Swimming in the Deep End

My Utmost For His Highest

 

‘As long as we are “rich,” particularly in the area of pride or independence, God can do nothing for us. It is only when we get hungry spiritually that we receive the Holy Spirit. The gift of the essential nature of God is placed and made effective in us by the Holy Spirit. He imparts to us the quickening life of Jesus, making us truly alive. He takes that which was “beyond” us and places it “within” us. And immediately, once “the beyond” has come “within,” it rises up to “the above,” and we are lifted into the kingdom where Jesus lives and reigns (see John 3:5).’ CHAMBERS

 

In this case .. rich means being full … It is so easy to become full of ourselves .. confident that we have a grip on life.  That we can do anything we set our mind to.  If we have problems, we can work them out.  We don’t need God except for the really hard things … He is our plan “G”.  When we are living our lives like that … we are living independently from God .. contrary to the teaching of His Word. Contrary to what we really know in our heart is truth.

 

Psalm 73:24-26  You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory. Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

 

Can you say that?  Is God in first place in your heart?  Tough question .. we want the answer to be “yes” but is He really?  To live this new life, we must be deliberate .. disciplined … it must be a priority in my life .. not just an option .. if I happen to think about it.

 

Deuteronomy 6:4-9  "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one!     You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.  "And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.  You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

 

Does that sound like God wants us to have a casual .. optional relationship with Him?  If you lived like a Deuteronomy 6 man or woman, would people, even Christians, think you had gone off the deep end?  Is that life attitude just for the Old Testament?  It is not about what is on the outside but the inside that is the point here.   Read Matthew 22:37-38 and see what Jesus said about it.

 

God has so much more for us … for you … Time to take off those water wings and dive into the deep end of the pool.

 

Bondye Beni Ou (God Bless You)