Wholly His, Holy Life

“John is seeing the holiness of God manifested in the life of the church as it lives in the world.”

When I read it in the Revelation study I’ve been working my way through something is stirred—a memory opens up. 

Didn’t I pen something like that—living holy and others seeing God?  I wonder as I run to the kitchen for an ice pack.

When I finish reading, I search through files of poetry from a few years back and find it—a few untitled lines, written in June 2011.

As I read them, I begin to remember something else.  These lines were inspired by Scripture and I was stirred enough to encourage my small group with the thoughts I had been thinking about. 

I wonder.  What was that Scripture?

I think I was reading through Hebrews or James about then.

I pull up my email and go searching through old sent mail.  After a few dead ends, I find it, a line of Scripture and a few wonderings.

  

“Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.  See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many”  Hebrews 12:14-15

I wondered to my friends. 

Is it when we live life wholly His that we live holy lives?

And in living this way, wholly His, that through the things we say and the things we do, we pour forth the grace of God so “no one misses the grace of God”?

I read it and smile.

This.  This is the way we are meant to live in this world.  The more I read through Revelation, the more I become convinced of this.  When we live wholly His, we live manifesting the holiness of God to the world around us.

The words of Robert Mulholland, about the bowl imagery I’ve been reading through, come to my mind once again:

“To be part of the community of God’s people means—to become part of God’s response to the rebellion; to be drawn into the very being and nature of God so as to be shaped in the image and likeness of God; to be thrust out in the midst of Fallen Babylon to participate in God’s costly, redemptive response to the rebellion.  The vision portrays this meaning in the bowls, which, on the one hand are the prayers of the saints that open them to the shaping presence of God, and, on the other hand, being filled with the presence of God, are then poured out into the life of the world” (p.97)

I am struck by the way the lines I penned two years ago are in such alignment with what I’ve been reading about today, the bowls.  I would never have imagined it.

When I am wholly given to God

A life of grace pours forth—

Light, a shining beacon in this dark world

Mirror spilling out radiance

Present reminder of His glory.

A surrendered vessel

I live holy

And the world sees the Lord.

What a gift He has given to me by leading me back to these words of poetry today.

They are a gift He is reminding me to live--wholly His, a holy life-- as a surrendered vessel (a bowl filled with the presence of God and poured out) so others around me do not miss the grace of God.

***

Grace and peace be ours in abundance as we live wholly God’s.  In this may we find that we live holy—pouring out the grace of God on everyone we meet.  When they encounter us may others see the Lord.

Jessica :)



Rest with Him

“Rest.  Rest.  Rest in God’s love.  The only work you are required now to do is to give your most intense attention to His still, small voice within.”  -Madame Jeanne Guyon*

Grace and peace be ours in abundance as we rest in God’s love and respond to the ways He invites us to follow Him into it.

Jessica :)

*I discovered this quote as I was reading Richard Foster’s book Prayer: Finding the Heart’s True Home. 

This photo is thanks to my dear husband, Jason.

"You will be so good to me"

Heidi hastened to say [to Clara].  “We ought to pray to the dear Lord every day, and about every single thing; for then He will know that we do not forget that we receive everything from Him.  And if we forget the dear Lord, he will forget us too; your grandmamma told me that.  But, you know, if we do not receive what we would like we must not think the dear Lord hasn’t listened, and stop praying, but we must pray like this, “Now I know, dear Lord, that you have something better in store and I will be glad that you will be so good to me.”

-Johanna Spyri in Heidi

I finished reading Heidi a few weeks ago and this paragraph caught my attention.  While I’m not sure I totally agree that God forgets us, I love that Heidi so simply recognizes that we receive everything from God.  I love the way she has learned to respond when a prayer seems to go unanswered by continuing to pray, “Now I know that you have something better in store and I will be glad you will be so good to me.”  She learns this lesson through her own experience and shares it with her friend Clara when she comes to visit her in the Alps.  Heidi's response is worth remembering.

 

This week…

Let’s come before the Lord thankful that we receive everything from Him.

Let’s give thanks in all things.

Let’s talk with Him in prayer about all things as we come and go.

Let’s pray without ceasing.

Let’s be confident that he hears us even when circumstances don’t turn out the way we would like.

Let’s trust Him.

Let’s respond like Heidi—believing that He has something better in store for us and giving thanks that He would be so good to us.

***

Grace and peace be ours in abundance as we spend time in prayer trusting that God hears us and responds in just the way we need to draw nearer to Him and walk in trust.

Jessica :)