Thank you, Father, for these tears that have carried me to the depth of your love. How could I have known your fullness without the emptiness, your acceptance without the rejection, your forgiveness without my failure, our togetherness without that dreadful loneliness. You have brought me to Gethsemane, and oh, the joy of finding you already there! Amen.
~ Bonnie Barrows Thomas
When the righteous cry for help, the LORD hears and delivers them out of all their troubles. The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.
G_d has no need. “Need is a creature word,” said our friend A.W. Tozer…. And friends, we are creatures – and we have desperate need of the One who has no need.
What is the bleeding edge of victory in our lives?
Failure.
Now, don’t even for one second, dear reader, misread that failure is an acceptable option in our lives. We cannot hold on to the right to failure, it is just a truth of our existence. Our brains and bodies are a law at work against a perfect life of walking in His Spirit.
Failure, though, does seem to be the pathway to victory in our lives. Each time we blow it in some area, it shows us the desperate depth of our need for Him to actually run our lives; to actually control what we do with our hands, feet, mouths, brains and eyes.
Further, as we walk with Him, we begin to be convinced that the cost of failure is just not something that we can (or even care to try to) afford. As He begins to transform us the through the renewing of our minds we learn that the only way we really want our lives spent is by and for Him and His purposes. It is the only reasonable choice. We no longer want to spend or be spent on anything else.
So, how do we get to this place where even failure looks more like victory in our walk with Him? How about we simply trust Him – and put zero confidence in our own ability to try to please him in our own power?
Then, as we take on His righteousness – from that firm foundation – let us then fight with all the might that He gives us to destroy any remaining confidence in our own self to fight the problem of evil in our own lives. Let us kick at the darkness generated by our own brains and yield to the light of His Word in our lives.
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Lovers In A Dangerous Time
Bruce Cockburn
Don’t the hours grow shorter as the days go by
You never get to stop and open your eyes
One day you’re waiting for the sky to fall
The next you’re dazzled by the beauty of it all
When you’re lovers in a dangerous time
Lovers in a dangerous time
These fragile bodies of touch and taste
This vibrant skin — this hair like lace
Spirits open to the thrust of grace
Never a breath you can afford to waste
When you’re lovers in a dangerous time
Lovers in a dangerous time
When you’re lovers in a dangerous time
Sometimes you’re made to feel as if your love’s a crime —
But nothing worth having comes without some kind of fight —
Got to kick at the darkness ’til it bleeds daylight
When you’re lovers in a dangerous time
Lovers in a dangerous time
And we’re lovers in a dangerous time
Lovers in a dangerous time
