My beloved spoke, and said to me:
“ Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away. For lo, the winter is past, The rain is over and gone. The flowers appear on the earth; The time of singing has come, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land. The fig tree puts forth her green figs, and the vines with the tender grapes give a good smell.
Rise up, my love, my fair one, And come away!”
~Song of Solomon 2:10-13
My November newsletter will talk a lot of the work God is doing in my heart. Yet I still can’t help but share just a small piece of what God has shown me just today. These last few months have been a true refining time for me and I feel the Lord sifting through my heart and cleaning it out so that He can fill every area. Needless to say it is still a work in progress, but the Lord is faithful to continue to cleanse me and make me into His pure bride (Ephesians 5:25-27). I am humbled as the Lord reveals things in my heart and life that He desires to purify.
Yet as I have discovered in my Christian walk whenever the Lord is working and trying to shape me into a vessel that will shine more of His glory the devil is waiting and lurking to see if he can destroy any progress. As I have seen God’s hand and His changes have been seen in my heart and His glory shown in it, this last week I have also seen the devil trying to distract. This is nothing unexpected, but definitely a thing that brings me to my knees in prayer.
For it is in prayer that victory is found, for we are not fighting physical powers but spiritual battles. As I have been setting aside more time and trying to be more diligent in growing in my relationship with God and giving Him my whole heart the world tries to come in between. I know we face the battle everywhere not just in the mission field, but I see how technology, entertainment, activities, and people can draw the focus off the eternal things and off Him and steal time. As I study Revelation with our youth group and dig into it, and look at the lost around me I feel an urgency to reach as many as possible for His Kingdom since the end is near and life is a vapor. Yet how often time is wasted on distracted thoughts, pointless entertainment, and technology. Even ministry can become so busy and demanding that something good can cause me to loose focus on why I am serving and Who I am serving.
However, today as I woke up I just felt that desire to not make plans but listen to His voice the calling me to “Come away with Him.” These days are always nice to just read His Word, pray, listen to a teaching, read a study, and just sit and hear from Him. Today I was so blessed, so refreshed and encouraged. After a week that seemed to have different and odd distraction, I was able to drive, not face traffic, not get caught up in work, and just set aside time to refocus and be refilled by His Spirit. God will not relent until He has all of my heart and by responding to His voice today I am just overwhelmed with peace and joy. For it is not by my own strength I can live day by day but by His Spirit! (Zechariah 4:6) I encourage you answer His call and come away with Him, you don’t need a whole day like I had today; but just time that is dedicated to Him alone, He is a jealous God!
Please continue to pray that my focus would be on God and His glory and that these distractions would fade and be at a distance. Thank you so much for your prayers, you are truly a blessing!
In Him, Jamie
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