This probably sounds silly, but have you ever tried to live fully surrendered in a day to Jesus in the power of The Holy Spirit? I ask this because each morning I make this commitment to do so and by the end of the day I can almost always confess where I failed. As I was journaling this morning I was writing to Jesus about this. When I asked Him what He wanted me to know for today, I head him say: “The Joy of the Lord is found in obedience. In order to find obedience one needs to recognize his selfishness in the day. Selfishness is the great blocker for obedience.”
I lived so very long to never be like my dad who I saw as one of the most selfish men I’ve ever known. Selfish in how he wanted things not wanting to see how someone else might want it. My mom was a victim to this and all of us kids felt it severely. I gauged my own selfishness on dad’s. Now, all these years later, I see my own selfishness as my own. I can no longer compare it to dad’s, for Jesus wants me to compare it to Him. It was easy for Satan to keep my eyes on dad for his ways loomed in front of me. I could feel good in this light. However, today, that comparison is behind me. Today I see my selfishness as mine.
Today my commitment is to be obedient to The Holy Spirit within me surrendering my mind, my sprit, my body, my soul so that Jesus will be seen. At the end of today I can know the Joy of the Lord with no guilt or shame, only JOY!
Today, 48 years ago, was a Wednesday and I was teaching 5th grade at an elementary school. The principal walked into my classroom and said I needed to head home because my wife was in labor. It was 10:00 am when this took place. I quickly headed home and we headed to the hospital where our daughter Amber was born just a few hours later. What a blessing she has always been! Happy Birthday Amber!
It is good to be home now. I enjoyed working in the yard getting the watering caught up for the garden and flower beds. As I began my devotions this morning I couldn’t help but feel overjoyed with all that God has supplied and blessed. I use to have such bondage I kept undisclosed and today I get to use all of it for purposes I never thought God would even want to use due to its ugliness. Yet, God in all of His miraculous ways, uses them to help others with their own bondage. Only God can do this!
Today I get to be part of our worship team praising Jesus as we celebrate the start of His last week as man on earth. Oh how unworthy we are, yet how worthy we get to be because of Christ’s Work on the Cross! No thanks can ever be enough. Yet, we can try and that we will do! THANK YOU JESUS!!
We are on the plane getting ready to fly back home. It’s been a wonderful week to be with our Oklahoma kids and refresh. More news tomorrow! God is so good!
All good things must come to an end and today that will happen for our trip to OKC. Last night was our granddaughter’s recital. It was far more magnificent than I could have imagined. Not only does she have this beautiful soprano voice, but her stage presence is equally attractive. God has richly blessed her! Today my daughter and I get to buy plants she wants in her flower beds and we will plant them before the day is ended. That’s the second best thing about our trip next to the recital last night!
My nephew who is struggling with a malignant brain tumor got word yesterday with options. He will wait until he hears from all three sites where he could find treatment to make his decision as to where and what to pursue. God has provided a level of hope for the family and we are most grateful for that. God is always good in what He does if we will just be patient to see what He has in store. This might be the more difficult part but it is always worth the wait! Thank you God!
Yesterday as I was waiting for the kids to get home from their work I was nudged to create a chart separating the differences in spirit vs emotions. I had just finished reading the chapter in the book, The Spiritual Man by Watchman Nee, and I couldn’t get this off of my mind. I was trying to figure out how in the world I was going to remember these differences? They seemed to be so very true, but I needed some way to grab ahold of them so I could use them meaningfully for myself as well as with others I work with. The chart seemed to be the answer.
A couple of differences which stood out are:
Our spirit identifies our wrongs/sins while our emotions will try to defend them. Another is our spirit will wait for our emotions to submit knowing that our emotions can be an enemy to our spirit. Lastly, our spirit will wait for God to speak while our emotions want us to act quickly.
There is much one can glean from waiting on God in our spirit for God is Spirit and His Holy Spirit resides in us as believers. It was very good for me to spend time allowing these differences sink in. This morning as I was reflecting on this the chorus Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus came to mind. The lyrics are: Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the Light of His Glory and Grace. These words describe what happens when our emotions are submitted to God and His Holy Spirit can take charge of our own spirit. Wow, God is so, so GOOD!
It is incredible how quickly the time passes when you’re away. Just writing this makes me realize that time passes quickly no matter where I am. It has been the right thing getting away for this week. I had no idea how much I needed this break. God is so good!
It seems God is challenging me with the idea that life on earth has a couple of options when we get to the age I am. It seems a lot of folks have “worked” all their lives and they are done with that. I find that I’m a lucky one. I spent my whole life in education and never felt as though I was working. I was getting paid for what I felt God led me into. Today is no different than that. I have the freedom to walk away from what I’m doing to do what we are now, seeing family, but when we return I get to go back to it.
I’ve never thought too much about this, but I have had a couple guys I know tell me how fortunate I am to have worked all of my life and never felt like it was “work”. It was something I get to do rather than something I have to do. Today I’m thanking God for this goodness!
Well, I can tell I’m on vacation. I was scrolling through Facebook and enjoying the entries when I suddenly realized I hadn’t written my morning blog. As I was having my devotional time I had things hitting me I wanted to write about, but by the time I’d prayed it all seemed to have vanished. I must be relaxing!
I spent a good deal of time yesterday reading The Spiritual Man by Watchman Nee. I purchased that book about 10 years ago and had read about half of it. I had gotten to a place where his writing was simply beyond me so I had quit thinking I’d finish it at some point. Well, recently I had begun to read it again. Amazingly, it is now making very good sense. God has been awakening in me about The Holy Spirit and my own spirit. I have written about this recently. The amazing power of God is found in His Spirit, and certainly not in our flesh. Our flesh loses to temptation when fought in flesh. However, learning to surrender flesh and to obey God’s Spiritual nudges allows victory.
This comes out often when this process is applied. The reality sure does expose man’s selfishness. There are those times when one just wants to be selfish in spite of nudges from God’s Spirit. Today’s message brought home the truth that we can never know the gratification of obedience if we only surrender to selfishness. I want to stick with obedience!
What a blessed time it is to come and visit our family in OKC. The first full day, Sunday, we got to hear our daughter preach the sermon, our son-in-law teach the Sunday School class and then spend the rest of the day with them and their friends. These friends are like family members since we have been coming here for over20 years now. All of them have kids similar in age. It is just a fun time and always very memorable.
Our granddaughter and her new husband have been accepted by their denomination to become missionaries. They will be going on a month long trip this summer. Once Julia graduates from college they will begin to pursue full-time missions. This is all a few years away, but it is so rewarding to see God working so well in the lives of our family.
God is always at work everywhere but I sometimes forget this when I’m so caught up in the work I’m connected to at home. Things become about what I’m doing instead of what God is doing (even though what I’m doing is what I believe God has me doing). Our basic nature is so selfish centered. It is a breath of fresh air I’ve needed to get away and see the refreshing work of Jesus taking place. God is so loving and amazing!
The amount of moisture here in Oklahoma City is so great that the current rain just stands on top of the ground. It would be nice if they could share this with S. Idaho where we pray for sufficient rain/snow each winter. It is nice to be here with our kids. It is always a mental/emotional vacation to come here. They, along with their friends, are so fun to be with.
I don’t often point out someone who connects to this blog, but this morning I want to do that. My brother-in-law, who is a real brother to me, sent a text message yesterday with a song attached to it. He said he had felt the sadness in last week’s post connected to the genuine sadness I was experiencing with the family news of late. Hope seemed very distant for a few days there. The song he forwarded to me was like the sweet aroma of God’s Holy Spirit. I just love how God uses one another to lift spirits when one is needing just that. The added blessing is knowing that God’s Spirit prompted it and my brother obeyed the prompting.
For so long I thought the language of God’s Holy Spirit seemed like a foreign one. But, today this is all changing. God is awakening me to His Precious Gift in remarkable ways and I rejoice in it over and over again. It is just another proof of God’s Intimate Love for you and me. How I love Him for this!
Several months ago I booked the tickets for Kathy and me to fly back to Oklahoma City today. Our granddaughter has her college, singing recital next Thursday and I didn’t want us to miss it. Well, into the week while we are there, the same granddaughter has a college choir concert on Tuesday night, our grandson has a district track meet and our daughter is preaching tomorrow at their church. God is so nice to put all of this into the week we are there!
Earnie Lewis 