Recently I was praying to God and asking him for supernatural energy, grace, and love. As I finished praying, a thought came to mind that really got me thinking.
I realized a lot of us pray to God for things like patience, joy, mercy, love, etc. We’re always asking to be more like Him. In fact a lot of my prayers and conversations with God end with me pleading with the Lord to give me pieces and parts of who He is. I love God and I want to be a reflection of who He is and what He represents to His people.
The Lord opened my eyes to this unique revelation about what it looks like to be an overflow of who He is. I can look back and confidently say that for many seasons of my life I begged and pleaded the Lord to change my heart, give me grace, and guide my steps. But I didn’t really, truly, know God. Sure, I knew God is the God of grace, mercy, and love, but I never really sat with him and experienced it for myself. I knew God loved me, but I never seriously asked him how he felt about me. There’s a profound beauty in asking God, “what do you think of me? Lavish me with thoughts of who I am to you, God!”
The more and more I walk with the Lord, the more I understand that it’s impossible to be an authentic extension of grace, mercy, and joy if you’ve never experienced it yourself at the throne of God. Once you’ve truly encountered the love of God you’ll never be the same, and it’s reflected in every part of your life. The Lord has been reminding me in all sorts of different ways this year that everything starts with simply being with Him. If I’ve never felt the love of God I can’t really love people well. If I’ve never felt that God has extended me incredible grace, I can’t exemplify it in my own life. When we know the Lord intimately, we become this beautiful, overflowing vessel of who He is. We start to embody Christ and become Earthly representations of Jesus. Everything changes. You no longer operate on your own fuel, but you become an overflowing cup fueled by God himself.
God is grace. God is love. God is mercy. God is joy. God is acceptance. God is forgiveness. God is faithful. God is mercy. If I don’t really know God, if I don’t allow myself to sit at the foot of the cross and dwell in His presence and experience these things for myself, I can’t be an overflow of His grace, love, and mercy. Think about it, how can I be like someone I know nothing about? How can I imitate someone when I don’t even know what their voice sounds like?
It’s the same story, just rewritten; intimacy with the Father is what it’s all about. When you know the Father, you have the ability to walk in unexplainable joy, incredible love, and unending grace because it’s an outpouring of what God the Father already posses. It’s unexplainable because it’s supernatural. It’s not of us, but of the God that dwells inside of us.
This is has been one of the most exhausting months of my race. Aside from a lot of international travel, my team spent the first part of the month working with sex trafficking victims which took an emotional toll on many of us. We’re now doing 8-12 hour days of manual labor which is now taking a physical toll on our bodies. I simply can’t be an overflow on my own strength. I need to constantly allow the Lord to pour into my soul, fill me up, and rejuvenate me. I need to sit with the Lord and allow him to speak to me and shower me with genuine affirmation so that my cup will spill out and pour onto others.
Psalm 23:5 “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.”
Whether I’m walking through the darkest wilderness, or dancing on top of a mountain, my cup overflows because I’m whole in the presence of God. I love God and I’m loved by God. I’m intimately intertwined with my Creator and I know His voice. John 10:27: “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.”
The beauty of the this incredible love story between Creator and Creation is that we don’t have to always be trying to love people well, we don’t have to try to be whole and have everything together, we don’t have to be anything. The story doesn’t end like that, it ends with boldly entering into the presence of God and knowing him intimately. I become an overflow of who Jesus is when I experience Him and His faithfulness in lavishing me with grace, love, and acceptance.
