I want to partner with Jesus; partnering with Jesus is where I want to be. When I read the Psalms there is the ongoing theme: what righteousness looks like and what wickedness looks like. In Psalm 1:1 this theme begins: ” Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.” When I think of the ways of the wicked I think on ways I may be partnering with the devil in my negative opinions of religion, politics, people, and all the things I judge when I am “standing in the way of sinners.” I partner with the devil when I “sit in the seat of mockers” while getting upset with people who may not be walking the ways of righteousness.
Even though this life is like a vapor; everything I put so much credence in is so very temporary.
Partnering with Jesus is partnering with life. Even though this life is like a vapor; everything I put so much credence in is so very temporary. Living in a pandemic that may kill me, changes what is important. What really matters is loving others; what matters is gratitude for the life I have been given. Psalm 39 speaks to me these days about partnering with the devil and partnering with Jesus. I want to partner with Jesus; partnering with Jesus is where I want to be.
I said, “I will watch my ways
and keep my tongue from sin;
I will put a muzzle on my mouth
while in the presence of the wicked.”
2 So I remained utterly silent,
not even saying anything good.
But my anguish increased;
3 my heart grew hot within me.
While I meditated, the fire burned;
then I spoke with my tongue:
4 “Show me, Lord, my life’s end
and the number of my days;
let me know how fleeting my life is.
5 You have made my days a mere handbreadth;
the span of my years is as nothing before you.
Everyone is but a breath,
even those who seem secure.[b]
6 “Surely everyone goes around like a mere phantom;
in vain they rush about, heaping up wealth
without knowing whose it will finally be.
7 “But now, Lord, what do I look for?
My hope is in you.
8 Save me from all my transgressions;
do not make me the scorn of fools.
9 I was silent; I would not open my mouth,
for you are the one who has done this.
10 Remove your scourge from me;
I am overcome by the blow of your hand.
11 When you rebuke and discipline anyone for their sin,
you consume their wealth like a moth—
surely everyone is but a breath.
12 “Hear my prayer, Lord,
listen to my cry for help;
do not be deaf to my weeping.
I dwell with you as a foreigner,
a stranger, as all my ancestors were.
13 Look away from me, that I may enjoy life again
before I depart and am no more.”
What is needed is to be still and quiet so I can actually hear God.
I want to partner with Jesus; partnering with Jesus is where I want to be.What this means to me is that my words are in vain when I am partnering with the enemy in judgement or worldly opinions, mindsets and the like. I am in the world but not of the world. What I really need is for God to hear my cry. What matters to me is walking in the Spirit of my calling and my place in the collective Body of Christ in the earth. What is needed is to be still and quiet so I can actually hear God. The amplified says in verse 7: “But now Lord, what do I look (with confident expectation for? My hope (confident expectations) is in you.” This spoke to my heart because look at how there is a repeat of the same idea bookended in this scripture-“confident expectation!”
When I am in the Word, I am in the place of life, the living water, the Spirit of God engrafting His nature, ways, power, and authority into my life. When I am in the Word, especially the Psalms, for me I am receiving the treasures of life more precious than gold. When I am in the Word the Lord takes me to His table in the presence of my enemies which are sometimes the demons of my own mind–needs, regrets, expectations, disappointments, and the like. Thank you LORD for your transforming Word of life.
I am because He is
I am leaving so many things on the alter of the Lord to be consumed or burned–or to be returned and praised. Thank you Father for trying me with fire and burning the dross to the surface–let me break like glass so the gold of Jesus can shine. Let the Acacia wood of my being be covered over with the Gold and Glory of my salvation in Jesus; let me sup with my Lord at His table of Life and meaning. I am because He is. But I see in a glass dimly who I really am–I see in part as I grow from glory to glory. My fire allows me to have more compassion as it burns away the branches that do no yield the fruit of the spirit.
This I do know–I am not my own, I was bought with a price and therein lays my greatest gratitude. Gratitude is my best friend in partnering with Jesus. Gratitude allows me to be ok with who I am today, and who I was yesterday which made me who I am today but not all of who I am. Gratitude counts the moment not the hour or the day. Gratitude removes the doubt because it knows “but for the grace of God go I.” I have entered a place of gratitude like never before–I crave the Word, my longing is for more of Jesus, more of the revelation of the knowledge of Him. Dear Lord, come quickly I say in my heart as I look on the sky or a tree or listen to the sound of a bird or a singing brook. I think on a new heaven and a new earth–how more lovely than this can it be? Gratitude is worshiping the Lord in “Spirit and in truth” because it actually changes the atmosphere in the earth bringing in His Praise–He inhabits our Praise.
I am recognizing the very essence of God all around me and above me in the galaxy and stars. What went wrong when the female aspect of God was left out? Come now, if we are created in the image of God–both male and female–what happened? How can there be a balance in the universe with a “He” God only? Is it blasphemy to say that there is Mother God? The Holy Spirit is known as “He” not that it matters, but I choose to call an aspect of Holy Spirit, Mother God. Jesus went away so He could send the Comforter:
And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever… John 14:16
I am talking about God as creator–as “birthing” us into existence from the foundation of the world. The Hebrew word for compassion comes from the noun: womb. Compassion means “love” in some translations in the Word. I mean no disrespect–but I do feel the “Eve syndrome” of woman being the reason for sin coming into the world may have caused a certain amount of “censorship” in reference to the female aspect of God in general in the Bible. Although I fully believe the Bible is the inspired word of God, I cannot help but believe that something may have been obscured in translation–history speaks for itself. However, the Word also says: There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus (Galatians 3:28). I want to partner with Jesus; partnering with Jesus is where I want to be.