who were allowed to see anything like this, and one of the VERY few who were allowed to keep standing and not fall on their face as dead. This is the same God we serve. I think we could stand a dose of reality. Our God is holy, holy, holy and we are not, not, not...to infinity and beyond. Through Christ, through Christ we are to walk worthy of our calling to the pleasing of our FATHER. Here's what 1 Thessalonians 4:1 says, "Furthermore then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more."

So, does what I say, think, do, eat, wear matter to God? Yes. "And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him. " (Col. 3:17) Does it matter enough to keep me from experiencing His presence in my life on a daily basis? Yes. (1 John) If I am to truly belong to the Father and have the "spirit of adoption"(Rom. 8:15), then my will must. be. broken. A perfect example of this truth is how any child exercizing their own will is not teachable or moldable. They only become teachable when they submit and HUMBLE themselves enough to be taught.

"Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the scriptures, THE STONE WHICH THE BUILDERS REJECTED, THE SAME IS BECOME THE HEAD OF THE CORNER; THIS IS THE LORD'S DOING AND IT IS MARVELLOUS IN OUR EYES? Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder." Matt. 21:42-44 (emphasis added)

Who would think that falling on a stone and being broken would be a good thing? It is though. It's the BEST THING.