We are being invited by our very good and tenderhearted Father to trust Him implicitly when there is much happening around us that feels so unstable and untrustworthy. Trusting in the goodness of our Father’s heart is the only place of real rest there is, but to do so means we have to surrender everything in us that wants to be afraid, kick & scream, lash out at others, judge, justify, hate, accuse and a hundred other destructive outcomes of not trusting and resting in God. Last Saturday during Blazing Fire’s online worship service, I asked you to take note of what’s been happening in your heart—your strong emotional reactions—especially over this past month with all the escalating tensions and narratives. It would be to your great advantage to ask the Lord to show you what you cannot see clearly without His help. We are being given a great gift by God to make us aware of what is robbing us of the abundant life Jesus said we would have. But this gift of self-awareness will be given only to those who chose to want it.
Here were the questions I posed:
* Do you have deep joy in your heart?
* Do you have a deep-seated peace in your heart?
* Where did fear get the better of you?
* Where did your fear lead to well-intentioned attempts to control what
seemed out of control and what did that look like?
* Where did you choose distance and disconnection, even with those you
were previously close with, in stead of seeing them through the eyes of
God?
* Where have we hated another person?
* If you say, "Well, I didn't actually hate them..." Okay then, where have you
not loved another with God's heart?
* Where are those reactions still occurring?
* How are you trying to justify them instead of humbling yourself, owning it
and asking for God's help to live His way instead of insisting on your own
way?
The goal of reflecting on these questions with the Lord isn’t to identify the problems and stop there. That would be fairly depressing. Instead, the Father’s goal for you is maturity, especially in the ways of love.
Be assured that the testing of your faith [through experience] produces endurance [leading to spiritual maturity and inner peace]. And let endurance have its perfect result and do a thorough work, so that you may be perfect and completely developed [in your faith], lacking in nothing. (James 1:3-4, AMP)
This Saturday I will be sharing some insights I’ve gleaned from my own journey in this maturing process that we’re all being invited into by God. I’m a co-learner with you, learning to be totally dependent on Holy Spirit’s power within.
Jesus is calling us further up and further in! Christ’s resurrection is your resurrection too. This is why we are to yearn for all that is above,
for that’s where Christ sits enthroned at the place of all power, honor, and authority!
Yes, feast on all the treasures of the heavenly realm and fill your thoughts with heavenly realities, and not with the distractions of the natural realm.
(Col. 3:1-2, TPT) | 
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