Abiding in Him

I have been so refreshed by the Lord's presence the past couple of days.  I've been asking Him for a couple of weeks for this refreshment but little did I realize that I was not spending time in His presence.

Sure I would open my Bible at least once a day.  Sure I was muttering little prayers throughout the day. But "abiding" is an entirely different thing, and I have been totally missing the mark in that department.

"As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me... If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.  By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples."  John 15:4,7-8

If you followed the logic in those verses it's saying that when we abide in Him and in His Word, we are His disciples, but if we are not abiding, we cannot be His disciples.  It's impossible.  I've tried.  It's not pretty trying to be a disciple when you exclude Jesus from the equation.  He's kind of a key element.

Pray friends.  Spend time abiding at the foot of His throne.  He delights in it.  And by this the Father is glorified.  Cast your cares upon Him, because He cares for you.  Pray.

Feeble Flesh...Mighty God

This is the lesson I'm walking through with my Adonai currently.  My grandmother, Annabelle unexpectedly passed away last Thursday night.  She was obviously advanced in age and it clearly was the Lord's timing for her departure.  But to our knowledge, she had not given her life to Him.  We do not yet know if her soul was rescued from the pit.  Someday we will. 

On Friday I stayed at home to grieve the loss of my Grandma.  I also started to get sick.  Just a common head cold at first, but here I am a week later and still not functioning at 100%.  I do not know what to attribute all of my symptoms to.  But be assured that I've endured much more than a runny nose and headache.  After a four-day-weekend I returned to full days of rehearsals but my body has struggled to get through each day.  Yesterday I almost passed-out for the first time in my life.  So I'll get to my point...the flesh is weak. 

This body in which I've lived for twenty years, persevering through rigorous dance training year after year, stretching and bending and pushing it to its very limits, it is still weak.  Because if my God allows for something to stop functioning properly, it will and I can't fix it.  Only He can because He is My Healer, the Great Physician. 

This concept is especially real to me because I know two strong women who are experiencing human frailty also.  One is a brave woman, married with children whose husband was recently diagnosed with colon cancer.  The other is a girl my age who was in a traumatic car accident with her fiance and he has been (to my knowledge) mostly unconscious in the hospital for over two weeks.  Both of these women I know want with everything in them, to be able to fix their sweethearts.  Again, we are powerless. 

 But when we are weak, He shows Himself strong.  Always.  Everytime.  In every way.  A very present help in time of trouble. 

We need Jesus.  We need His Spirit.  Because our flesh is but dust, and to dust it WILL return.  Make no mistake.  So I think the answer is in Romans 8.  And rather than telling you why here, I simply encourage you to go and read it yourself.