Based on “Pursuing God’s Purposes for Me Today” by Pastor Mark Balmer;
6/18-19/11, Message #6068; Daily Devotional #5 - “Check Your Bags”
Preparing the Soil (Introduction): "But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead." (Philippians 3:7-11)
Last week as my husband and I left the country, the Lord spoke to us about giving Him all the burden of our efforts, to pack light and look to Him for provision instead of to ourselves. This week, returning from our journey, the Lord whispered to my travel-weary heart a revelation even more freeing than leaving striving and abilities at His feet. Indeed, relinquishing our fleshly efforts to the Lord precedes a greater sacrifice. For what could the Lord want from us more than our abilities, efforts, aptitude and giftings? He desires all of us: our brokenness, our inability, our woundedness, even our desperate neediness. When we realize that our flesh is sinful and broken, unable to bring about anything that will truly satisfy our wounded soul, and we turn around instead to our Creator and offer Him our emptiness, He is well pleased. He already knows our desperate condition, we have to acknowledge our own hearts and offer them back to the Lord.
Planting and Watering the Seed (Growth): "But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong." (2 Corinthians 12:9-10) During the course of our trip, I came to the Lord with a wound I could not heal. No matter how I tried to forgive, the issue haunted me. Realizing my inability, I cried out to the Lord in desperation. It was a small matter, really, but one I could not get past. (In a week where we are supposed to be 'getting past our past', this should have been an expected challenge!) I wanted to turn away to protect myself, but instead I found healing in being vulnerable to Him who has all authority. I gave the context, and all of my involvement in the matter, back to the Lord who had allowed all that had transpired to happen. He wanted me to see my heart: I was still trying to carry around my unsurrendered needs. He took me to a very broken place emotionally, a place where I recognized the pain of betrayal, a place that had ached before from previous life experiences, a place I realized that has always ached for His presence. Once again, I came to Jesus broken and wounded, torn apart by man's sinfulness (mine and others’). At the foot of the cross I saw Jesus bleeding for me, wounded just as I was, over the issue. I had been afraid to throw myself at His feet because of my inability, but then I looked and saw that He was already there, even more tortured by the sinful nature of our flesh than I was. Above and beyond even all of that, I saw that He had given all of Himself, waiting for me to come to Him in my complete vulnerability and sincere dependence as well. Why would I agree to give the Lord the striving of my sinful flesh and not also give Him the needs with which I was created? It is only in coming to the Lord, and remaining in Him in true surrender, clinging to Him who is all we need, that we become capable in Christ.
Harvesting the Crop (Action/Response): "Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength." (Deuteronomy 6:5) Every difficult situation, every hardship, rejection, or accusation that we could experience, the Lord Jesus has experienced for us, maybe even from us. He is the ultimate Lover of our souls. Why do we feel that all we have to offer Him is what we are capable of? Do we recognize that what we are capable of is not always good? The more accurate and sincere relationship that we ought to approach the Lord with is to come to Him as we are, in need of Him. We need Jesus, in every application of the Word. To come to the Lord submitted and dependent, as we were in our initial Salvation, isn't that the necessary continued posture for becoming more like Jesus? Jesus was completely, and at all times, dependent on the Father. Don't be fooled into thinking that, now that the Lord has saved you, you shouldn't need Him anymore. On the contrary! The more we know Jesus, the more we need Jesus. Our dependence on the Lord must be maintained daily, putting our flesh to death and recognizing our dependence will never end, in fact it should only increase. We need the very tangible presence of the Lord at all times and in all places, in greater degrees as we come to know Him more. How can we know we are walking in true dependence? When we acknowledge that we need God so desperately that we would be willing to even take "No" for an answer to a perceived need. Who He is outweighs it all. Clinging to God through every aspect of our lives is all that we should be straining for, in strength and weakness. He is our light, our life, our only satisfaction. May we learn to not only pack light in our fleshly efforts, but also to check our 'baggage' and burden with the Lord completely. Make sure you've got all your needs packed, and then be ready to check your bag with Him who is All-sufficient. Only He can know the true condition of our sin-wrecked hearts, and still He wants every part of us. What a marvelous mystery! Prayer: Lord, you alone have the words of eternal life. You alone can satisfy the very real needs and longings of our heart and soul. Just as our need for You is real, so is the reality of Your perfect provision. Give us eyes to see ourselves clearly through the mirror of Your Word, and may we boldly offer up our whole and imperfect hearts to You, who first loved us. In Jesus' Name, Amen.
Cultivating (Additional Reading): Deuteronomy 8:2-5; Psalm 34; Jeremiah 29:13
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Calvary Chapel of Melbourne; 2955 Minton Road; W. Melbourne, FL 32904; 321-952-9673
All Bible references are from the New International Version (NIV) unless otherwise noted.