nearness

Dear wavering heart - weary traveler,
Trust in the unchangeable, unconquerable, immoveable, irremovable, unwavering, untiring, unflinching love of God!


For your nearness Lord I hunger. For your nearness Lord I wait. For your nearness I am hoping. For your nearness Lord I long. In your nearness there is healing. What was broken now made whole. Restoration in its fullness. Lasting hope for all who come. In your nearness I take shelter. Where you are is where I'm home. I have found where I belong. I have need of only one thing, to be here before your throne. So keep me here, there's nowhere else I'd rather be. Draw me nearer Lord. Never let me go. 
Draw Me Nearer by Meredith Andrews 
I can't help but picture Peter stepping out on the water and the waves with his sights set on Christ. But then the wind and waves distracted him; the worries, fears and things of this world that distract and pull our affections and sights away.
Faith is the gaze of a soul upon a saving God...faith is occupied with the Object upon which it rests and pays no attention to self...When the eyes of the soul looking out meet the eyes of God looking in, heaven has begun right here on this earth.  Pursuit of God by AW Tozer
I'm prone to have my gaze elsewhere and easily swayed away. Things of life can distract and wear me out. But what always gets me back, back to the right perspective of who God is and who I am - being in the Word!
If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. 
Colossians 3:1-4
If you've heard of the "mountain top" experience where some event or retreat away singled-in and re-focused all passions on Christ and pursuing Him more. Then something happens and that passion and commitment seems to slowly slip away and be forgotten. To be expected to "regain" that focus at another retreat or event, but until then we'll just get by. Peter, James, and John had that as well when they were with Jesus on the mountain at His transfiguration, but they didn't stay there; they came down the mountain (Matt.17, Mark 9, Luke 9). Why can't we stay there?
I know I'm filled to be emptied again, this seed I've received I will sow 
 Desert Song
The inflowing power and work of God's very Spirit in us sealed by the blood of Jesus should be overflowing out of our lives.
I remember so many summer camps and that "mountain top" experience, then back into the routine of life and wondering what happened? Then there came a time where I no longer was on the ups and downs of the roller coaster of spiritual highs...because I had begun a steady ascent upward in pursuing Christ on my own and being in the Word, not just making marks in my Bible, but letting it make the marks in my life. I no longer depended on and or looked for those spiritual mountain top experiences because I had the very source within me and started to understand how to grow on my own. You see it is my own distracted eyes and heart that takes me to distant places but His chesed, convenantly love, always draws us to Him.
I will allure her and bring her into wilderness, and speak tenderly to her...let us press on to know the Lord. 
Hosea 2:14; 6:3
God reveals Himself to us not only so we may know and be known by Him, but so others may know Him as well. We aren't to remain only in those "high" places, but to come back and bring the light of His love and truth with us into dark places.
But for me it is good to be near God; I have made the Lord God my refuge, that I may tell of all your works. 
Psalm 73:28
Like cracked jars of clay - His light shines in those dark places through the honesty and authenticity of our cracks, our short-comings, and mended brokenness put back together by Christ. Remain in the Potter's hands.
 His hands are faithful and sure. 
‎Faith is not simply the belief in a statement; it puts trust in a person...when you trust someone, you give them a gift, and you enter into a kind of dance. When I trust you Lord, I take myself and put it into Your hands. I give You the gift of my trust, and You give me the gift of Your faithfulness 
John Ortberg
Like the soft edged focus on a photo, may the things of the world be on the outside, a soft blurred focus and the clear crisp focus in the center remain Christ.


Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it...So I do not run aimlessly... 
1 Corinthians 9:24,26
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us 
Hebrews 12:1
My wavering heart needs His nearness and He promises to never leave nor forsake us.
Blessed is the one you choose and bring near, to dwell in your courts! We shall be satisfied with the goodness of your house, the holiness of your temple! 
Psalm 65:4
But for me it is good to be near God; I have made the Lord God my refuge, that I may tell of all Your works. 
Psalm 73:28
The Lord is near to all who call on Him, to all who call on Him in truth. 
Psalm 145:18

Posted in: on Wednesday, November 17, 2010 at

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