God of Life

For the last couple of weeks I have been rebuilding what I too easily had given up. I have been rebuilding the times of intimate fellowship with the Lord each morning. When earthly “to do’s” and other thoughts or worries try to creep in, I have to intentionally put them aside. Having faced the consequences of not connecting with the Lord first thing every morning and instead tackling those things, I now know better. It’s been wonderful to reconnect and refocus on what’s really important.

Life has certainly not been a “relaxing picnic” lately. I find it totally ironic that life at this age and season seems to have become more complicated. Maybe it’s my mindset or emotions, or having three children in their teen years (!!), or what all is happening in our world…I don’t know. Maybe it’s all those things combined together. Whatever it is, earthly life just seems to be more and more complicated. Even trying to express myself tends to be difficult. There are many things within me which I am sensing, discovering, and understanding that I want to express and write about, but they seem all jumbled up together.

A few days ago, I realized that there was a God-theme having its way with me in the last couple of weeks. It has to do with “LIFE”—HIS life. HIM being my very life and breath. I experienced the feelings of drowning and death without being intimately connected with Him every morning, and for the last couple of weeks I have been experiencing the revival of my spirit. It’s not an overnight thing; but each day I feel more alive, more hopeful and peaceful.

Last week the weather was so gorgeous and I was able to go for my walks. I take much more pleasure in walking now that I have an IPOD and am able to listen to praise and worship music. It’s very hard to control myself and not sing out loud (it’s so out of tune when those earbuds keep me from hearing my own voice!), and it’s also very hard not to raise up my arms in worship as I’m walking. Early on during my first walk last week a song came on and my heart resonated passionately with it. It became my song for the week, and I listened to it on every walk for the rest of the week. Each time, it was a truly special and intimate moment between God and me. The song calls out to God and praises Him appropriately calling Him the God of Life.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIc9N1OBgrk

This week as I was reading the book So You Don’t Want to Go to Church Anymore by Jake Colson, the “Life” theme continued as I read the following on page 31:

“You know what this whole thing is about, Jake?...It’s about life—God’s real life filling your own. He moves in so that you will no longer entertain any doubts about his reality. It’s the kind of relationship that Adam tasted when he walked in the garden with God…It is the kind of life Jesus lived that was more than sufficient to meet every need he face, from feeding multitudes with a little boy’s lunch to healing a sick woman who touched the hem of his robe. This life is not some philosophical thought you can conjure up through meditation or some kind of theological abstraction to be debated. It is fullness. It is freedom. It is joy and peace no matter what happens—even if your doctor uses the ‘C’ word when he gives you the results of your MRI. This is the kind of life that he came to share with everyone who will give up trying to control their own lives and embrace his agenda…It’s certainly not what so many have come to believe, like working hard, building big ministries or new buildings. It’s about life that you can see, taste, and touch; something you can frolic in every day that you live…”

Amen! to those words.

Because Christ came from God

“For us there is one God, the Father, out of Whom all is…”

(1 Corinthians 8:6)

and because God has chosen to do all through Christ

“…and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through Whom all is…”

(1 Corinthians 8:6)

I have LIFE! I have been given LIFE! We all have been given LIFE!

"The first man, Adam, became a living soul"; the last Adam (Christ) became a life-giving spirit.

(1 Corinthians 15:45)

Jesus said, “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”

(John 10:10)

God of Life, Oh Lord of all

Hear my prayer, Oh hear my call

Take this life, Take it all

And let it burn, and let it show

And let this life down here on earth

Echo in return

He is THE LIFE…there is no other true life. True life is not lived just when everything (spiritual or earthly) is going like *we* would like it to be. TRUE LIFE is lived in spite of…