Good morning! It's been a good morning. A full morning. I'm excited about making it a productive day so let's get started.
For a period of time, actually about 2 years, Tyler and I both had somewhat of a sabbatical. Sabbatical in life. Where he sought the Lord, he read, he learned, he prayed. During that time, I really feel like I was gleaning off of his growth I was inspired by his growth. I hungered to have what I saw him having, growth and communion with the Lord. So my quest began again. My quest for my first true love. My quest for a relationship. My quest to feel happy and full. My quest to be strong again, but this time to stay strong.
I am reminded of my brother. He is a fitness model and actor. If you knew him back when he was in high school, he was the farthest thing from "buff" or "muscular" as someone could be. He seemed to always be behind in growth, and most years was the runt of his class, the small kid. Bless his heart. Well, in college he decided that he wanted to change things. He didn't want to be small anymore. He wanted to be strong. He began the process of building his muscles, of getting strong, of getting big. He spent time in the gym. Hour upon hour. He began the process of building himself up. He has now graced the cover of many fitness magazines, and to say the least, he is strong. I am amazed now, in his strength, that he knows his body inside and out. If he needs to bulk up for a photo shoot or project, he knows just what to eat, just what to do in the gym, he knows just how long it will take for the muscles to respond. If he needs to get a leaner look, he knows just what to do to get a leaner look. He has spent time STUDYING his body. It is an art, and he now knows his body inside and out. Now it is just a matter of him maintaining. Spending time, maintaining his strength. He continues to work on it, but the initial building stage is over. He has BUILT, he is past the building. He is now maintaining to stay strong. I would anticipate if someone were to ask him what period was the hardest, I would bet it was the initial building process to get to where he is now. To get to the maintenance.
I believe that is where God wants us to be. He wants us to be in a place, like Jamie, where we can go from strength to strength. Where we know HIS Voice so well, that it just takes a Word from the Lord and we can and will change direction to build our "bi-cep" or work on our "shoulders", so to speak. That ONE Word from the Lord and He will lead us to work on our faith in the area of "finances" or "health/healing". Then we can chisel, develop, grow that are of our strength. That we are no longer on a slippery slope, but we are truly going from FAITH to FAITH. From STRENGTH to STRENGTH.
Join me. If you are not conditioned. Begin that process. If you are conditioned. Let's get in the Lord's Gym and continue to build, continue to go from STRENGTH TO STRENGTH, INCREASING in VICTORIOUS POWER!
Proverbs 24:10, 16a - If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small. For a righteous man falls seven times and rises again...
Proverbs 31:25a - Strength and dignity are her clothing and her position is strong and secure...
Psalms 84:7a, 11 - They go from strength to strength [increasing in victorious power]... For the Lord God is a Sun and Shield; the Lord bestows [present] grace and favor and [future] glory (honor, splendor, and heavenly bliss)! No good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly.We might as well just jump right into what the Holy Spirit had to say to me about the topic. He has a way of making the words fewer and more clear than I do!
"I desire to have a people that are strong, not weak. That their strength would be planted in Me, then I could bring them from strength to strength. That every day, in every way, in every situation, good or bad, their strength would be a STRONG STRENGTH. That even in a fall, they would be strong. But it is MY DESIRE to take my children from Mountain Top to Mountain Top. Like a weight lifter. They lift and get strong. It takes a period of time to get to that "strong" point. It does not happen over night. BUT, once they are there, they chisel. They go from strength to strength. They build upon what is already strong. That is where I want My Children. I want them to build upon a strength that has already been developed. The maintenance period is not hard. Rely & STAY in Me."Need I say more? I guess I will just share from some personal experience. I know for me, I have had times in my walk with the Lord where I have felt far from Him. Where my quiet times were few and far between. I felt dry. I felt like I was in a desert and didn't hear His Voice much. I would try to wake up in the morning and read the Bible only to find myself dozing off... my eyes would get heavy and all I wanted to do was go back to bed. My consistency would be best described as inconsistent. My passion for everything was null and void. My eyes seemed dim. I lacked a "love for life." I lacked joy. I remember thinking in a time of day-in day-out drudgery, "I just want to be happy. I just want to have joy." I was far from a description of "Strength." At one point, sure I had a passion for the Lord, an excitement, but somewhere along the way I had lost it.
For a period of time, actually about 2 years, Tyler and I both had somewhat of a sabbatical. Sabbatical in life. Where he sought the Lord, he read, he learned, he prayed. During that time, I really feel like I was gleaning off of his growth I was inspired by his growth. I hungered to have what I saw him having, growth and communion with the Lord. So my quest began again. My quest for my first true love. My quest for a relationship. My quest to feel happy and full. My quest to be strong again, but this time to stay strong.
I am reminded of my brother. He is a fitness model and actor. If you knew him back when he was in high school, he was the farthest thing from "buff" or "muscular" as someone could be. He seemed to always be behind in growth, and most years was the runt of his class, the small kid. Bless his heart. Well, in college he decided that he wanted to change things. He didn't want to be small anymore. He wanted to be strong. He began the process of building his muscles, of getting strong, of getting big. He spent time in the gym. Hour upon hour. He began the process of building himself up. He has now graced the cover of many fitness magazines, and to say the least, he is strong. I am amazed now, in his strength, that he knows his body inside and out. If he needs to bulk up for a photo shoot or project, he knows just what to eat, just what to do in the gym, he knows just how long it will take for the muscles to respond. If he needs to get a leaner look, he knows just what to do to get a leaner look. He has spent time STUDYING his body. It is an art, and he now knows his body inside and out. Now it is just a matter of him maintaining. Spending time, maintaining his strength. He continues to work on it, but the initial building stage is over. He has BUILT, he is past the building. He is now maintaining to stay strong. I would anticipate if someone were to ask him what period was the hardest, I would bet it was the initial building process to get to where he is now. To get to the maintenance.
I believe that is where God wants us to be. He wants us to be in a place, like Jamie, where we can go from strength to strength. Where we know HIS Voice so well, that it just takes a Word from the Lord and we can and will change direction to build our "bi-cep" or work on our "shoulders", so to speak. That ONE Word from the Lord and He will lead us to work on our faith in the area of "finances" or "health/healing". Then we can chisel, develop, grow that are of our strength. That we are no longer on a slippery slope, but we are truly going from FAITH to FAITH. From STRENGTH to STRENGTH.
Join me. If you are not conditioned. Begin that process. If you are conditioned. Let's get in the Lord's Gym and continue to build, continue to go from STRENGTH TO STRENGTH, INCREASING in VICTORIOUS POWER!
1 comment:
amy.... lets build OUR GODLY MUSCLES!
Post a Comment