As I look around the landscape of my heart, I see a tree. On that tree are many different cicada shells, left empty but clinging to the tree before eventually being swept away by the wind. Those are all the parts of my “old self”. Places where I have outgrown my once small thoughts on life and God. They are old mindsets that were bound by poverty spirit, religious thinking and boundaries within which I had required God to reside. Now, I eagerly shed this shell each time I find a new depth of His Presence. I no longer pretend to know His fullness, I only know the fullness that has been revealed to me thus far. I only hope to always be willing to see new depths my entire life. I never want to outgrow my awe of Him. I only want to outgrow the limitations I had previously placed upon my understanding of Him.
Do you?
Have you allowed God to break out of the mold you had placed Him in? Have you allowed His true Presence to be set free within your life? God is so much larger than anything we could hope or imagine. He is the Creator of the entire earth and all within it. Why then, do we place restrictions upon Him? Why do we decide what is Him, or not? Shouldn’t we simply ask Him instead?
He moves in mysterious and sometimes unusual ways. Those are the things I’ve learned to love most about Him.
Take some time to meditate on the following scriptures and see what God has to say to you about them….
This is what the Lords says- the Holy One of Israel and your Creator: “Do you question what I do for My children? Do you give Me orders about the work of My hands? I am the one who made the earth and created the people to live in it. With my hands I stretched out the heavens. All the stars are at My command. I will raise up Cyrus to fulfill My righteous purpose, and I will guide his actions. He will restore My city and free My captive people- without seeking a reward! I, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, have spoken!” This is what the Lord says: “You will rule the Egyptians, the Ethiopians, and the Sabeans. They will come to you with all their merchandise, and it will all by yours. They will follow you as prisoners in chains. They will fall to their knees in front of you and say, ‘God is with you, and He is the only God. There is no other.’” Truly, O God of Israel, our Savior, You work in mysterious ways. All craftsmen who make idols will be humiliated. They will all be disgraced together. But the Lord will save the people of Israel with eternal salvation. Throughout everlasting ages, they will never again be humiliated and disgraced. For the Lord is God, and He created the heavens and earth and put everything in place. He made the world to be lived in, not to be a place of empty chaos. “I am the Lord,” He says, “and there is no other. I publicly proclaim bold promises. I do not whisper obscurities in some dark corner. I would not have told the people of Israel to seek me if I could not be found. I, the Lord, speak only what is true and declare what is right. Isaiah 45:11-19
365 Days in the Presence 