The Path To Your Eternal Spring

I feel it coming.

Like the warm, winter storm that swept in and knocked out our electricity for two days.

It comes silently, unassumingly.

It torrents like joyous winds, that at first we might think will carry the kite of our dreams.

But then, it roars.

The same wind that cleaned the air, carries seeds, lifting stagnant emblems, starts rumbling and raging.

The times start requiring a batting down of the cages.

Locking doors holding dreams. Covering debris. Scooping up tarps so they won’t become a flag waving our afflictions, for all to see.

And I hear the silent rumble.

At first, I tuck tight. See the lights of the hope flick subtly.

But then, it rages.

The circumstances.

The fight increases for children needing homes, for hope, joy…those locked within this system.

And I hear Him whispering, “Who will fight?”

And I am reminded, if we don’t step into the arena, and take back the children from the night, who will sever generational curses, rescue little ones from their isolation in consecration camps, imprisoned behind wired fences?

Who will brave the storm and go out into the darkness? Who will rise in the challenge, face evil, and press forward bravely, not looking back?

And yet, I want to hunker.

I want to call it quits. Throw this mission of helping children right into the wind and attest, “I tried.”

But then…

I see missionaries who live their lives for the gospel. I see the mega giants of faith who lit a torch and set ablaze the darkness of nights.

And I realize, we have a choice of who we want to be. It’s time to decide, will we shrink back or press in when times get challenging?

“Pride is the last thing to go.” Oswald Chamber reads.

The book that set revival in my heart, not because it gave something, but because it taught me to loose something unnecessary….

Myself.

“Whenever there is any element of pride or conceit remaining, Jesus can’t teach us anything.” Chamber echos from the pages.

And is it coincidence that I had just said, my goal is to be teachable? Did a man deceased, know my heart or what I preached a few days ago?

Or could it be…God was speaking through Him.

The wine press pushes. the fire of our affliction starts heating. The Colosseum of our persecution is filled with hungry lions…

And yet, we can run…

Or we can face the flames, the pressing, the raging roar of those around us, standing in the middle of our circumstances, determined to defy defeat, singing praises and anthems to our God…

Because death has no sting. And self dies, only in the heat. Diamonds, pearls, all beauty rises from the ashes…if we don’t avoid the flames.

The sky darkens, while I am reminded that the stars are always brighter on the darkest of all nights. The moon glows brightest, when the world is blackest at night.

And is it any coincidence that “Whoever wants to save his life, must loose it.” (Mark 8:35) That loosing your life is just before the tranfiguration in the Bible? (Mark 9)

And maybe we too must loose our life to gain it, become dead to pride so that we can see His glory rise inside us.

I don’t know what you are facing today. But my guess is, that through it, you need a Savior to come and hold His light in your darkness.

My guess is the winds all around have unsettled you, and you need His redemption, to press into the pain, to be able to have spiritual eyes, to see His glory.

My thoughts are, that we must embrace this humbling, give away our lives even further, for the purposes of the gospel…

So that His reflection can shine brighter, in us.

Of friends, I know so many of your stories. Others of you, I can only guess what your going through.

But, let’s promise each other today, we won’t run from suffering.

We won’t find human solutions, use fleshly wisdom, resort to carnal intelligence to deal with what’s happening spiritually all around us.

Let’s press in, friends. Press into the smallness. He is calling us to join hands with the saints who suffered gloriously, having spiritual maturity. So much so, that they could sing in the face of their persecution.

Let’s do what scriptures says, “rejoice in our hardships” (Rom 5:3), because new wine, Mark 2:22 tells us, can only be placed in new wine skins…

Not the tarnished wine skins of yesterday.

And friends, hold on. In light of what it looks like, we are becoming new creations.

We are going through the fire and we already know the enemy won’t, cannot win…

If we look to the prize that is Him, and press in without losing faith…

One day at a time. If necessary.

The groundhog, according to superstition, says that early spring is coming.

The season tells us, the resurrection is just around the corner. The birds of early morning warn, creation is shifting to a climactic awakening of seasons.

Winds will still. Flowers will bloom. The light of the morning will get longer, brighter, and warmer with each day we see…But, we must hold on to see it? We must grip the hope of tomorrow instead of getting lost in the frigidity of this season?

Will you join me in letting go, just a little? Saying, “It’s yours, Lord”, all we have and have we experienced?

Will we give Him the results and the pen to write our stories?

“What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world, but looses his soul?” Mark 8:36 questions.

I want an eternal legacy, don’t you?

So, like the song says, “I surrender.” Because above all else, “I want to know Him more”.

And maybe He comes in the wind…

Just as much as He rises in the spring.

UNITE LINK PARTY

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Then, please comment on someone else’s post and link back here to help grow UNITE.

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