Good morning, ladies! Today is the 2nd Wednesday of the month, so normally we would be gathering tonight to share life with one another through a meal and through God’s word. Due to the unpredictable circumstances we will be unable to meet, but I still wanted to reach out to all of you for 2 reasons.
The first reason is simply to say, I love you! What joy each of you has brought to my life. Some of you have been here since the beginning (hard to believe we are going on 15 years!!!) and some of you I have come to know more recently, but all of you have been such a joy to me and I honestly consider it an honor to have the opportunity to “do life” with you.
The second reason is to share with you where the Lord has had me the last few days. As I often say during communal prayer and women’s bible study, my hope is to just take each of you where the Lord is taking me. The delivery of what I share is often a bit “unrefined”, because over the last several years I have been sharing from the current overflow of my heart rather than from a more well-thought out and “refined” message. Not that I am opposed to a well thought, refined message, but that’s just not the current spiritual season for me. So let me go ahead and tell you that this letter won’t be any different…haha! I always pray the Lord will use what is said (or in this case, what is read) to bring honor to Him, despite my delivery! I pray this morning, the same will be true. So for today, I will share with you one challenging thought the Lord has recently put before me.
A continuing reflection on Psalm 27
Yesterday, I was once again reading and praying through Psalm 27. I was meditating on David’s desire for one thing: ‘to dwell in the house of the Lord.’ As I was meditating on that thought, I began to rejoice that as New Testament believers we no longer have to go find God’s presence. Once we have encountered salvation, our bodies become the temple. God’s Spirit is no longer something we have to search for or find, because His Spirit is now dwelling, abiding, resting, married to, each of us! As I continued to think about the Old Testament tabernacle versus my body now being the temple, I began to reflect on what happened to the Old Testament tabernacle every time God’s Spirit rested on it. Exodus 40:38 says, “For the cloud of the Lord was over the tabernacle by day, and there was a fire inside the could by night, visible to ALL the house of Israel throughout all the stages of their journey.” This verse led me to pray that my life would be like the Old Testament tabernacle, filled with the blazing fire of the presence of Jesus Christ! So often, we think of the presence of God as being “this little light of mine”, but God’s presence is no “little light”. It is a blazing, consuming fire (Hebrews 12:29)! Exodus 40:38 says that ‘ALL of the house of Israel could see it.’ If the fire was big enough for thousands upon thousands of Israelites to see, then it must have been a huge, blazing fire. And when did the Israelites see the fire? During the night. As I meditated on that thought, all I could pray was “Lord, take me into the darkest places so that the blazing fire of Your presence within me can be seen by ALL! Send me into the darkest places so that those who are lost, blind and hopeless would see the blazing, fiery presence of the Lord Jesus Christ and be delivered from the dark of night into Your marvelous light!”. As I was praying, suddenly I remembered a poem that I used to pray when I moved to Chicago in 2003. I prayed it almost daily while I was there. The poem is called, Make me Thy Fuel, Flame of God, by Amy Carmichael. It reads:
Make Me Thy Fuel, Flame of God
From prayer that asks that I may be,
Sheltered from winds that beat on Thee.
From fearing when I should aspire,
From faltering when I should climb higher.
From subtle love of softening things,
From each choices, weakenings;
Not thus are spirits fortified,
Not this way went The Crucified.
From all that would dim the work of Calvary,
O God, deliver me!
Give me Your love that leads the way,
The faith that nothing can dismay.
The hope no disappointments can tire,
A passion that burns like fire!
Let me not sink to be a clod,
Make me Thy fuel, Flame of God!
Ladies, may that be the prayer overflowing from all of our hearts! May our hearts cry out, ‘make ME thy fuel, flame of God!’
Take time to think/dwell/ponder on this question: What are the dark places God is calling me to?
Dark places are often intimidating because they are unpredictable and leave us feeling vulnerable. But remember, you have the consuming fire of the Living God within you! You were made to go into the darkest of places and were meant to go there with boldness and confidence, not in your own abilities, but in the confidence of the saving power of Jesus Christ. Remember what David says in Psalm 27:5. “For You God will conceal me in Your shelter in the day of adversity; You will hide me under the cover of Your tent.” David realized that His desire to be in the presence of the Lord was not only His greatest good, but also His greatest safety and security. Exodus 40 mentions that when the cloud covered the tent by day, not even Moses could enter the tent. If Moses, who was considered righteous, couldn’t penetrate the thick presence of the Lord, then how much less opportunity do the wicked have at penetrating the presence of the Lord that surrounds your life? We need not fear going into the darkest places because the glory of the Lord’s presence surrounds us with favor like a shield (Psalm 5:12).
Ladies, know that I love you and that I am praying for you. Whatever dark place or dark situation the Lord is calling you to, be obedient to His leading. He is the God who has the power to deliver anyone at anytime from places of deep darkness. I will close by writing a portion of Isaiah 9. This was also how the Lord brought my time of prayer to an end yesterday. I pray it encourages your soul as much as it did mine.
“Nevertheless, the gloom of the distressed land will not be like that of former times…the people walking in darkness have seen a great light (a blazing flame); a light has dawned on those living in the darkest places. You have enlarged Your nation (Your kingdom) and increased its joy. The people have rejoiced over You as they rejoice at HARVEST time…for You, Jesus, shattered their oppressive yoke” (Isaiah 9)!
I love you,
Carrie
