Overwhelmed
There is a power that my words will be eternally insufficient in describing. It has rushed like a flood through the chambers of my heart and moved all that I am. It has shaken me and rearranged me to the core and I will never be the same. Like a rushing river, it has overwhelmed my heart in ways I never asked for and could never be prepared for. I cannot control the current or the overflow. No matter how many times I've tried with all of my strength, I am powerless to contain it. It has only ever flowed through me and I would have to be so arrogant as to claim the power of God if I said I could produce, restrain, or cease it. And this is how I know it is not of me, because I cannot conjure something up that is so strong and so pure and so great and so deep and so glorious. I am so unworthy but so incredibly privileged and so eternally grateful to be a vessel through which it flows.
If you ever wonder why I believe in God, it's because I have experienced the power of genuine, unconditional, unfailing love. This power is not of man...we are far too unworthy and insignificant and weak and selfish. If it is not of man, then who? It must be someone...for love requires a Lover.
No matter how much I could deny God, I cannot deny this power of love. I cannot deny it. It has been the realest and most constant substance in the midst of change and uncertainty. It has never failed me. Or should I say that He has never failed me?
I am daily overwhelmed by this kind of powerful living. I believe love is God's greatest glory, imparted to me through His Spirit. It feels as if I am not only in love with Him, but (like Him) I am falling in love with the human race. People are becoming so beautiful to me. They are becoming so significant that I would go through the worst if it meant them having the best. In fact, sacrificial living is becoming my best...if that makes sense. Because the happiness of the ones I love makes me happier than my own. In a way, I am so torn. But no matter what kind of price I have to pay in loving people, it is so worth it to me. I have never understood to this degree why Jesus would choose to die for me. This kind of passion and attachment is so foreign to me, and I am so. freaking. overwhelmed... I cannot wrap my mind around it, but my heart is fully involved. Beyond my own control. The Spirit in me is one (unified) with the Spirit in others whom He indwells, and He creates a bond that cannot be broken and a unity that causes me to truly love my Christian brothers and sisters as myself, because it's like each holds a part of me, and I a part of him.
Oh, how this love has expanded my heart... The Lord has made people my joy. He has opened my eyes to their infinite worth. I find them shining in His glory in a captivating way that causes me to hope to share in His radiance too...to also be that beautiful in reflecting the brilliant light of Jesus Himself.
Not only has the Spirit empowered me to truly love the saints, but I have found myself more compassionate toward the lost than I have ever been. I am not merely hoping to share the gospel because I know I'm called to for Christ's sake, but the mission is also becoming for my sake! Because I cannot bear the thought of living an eternity without all of the ones I love, including the lost. So I have found that this power flowing through me is not limited to forgiven sinners, but all sinners. Though it results in a different kind of relationship, it is the same kind of love. A delightful love. A receiving love. But more than anything a giving love. For it is more blessed to give than to receive...which is why you could find God nailed to a cross for your sake, and why you should find me as a living sacrifice for the sake of introducing the lost to the hope of a Savior.
Above all, I am led to love the Lord deeper than yesterday. Through every glimpse of glory I find in others, my longing to see His face gets stronger. Through every minute I cherish in the presence of another, my anticipation to walk with Him side by side and live not only in His spiritual presence but in His physical presence is greater. And every time I most horribly miss a friend and get to see him again, I am most certainly reminded that someday soon, I will FINALLY see my Savior...face to glorious face. And that, my friend, will be the greatest day of my eternal life.
P.S. Please know that this kind of empowered living is not natural to me at all. This is my supernatural way of living while I am full of the Spirit and living according to His power. [God] condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit. (Romans 8:3-4). Living in the Spirit means we will bear the fruit of the Spirit, and the first fruit of the Spirit is love! (Gal. 5:22). This whole entry can be summed up in this verse: "...God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us." (Romans 5:3-6)
If you ever wonder why I believe in God, it's because I have experienced the power of genuine, unconditional, unfailing love. This power is not of man...we are far too unworthy and insignificant and weak and selfish. If it is not of man, then who? It must be someone...for love requires a Lover.
No matter how much I could deny God, I cannot deny this power of love. I cannot deny it. It has been the realest and most constant substance in the midst of change and uncertainty. It has never failed me. Or should I say that He has never failed me?
I am daily overwhelmed by this kind of powerful living. I believe love is God's greatest glory, imparted to me through His Spirit. It feels as if I am not only in love with Him, but (like Him) I am falling in love with the human race. People are becoming so beautiful to me. They are becoming so significant that I would go through the worst if it meant them having the best. In fact, sacrificial living is becoming my best...if that makes sense. Because the happiness of the ones I love makes me happier than my own. In a way, I am so torn. But no matter what kind of price I have to pay in loving people, it is so worth it to me. I have never understood to this degree why Jesus would choose to die for me. This kind of passion and attachment is so foreign to me, and I am so. freaking. overwhelmed... I cannot wrap my mind around it, but my heart is fully involved. Beyond my own control. The Spirit in me is one (unified) with the Spirit in others whom He indwells, and He creates a bond that cannot be broken and a unity that causes me to truly love my Christian brothers and sisters as myself, because it's like each holds a part of me, and I a part of him.
Oh, how this love has expanded my heart... The Lord has made people my joy. He has opened my eyes to their infinite worth. I find them shining in His glory in a captivating way that causes me to hope to share in His radiance too...to also be that beautiful in reflecting the brilliant light of Jesus Himself.
Not only has the Spirit empowered me to truly love the saints, but I have found myself more compassionate toward the lost than I have ever been. I am not merely hoping to share the gospel because I know I'm called to for Christ's sake, but the mission is also becoming for my sake! Because I cannot bear the thought of living an eternity without all of the ones I love, including the lost. So I have found that this power flowing through me is not limited to forgiven sinners, but all sinners. Though it results in a different kind of relationship, it is the same kind of love. A delightful love. A receiving love. But more than anything a giving love. For it is more blessed to give than to receive...which is why you could find God nailed to a cross for your sake, and why you should find me as a living sacrifice for the sake of introducing the lost to the hope of a Savior.
Above all, I am led to love the Lord deeper than yesterday. Through every glimpse of glory I find in others, my longing to see His face gets stronger. Through every minute I cherish in the presence of another, my anticipation to walk with Him side by side and live not only in His spiritual presence but in His physical presence is greater. And every time I most horribly miss a friend and get to see him again, I am most certainly reminded that someday soon, I will FINALLY see my Savior...face to glorious face. And that, my friend, will be the greatest day of my eternal life.
P.S. Please know that this kind of empowered living is not natural to me at all. This is my supernatural way of living while I am full of the Spirit and living according to His power. [God] condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit. (Romans 8:3-4). Living in the Spirit means we will bear the fruit of the Spirit, and the first fruit of the Spirit is love! (Gal. 5:22). This whole entry can be summed up in this verse: "...God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us." (Romans 5:3-6)