Wednesday, January 23, 2019

Jude - "Deeper, Deeper"

I was so blessed when I woke up in the middle of the night these words of the hymn "Deeper, Deeper"...

  1. Deeper, deeper in the love of Jesus
    Daily let me go;
    Higher, higher in the school of wisdom,
    More of grace to know.
    • Refrain:
      Oh, deeper yet, I pray,
      And higher every day,
      And wiser, blessed Lord,
      In Thy precious, holy Word.

Yes! This is my daily prayer. I desire to go deeper in His love because I know that is where eternity with Him is found. I know His love is where I need to live. His love is the 'secret' to living life as He desires me to. It is where blessings of peace are found in abundance. The more I get into His Word, the deeper He will take me in my relationship with Him. The more I pray for His will, the more I will live in it. It does not mean life will always go my way. I wouldn't want it to. I know it is through trials that my faith goes deeper, my love for Him grows deeper. I also know His will is so much better than anything I could ever desire. His will is perfect. He knows what is ahead for my life. I don't. He knows what is best for me. I don't. His wisdom is so far greater than mine but as I seek Him my wisdom will become more like His. This song is exactly how I feel. I want to go "Deeper, Deeper" in my relationship with Him. The desire of my heart is to live as He desires. That is why I ask Him every morning to cleanse me so He can fill me. I am not perfect, I am just a human being seeking to live a life of holiness. I still make mistakes and need His cleansing power to wipe away those mistakes. I also need His empowerment to fill me up so I can not only hear His voice but also follow the direction He gives. Sometimes the 'mistakes' I make are missing opportunities He puts before me to share Him with others. Sometimes it is by having a bad attitude and/or being crabby. Sometimes it is by speaking before praying. There are so many examples yet all are covered by His love and grace. Woo hoo! It is only through Him that perfect peace can be found. I love these words to this hymn...
  1. Deeper, deeper in the faith of Jesus,
    Holy faith and true;
    In His pow’r and soul exulting wisdom
    Let me peace pursue.

Yes! The deeper I go in my faith with Him, the more of His peace I will have. While on our recent cruise I was thinking about how one has to trust Him to be on such an adventure. There has to be a deep trust as you see how deep the water is. Sometimes the chart was showing over 15,000 feet depth of the water. Wow! When it showed less than 100 feet, one could have fear of it going low enough to hit bottom. Trusting in God to take care of such a trip is a must. If trust isn't there, one would panic. Another thing I prayed about was I asked the Lord to keep my family safe with no emergencies happening while we were away. Once again, it took trusting God and having faith in Him. If an emergency would have happened, He would have taken care of every detail. How do I know that? I live by faith knowing He does and will continue to show His love to me by taking care of things in my life. He goes before me and paves the way for me. He is with those I love and will do the same for them when they allow Him to have free reign in their lives. I can't change the way people desire to live but I can pray for them, be an example for them, and love on them with His love. My heart breaks to see/hear of people who I love deeply not living by faith. It breaks to see people living so far in this world that material things and money matter more than God. Last night the children were coloring pages about God being their King. One of the pages asked the question about who their king is. It asked if it was friends, the world, themselves, or God. This is a lesson I know would be beneficial to not only children but also some adults. There are way too many people putting 'stuff' before God. That breaks my heart. The book of Jude is small yet is full of wisdom on how we are to live. Jesus warned the people that in the last days there would be people who turned to the ways of the world more than they would turn to Him (vs. 17-19). He spoke about how there would be people who would even try to split up churches. We see these things happening today. I believe time is drawing near for His return. I pray people will realize they need to change their way of life to include a relationship with Him. The direction Jude gives in verses twenty and twenty-one are what it takes for all believers to live as Jesus desires. We must live by faith and in the Spirit so we will be ready for His return. We cannot nor should we push Jesus on people but we must continually show them The Way. We must not accept the sin but we must love the sinner (vs 22-23) enough to not only pray for them but pray with them when they will accept it. The result of such living will be blessed with living in His presence now and for eternity (vs 24-25).

Dear Jesus,
Thank You for this hymn! Thank You for Your love that is far better than anything of this world! Thank You for Your grace that cleanses me of mistakes I make! Thank You for Your love that empowers me to strive to not make mistakes! Thank You for all the ways You strengthen my faith! Father, cleanse me so You can fill me. Empower me to do whatever You desire in this day that is ahead. Equip me with more of You so people will see/hear Your words, Your actions, and Your attitude through me today. Thank You Jesus for being My Depth! Amen.

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