In October I wrote 3 blogs about an ongoing lesson the Lord had been teaching me. Part of that lesson was a challenge to give up somethings that I had let become very important in my life. For this blog to make more sense I encourage you to read the 3 part blog entitled "its a matter of life and death" but for a short recap… In Thailand (september 2012), as a squad, we asked the Lord to show us anything that stood in the way of knowing Him more. For me He said it was how I spent my time, the way I let fear make many of my decisions, and how much I held onto my possessions. I didn't know what it would look like to give up those things, but I knew the Lord is always good, so I agreed and trusted Him to teach me to walk that out in my life.
After that, while in Malaysia, I went through a rather dry season. I didn't feel the Lord's presence, and I felt like I was failing as a new team leader. For some reason that month I felt like I wasted more time than any of the other previous months on the race. I always found something else to do other than just sit at Jesus' feet. Also, I didn't feel like I could take any risks since it was a closed country and I couldn't share the gospel or pray for people in public. So I had agreed to give up those things to the Lord, but here I was still holding on to them.
One night, our team was worshipping together and I asked the Lord what He would say to us about our last 2 weeks in Malaysia. He gave me several scriptures.
Proverbs 2 & 3. We have to diligently search for wisdom and understanding.
And Hebrews 11:6. God rewards those who diligently seek Him.
And Psalm 34:8-10. We will lack no good thing when we seek Him.
So here we were… as a squad we had all given up so much for Him. We had all left our life at home. We had given up our favorite foods, our friends, our cars, our houses, our families… for a season, and now many of us have also given up many of the material possessions that we had brought with us on the race because we put too much dependence on them, and we have deleted any music or movies that we got from friends and didn't pay for because God calls us to be Holy and above reproach. But… the question is "have we filled that empty space with God?" I had not.
He reminded me of the man in Matthew 12: 43-45 who had gotten rid of the unclean spirit living inside of him and he swept and cleaned and everything looked nice, but then that spirit came back because there was room for him and he brought more with him.
The point that the Lord showed me in that verse is that if we give up all this stuff, but don't in turn fill the empty space with Him then it was pointless to give it up. In giving it up it creates a hunger for more of the Lord, but if we try to satisfy that with anything other than Him we will be right back where we were before.
There is so much of Him to tap into, so much of Himself He will readily give if we are hugry, thirsty and ready. Lets be thirsty fo Him. Lets desire more of Him than anything else. And then, let the Lord fill that desire in us rather than stuffing ourselves on the things of the world any more. Be FILLED with Him so we can pour it out on those around us.
1 cor. 13:3
"If I give away all that I have and if I deliever up my body to be burned but have not Love, I gain nothing."
Philippians 3:7-10
"But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my lord, for whom I have suffered teh loss of all things, and count them as rubvbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death,"
