Getting Alone

Have you ever been alone with God? Oswald Chambers

When He was alone, the twelve . . . asked of Him . . .
Mark 4:10

Later, when Jesus was alone with the twelve disciples and with the others who were gathered around, they asked him what the parables meant.NLT

His Solitude with us. When God gets us alone by affliction, heartbreak, or temptation, by disappointment, sickness, or by thwarted affection, by a broken friendship, or by a new friendship—when He gets us absolutely alone, and we are dumbfounded and cannot ask one question, then He begins to expound. Watch Jesus Christ's training of the twelve. It was the disciples, not the crowd outside, who were perplexed. They constantly asked Him questions, and He constantly expounded things to them; but they only understood after they had received the Holy Spirit (see John 14:26).
But when the Father sends the Advocate as my representative—that is, the Holy Spirit—he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you.NLT

If you are going on with God, the only thing that is clear to you, and the only thing God intends to be clear, is the way He deals with your own soul. Your brother's sorrows and perplexities are an absolute confusion to you. We imagine we understand where the other person is, until God gives us a dose of the plague of our own hearts. There are whole tracts of stubbornness and ignorance to be revealed by the Holy Spirit in each one of us, and it can only be done when Jesus gets us alone. Are we alone with Him now, or are we taken up with little fussy notions, fussy comradeships in God's service, fussy ideas about our bodies? Jesus can expound nothing until we get through all the noisy questions of the head and are alone with Him.

 

So as I read this devotion from Oswald it takes me back to Matthew 6:6

But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. NKJV My interpretation of this means, when you go to your secret place, leave all of your crap outside and then come in and close the door. The crawl up into your Daddy's lap to listen to the soft whisper and be comforted.
So I ask "What do you mean by all of this?" I hear "you don't get alone with me like this anymore you don't stop and just listen, yes you pray and yes you read, but you don't get quiet and just listen. I need you to focus on me." So now I am thinking I am hearing him right? So I feel this is Him drawing me into a deeper relationship than what I feel I have and to do that I am going to have to slow down and listen. Go to the secret place. I wonder if I am afraid of going there ….. Afraid of what He might show me. Now isn't that just pathetic. If you don't change ……. Then you won't change.

 

Trust Me

Trust Me

 

Have you thought about the sacrifice?

That was made back in the day.

It was his death on the timber.

An act we will always remember.

 

His death changed us forever.

What He did was inconceivable.

God's care for us . . . . . . Unbelievable.

We will not forget . . . . . never.

 

Could you die?

So some one else could live.

Such a tall order to fill

You could do this if it is God's will.

 

His love is unconditional

It matters not who you are.

Learn to trust Him,

And away goes your sin.

 

Nothing matches the glory of our Father.

Or the sacrifice He made.

So we could come to know Him,

Even as we live in sin.

 

Jesus says, "Come to me

And I will give you rest."

Only Jesus knows what is best.

He is the truth, and the way, that's easy to see.

 

So come to me with your shame,

Come to me with your pain.

I am the one, who comforts,

As your tears fall like the rain.

 

Your heart is broken and torn from the inside.

You look to me with no more pride.

You have nothing left but your broken heart.

You think all is lost and everything has fallen apart.

 

Behold I heal all wounds.

And I start with the heart.

With that we will never be apart.

My healing will give you a new start.

 

It is time to die to yourself.

Make the sacrifice to live the new life.

I will listen and answer when you pray.

Trust me; I will not lead you astray.

 

 

By Kevin Gwyn ©copyrighted 3/21/2003

Have you surrendered?

Strange how my devo came about this morning. I am leaving to go on a Quest next week and was looking at some old emails and was feeling like I needed to send something out, but realized that it wasn't for the questers but for me. I have an email called surrender that I sometimes send out. When I read it this morning, I looked up surrender on my software and this is where I landed Jeremiah 38:17 Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, "Thus says the Lord, the God of hosts, the God of Israel: 'If you surely surrender 
to the king of Babylon's princes, (or whatever is going on in your life right now)then your soul shall live; this city shall not be burned with fire, and you and your house shall live. Here is what I know for me. My life is so much calmer when I surrender.

Surrender is always a tough one for me, what is the worst thing that could happen if you surrender?

Here is what François Fenelon the Archbishop of Cambria said in the 17th century. He was the spiritual advisor to Louie the 14th. He said this in a letter to the King about surrender. There is more in the letter but this is the main point.

Let me tell you what real surrender is. It is simply resting in the love of the Lord, as a little baby rests in his mother arms. A perfect surrender must even be willing to quit surrendering, if that is what the Lord wants. We renounce ourselves, and yet, God never lets us know when it is complete. If we knew, it would no longer BE complete, for there is nothing that bolsters the ego quiet so much as knowing that it is fully surrendered.

Surrender consist, not in doing great, heroic deeds about which self can brag, but simply in accepting whatever God sends, and not seeking to change it. Surrender is the source of true peace.

I have noticed for myself that when I have completely surrendered. (At least when I think I have) I feel at peace. When I think I have surrendered something but I am restless about it and I don't have peace, then I am still holding on to it. I don't like that.

The more you look at what you are not; the less you become who you are!

So here is my question or questions for you. Ask Holy Spirit right now. Stop what you are doing and get quiet. Lord, please show me what I am trying to control or change instead of surrendering and giving it to you. Lord what am I trying to change in thier life that is not my job to change?

Be blessed today. Almost forgot.

This is what I heard for me. Choose your battles wisely with Rebekah (my step daughter) she is a very picky eater and it drives me up the wall. When I pick at her it makes my wife irritated and makes me mad. So once again the Lord says "Be Quiet" He also said to quit bantering with her. I like to argue with her, but I when I do she feels she knows everything so I am never right. I could even prove that what she is saying is wrong and she way still argue. The Lord says "Be Quiet no matter how hard you try YOU CANNOT CHANGE HER! The sad thing is that I know that but I keep pounding my head against the wall. My friend would say …. So, how is that working for you? I hate that saying!

So this is what I heard, what did you hear?