The past few days, I have felt such a simplicity wash over me. I keep feeling really innocent. When I led worship over the weekend, I felt such a purity in the room. Such an innocent delight and joy.
I believe we are at a place of returning to our first love. A return to that innocent childlike faith that first drew us to God’s heart.
As we grow and mature in God, we should not become more adult, rather in the upside-down Kingdom, we should become more innocent and childlike. But I feel like that’s not often the case.
I’m not saying we never mature, but I am saying that as my walk has matured, my relationship with God has become much more simple. Every day it seems I realize that I am shaking off one shackle after another and stepping further into the Father’s heart. Realizing that He doesn’t demand all that I was taught, as a child. Now I see Him through a much clearer view. I see more and more of the simplicity of the Kingdom and I desire to just be with Him. No pomp and circumstance, no need for others to see or approve. I simply need Him.
I feel the Father drawing you to Him. He is beckoning you to lay down your version of mature, and to instead draw nearer to His heart. He just wants to be with you.
It’s kind of like marriage. When Chris and I were first married, we enjoyed the simplest things together and over time, we sort of lost that for a while. We both felt like we should be doing more elaborate things together and began to overlook the simple. Now we have found our way back. We have found our way back to enjoying the moment. The simple conversation. The everyday moments. We have found our way back to a simple kind of love.
Isn’t it often like that with the Father? In our desperation to grow nearer to Him, we can begin overcomplicating things and they sort of make us lose touch with the very One we were pursuing to begin with.
I pray that today you would take time to return to the Father as a child. See yourself crawling into His lap and simply sitting. Enjoy making eye contact with Him and simply smelling Him or being in His presence. Lean back upon His chest and listen to His heartbeat. He loves you so.
The Lord is gracious and righteous; our God is full of compassion. The Lord protects the simplehearted; when I was in great need, He saved me. Be at rest once more, O my soul for the Lord has been good to you. Psalm 116:5-7 (NIV)
How kind the Lord is! How good He is! So merciful, this God of ours! The Lord protects those of childlike faith; I was facing death, and He saved me. Let my soul be at rest again, for the Lord has been good to me. Psalm 116:5-7 (NLT)
365 Days in the Presence 