Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you ……” (Matthew 4:19) He is the one who makes us. Each day of our life He molds us into His image and likeness. His intention was never that we should stay as we were, in the bondage of our fallen state. In Jesus He came to save and to lead us into a new identity, new relationship, and new way of life and living. A life that does nothing but allow His glory to shine. A life in which He holds the first position, a life that is lives in HIM and for HIM in all that is done. The freedom from sin and separation, and the gift of a new life, was achieved for us by Jesus. The new life itself, and the will and empowerment to live it, is through the gift of the Holy Spirit. I want to stop right now and thank THE Precious Holy Spirit for always being there for me. For showing me and leading me in the right paths though many times I was not listening as close as I should He was always there and will always be there. It is in the early morning hours the last night hours that He speaks so tenderly to me, showing me all my errors, yet tenderly loving me by guiding me to the WORD that speaks to me. By making that WORD come alive. And allowing the fresh living water to over flow within me. A key purpose of Jesus ministry was to baptize His followers in the Holy Spirit. We of ourselves can do nothing but with His help we can become all He intends us to be. He speaks to us, to ‘Come’ to Him and to ‘Follow’ Him. He then promised that on the journey He would transform us, that He would ‘make each one of us’ into someone and something different. In the case of Peter and Andrew the change would result in their becoming ‘fishers of men’. For others the outward focus would be different. However, in each one of them > I am discovering that this change is not a miraculous transformation from imperfect to perfect. Instead a journey of discovery – on this journey we learn and experience about our Savior and more about ourselves. In the days after my Jesus calling me as I think back I see how He has used many different ways to mold me, some were exciting, some humiliating, many times I experienced joy unspeakable and then of course there were days many days in which tears flooded my soul. Knowing that He was so interested in me that He collected all those tears and again there were many made me understand better just how much He loved me. I can remember having tears fall from my eyes but yet within my heart I had such a joy, it was then that I learned how it is possible to cry tears of real joy. Sometimes just to say His name, Jesus would bring tears to my eyes. Other times saying His name would bring confidence that I knew the One who had all the answers to any problem I might be facing. It was not long before I learned that His work in my life was to introduce me to truth and reality. He is Truth and He is also so real it was a knowing within my soul that He would lead me to acknowledge the truth about HIM, He speaks the truth at all times. His Word can not lie. If His Word said it I believed it. Just to stop and think and grasp “grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ,” (Ephesians 3:18) It was not long before He begin to introduce me to the truth about myself, and still does. Many things I tried to ignore, things that I did not want to admit, but He also began to show me things about me that were tender and fragile, the way I longed for the light of His love to shine through me in all I did. What a warm blessing, such warmth that went deeper that sitting out in the sun all day, except His love did not leave a blistering effect on my skin, His love began to draw me closer to HIM, I so yearn to know Him better each day brought a new discovery Of how my Jesus loved me. And how He wanted me to love others. While sitting with HIM I soon learned that He gently peels away the masks behind which I tried to hide until at last I allow myself to be revealed, the real Marylyn that He created was becoming a reality all in His time His place, His will was being manifested, all for His glory. I learned over and over that He does this not to shame us but to heal us and to lead us to understand that the person He loves and for whom He died is the real ‘me’ with all my faults and imperfections, and not the other. God will be always at work in our lives, to the extent that we will allow it. His aim is to make us into the person that we could really be, and to be significant in ways that have an eternal impact. “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” (Ephesians 2:10) God made us in the beginning. His vision for us has not been changed into something less. When we talk to God about the real person we are He answers back to us allowing us to be lead by Him in all our ways. He is the Great Shepherd we are His sheep, we know His voice and will listen as He directs us in all our ways. Lord Jesus, You have called me and continue to call me to You. Help me please to stay very close to You and to trust You with every area of my life – esp. the sin that try to bestow me. For it is YOUR will only that I want in my life. Help me to remember this when something or someone other than You will might try to sneak into being. Let me speak to my soul daily to be still and know that YOU are God.
Posted on: Tue, 19 Nov 2013 22:47:59 +0000