Prowl: "to rove over stealthily"

Have you ever watched a movie where an animal or person is about to kill someone and they walk back and forth in front of them and kind of taunt them, waiting for the perfect time to make their move? This is the essence of "prowling".

The devil, our enemy, prowls around like a roaring lion....why a roaring lion? Because lions roar to communicate or scare others away....satan ever communicate lies to you and/or tried to scare you ? One of the definitions for "devour" is "to absorb or engross wholly as in 'a mind devoured by fear'".....ever had your mind absolutely absorbed with lies that have left you fearful?

So how do we overcome this?

"Be self-controlled and alert"....This is an imperative statement....YOU be self-controlled and alert. Self-controlled: "practicing restraint of one's actions, thoughts, etc". Alert: "fully aware, attentive and cautious to an unexpected attack".

So, the devil's roving around, trying to engulf you and swallow you up with lies and thoughts that are hurtful, twisted and evil to get you to act in ungodly ways? Practice restraint of what you do, where you go, and what you let into your life, being attentive to the fact that the enemy could pounce at any minute.....and when he does, just see it for what it is, blow his crafty schemes off, and walk forth in truth.

He'll have to prowl somewhere else....we're on to his games.

Disclosure: the act of exposure; to make known, reveal, or uncover.

Wow....today really hit me with how often I try to hide or tuck away or cover areas in my life that I am really not interested in God entering into. Areas I often avoid dealing with because I know it will require some effort to change. Either that, or I am afraid that if He sees the yucky-ness in that area of my life, He might be disappointed in me and I might lose His love. Anybody had those same thoughts? And even though you KNOW the Word and KNOW that God is going to help you change or is going to love you regardless, your feelings haven't quite caught up with what you know in your head....anybody?

How beautiful for God to have allowed David to pen the 139th Psalm. I read it in its entirety today and I was in awe. You know what stuck out to me for the first time in reading this a million times?
Verse 2 "You perceive my thoughts from afar".....He has full disclosure of every single thought!
Verse 3 "You discern my going out and my lying down".....He has full disclosure of the motives and choices I make
"You are familiar with all my ways".....He is intimately aware of all my actions and the reason for them
"Before a word is on my tongue You know it completely....your words are KNOWN in their completeness by Him.
Can you wrap your mind around this?

Then, David recants even more about God's ever-present-ness, and guidance in our lives. He even goes as far as saying that God made him, and all of God's works He created are wonderful, therefore, he must too be wonderfully made. And then,

Verse 17 "How precious are Your thoughts concerning me...outnumbering the grains of sand!" What wondrous love is this! WOW!

Now, if the God who created and made us perceives, discerns, is familiar, and knows completely all of who we are, in other words, if God created us and thus knows exactly what our tendencies and bents will be, thus knowing all of the yuck we have and will have, and yet loves us so desperately as to think of us all the time (there's a lot of sand, people!!!), then who better to trust all of who we are to His loving hands?

And what exhale! What freedom! What a level of trust to know that I am fully known and still fully loved, and I can freely and with all of the honesty and vulnerability I have in me say:
"Then, Lord, search me and know my heart (because You already do anyway....I am now availing it completely to you) and my worrisome ways (since You already know those too and love me still) and see deep into my soul if there is anything in me that offends You because it has become idolatrous, more important than You. And lead me on the never-ending path to the abundant life You have for me." (verse 23 & 24 paraphrased)

There is no safer One in whom to completely lay bare our lives than Jesus.

May we choose today to fully disclose ourselves to our Maker, Redeemer, and Friend.

Wow, Girls!

I am only on Day 1 of Week 1, and already the Lord is speaking to me! After dissecting this Scripture, this is how I wrote it out for me to completely get it:

"If (conditional) you (up to you) look (seek with a relentless pursuit) for it (wisdom: seeing things from God's perspective so you can respond appropriately) like silver (important) and search (to examine because it wants to be found) for it (wisdom) like hidden (mystery: truth previously hidden but now Divinely revealed) treasure (valuable), then (as a results) you will (not might but will) understand (comprehend) the fear of the Lord (the greatness of His holiness, righteousness, and justice) and find (lay hold of) the knowledge (intimate familiarity) of God. " Proverbs 2:4&5

You know what the Lord revealed to me? That right now, in the circumstances I find myself in with my family, my future, our ministry, I have not once asked God to reveal to me His perspective, His truth about them.... I have certainly had MY perspective of them and what I think should happen or what I think I need to remedy , solve, etc. them, but not once have I said, "Lord, how do you feel about them? What do you want me to see about them? How do you want me to walk in them in light of what you think about them?"...ouch!

Now couple this Scripture with Proverbs 1:7 which says, "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline." Look at the awesome progression:
As I relentlessly pursue seeing things from God's perspective so that I will then respond appropriately and authentically, I begin to see God's overwhelming perfection, holiness, justice, and righteousness which absolutely begins to humble me and cause me to bow before His authority and Lordship over my life (as He is the supreme authority, most holy and knowledgeable One who knows better than anyone what I need), and then, I find myself in a more and more intimate relationship with the One who is showing Himself real in my life....

But fools despise wisdom and discipline....fools: "arrogant, self-sufficient people who order their own lives as if there were no God." Have you acted like a fool? Have you behaved like you had all of the answers without seeking God's wisdom about them? I know I have....

Oh God, that I would relentlessly pursue You, Your wisdom and perspective in all things, so that I will know how to respond correctly to them. Thank You that as I pursue You, You promise that I will see you as Isaiah did (6:1) and humble myself before Your holiness and thus bow to Your deserving authority in my life. And as I see Your love for me and Your concern to help me, how can I not but see Your heart and grow in loving intimacy with You? God help me to get there, and stay there.....and help my authentic friends do the same. In the name of Jesus I ask, amen.

Mystery: "a previously hidden truth now Divinely revealed"

As we embark on this expedition together, we are seeking out the mystery of becoming authentic: the real, genuine article. No more facades, no more games, no more pretensions, just the me God made me to be.

In Genesis, when God made Adam and Eve in His image, they were as authentic as they could be. By the time Genesis 3 rolled around and sin entered their lives, they began to hide themselves and create a new self complete with their own set of fig leaves. We have created some elaborate fig leaves ourselves haven't we?

At the end of Chapter 3 God speaks to the Trinity and banishes Adam and Eve from the garden....punishment? protection? Both? I would say both because certainly we suffer consequences for our sin but the clincher is this protection thing....but think about it: God said that if they ate of the tree of life, they would live forever in their fallen state and He didn't want that for any of us! So He banished them from the garden to protect them from eating of the Tree of Life and living forever in their fallen state.

The rest of the Bible then, is God's pursuit of our hearts to help us (through Jesus' life example, death, and resurrection as well His deposited Holy Spirit) get back to our original state....authentic. That's why we never hear of the Tree of Life again until Revelation when we are perfected and authenticated in the presence of our Savior and we eat and live forever with Him in our original, authentic state! (awesome, huh?)

So, here we are standing on one side of a big canyon looking to the other side, which is where we want to be.....totally authenticated. And there's a choice to be made: will I jump off into this tunnel of chaos filled with good and bad to get to the other side, trusting that God's got me and is with me through it all or will I shrink back and stay right where I am?

Oh how I pray that you would choose to risk it all and allow your Savior to take you on a mystery....of Divinely revealing truth that was once previously hidden so that He can authenticate you.

And going on this journey is HUGE! For one, you will grow and become more and more genuine....closer and closer to your original design. You will become whole and holy. Holy does NOT mean "holier-than-thou"; those people turn most everyone's stomach! Holy means I am totally and completely God's, just as when I married Dale, I became totally and completely Dale's and therefore am careful where I go and who I talk to and what I do and say because I am Dale's and would not want to jeopardize our relationship in any way. That's holy.

Secondly, according to Colossians 1:26 this mystery (once previously hidden but now Divinely revealed) is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Let's dissect our words: Christ in you (He lives in you by the power of the Holy Spirit who has been deposited into your life to help you become holy, authentic , your original design) the hope (not a wish but a confident expectancy) of glory (the essence of something). Now, let's put it together: CHRIST LIVING IN YOU IS THE CONFIDENT EXPECTANCY THAT THE ESSENCE OF WHO GOD IS WOULD SHOW FORTH FROM YOUR LIFE!!!! So your journey is so much more than just about your healing and wholeness as huge and awesome as that is! It is about your husband, your children, your extended family, and all of those in your sphere of influence!!!

So, are you ready to jump in with both and run hard after the heart of your Maker to re-create His glory in you? Will you do whatever it takes to press in to let Him authenticate you? Let's do it together for His Glory and our joy!