Rest In God's Love

I felt like God wanted me to share the words of a song He gave me last summer....

I Love You

I find my place of rest

With my head upon Your  breast

And there I hear Your heart beat out this song

I love you, I love you, I love you

I love you, I love you, I love you, My child

May the song of my life be in rhythm and harmony

With the song of Your heart my God

As the fragrance of Your love saturates me

When this life, puts on, the press and the squeeze

May the fragrance of Your love flow out of me

So all the world will know the song of Your heart

I love you, I love you, I love you

I love you, I love you, I love you, My child

(then I heard the Lord say)

This is why you were created

This is why you were created, Oh My child

To know Me and My love, and walk with Me each day

My heart does long for you to know My love

In its length, and depth, and breadth, and height

So lay your head upon My breast

And there find your place of rest

And there you'll hear My heart beat out this song

I love you, I love you, I love you

I love you, I love you, I love you, My child

A New Day, A New Identity, A New Walk

Sometimes we hit a critical juncture in our journey with God.  It may require a face to face encounter with God in a wrestling match like Jacob had. (Genesis 32:22-32)

Jacob found himself in a difficult place, poised between his disgruntled father-in-law and his brother who had wanted to kill him.  He sent forth all he owned and all he held dear. He was left alone with God in the dark of the night. It was in that difficult place alone with God that Jacob found himself in a wrestling match with God.  Functioning as he always had was not going to work in this situation.  Jacob had to prevail with God.

There are times when we must wrestle with God in the darkness of the night until the light of the new day comes forth.  Even when the light of the new day begins to dawn, we can't let go until we receive the blessing we so desperately need. We may be done wrestling and we may have little or no strength left, but we can't let go.

It is possible that his nature as Jacob (deceiver, supplanter, schemer, trickster, swindler) felt like a strength to him all those years.  It had gotten him a lot of things he wanted.  Even his "success" in being Jacob was a weakness and not the strength it may have felt like.  Jacob had to acknowledge who he was when he was asked, "What is your name?"  He had to acknowledge that he had indeed been a deceiver, supplanter, schemer, trickster, swindler. That confession was necessary in order to receive his new name.  He now had a new identity as Israel, a prince with God or one who has power with God or one who prevails with God. In God's book Jacob was always meant to be Israel.  

To be given a new name/identity/nature and be changed in the encounter, we must first realize who we have been. We must confess it before God and let Him change us into who we really are.  We can be changed when we recognize and confess who we really have been.  God touches that place in us that we have relied on as a strength.  Then He can be our strength. 

Jacob walked away with a limp because of his hip being put out of joint. We also leave the wrestling match with what had been the strongest part put out of joint.  We walk away with a limp that requires a new dependence on the Lord, a dependence upon His strength and not our own.  We never walk the same again.

The scripture says that God "blessed him there."  Not sure if the blessing was the new identity,  the limp of a new dependence on God, or something else.  But Jacob did come away from that encounter into a new day, with a new identity, and a new walk.

Key To The Cage

A year or two ago while praying for someone, I saw a bird on a perch inside a locked cage. The bird had a key in its mouth.  It was the key that would unlock the cage and allow the bird to go free.

Often we have the key to our own freedom and we don't even know we have it.  Sometimes we may know we have it but we may choose not to use it.  Maybe we don't know quite how to use it.  Perhaps we are even afraid to use it, because of the unknown on the other side of that door and/or because we have become so used to and comfortable in our cage.

God has given us the key so we can be free to become all that He ordained us to be.

Jesus has purchased our liberty.  He has made the way for us to be free.  He whom the Son sets free is free indeed.  The Truth will set you free.

Often the key is the confession of our own mouth.  Perhaps in repentance.  Perhaps in declaration of the Word in agreement with what God has said about our life or situation.  It can be any number of things.

Maybe you feel stuck in a cage.  Ask God about the key to get free today.