This is a season of God removing the chaff in our own hearts. Clearing the fields inside so that He can grow and restore. He is clearing out the interference within our minds so we can hear and see Him more clearly. This is a necessary process…and reflects the process the earth will go through in time. One day He will clear the threshing floor and all the chaff will be sent to the fire…
“I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me comes One Who is more powerful than I, Whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will clear His threshing floor, gathering His wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” Matthew 3:11-12
He is using a time of refining within His church, I believe, to bring us to a place where we care for the lost more…and are able to minister to them without so much pride in our hearts…a place where we put a higher value on sharing the gospel than just tending to our own lives. A time when we stop having parent-centric homes and develop into true families, each preferring the other and serving each other. It’s time to be transformed into the “Church”.
When I say “parent-centric” I mean…our lives aren’t all about us…we have a spouse and children and should work for the greater good of the whole family. It’s not about how much alone time or space I think I need…it’s about serving the family God gave me…as Christ served the church.
It’s time for God’s people to be healed and refined so we can work the great harvest.
There’s been a long season of the church…during which…everyone seemingly became obsessed with their own self-care. God cares for us, but we don’t have to be distracted from others in order to be cared for. Listen, I am filled most when I am also pouring into others.
Even though I am a major introvert most of the time, God is consistently drawing me to serve others in very specific ways. Ways that bring life to me, my family, and others. When we partner our emotional health, service to God, and balance of family with God, then we will be filled and not depleted.
Yes, I’ve had seasons of pulling away, but each one was at God’s direction and not for worldly self-care…they were seasons of refining. Refining needs to occur in each one of us…and not just one time…we are in a constant state of refining. But when I surrender to the process, there always comes a moment when God has me begin pouring into others again…
Refining, for me, has always led to pouring out more.
When I first got saved, I tried to pour out but needed a lot of change in my heart and mind, and quite honestly, I probably hurt others around me. I needed to discover my identity in Christ and to know why I was created and how that would function within His body. But it was through these mistakes that I discovered the truth and experienced the grace of God…learned to grow and forgive myself. Over the years, I’ve become more of an asset to God because I’ve grown through healing, being in His presence, and fully surrendering.
Surrender, that’s been quite the process.
My original version of surrender looked so different than it does today. When I first walked with Jesus, I had a very selfish and faulty view of surrender, but it was the best offering I had at the time. So, I offered. And through process, time, and revelation I’ve grown into seeing surrender is a daily choice.
Letting go of my circumstances and letting God move, requires full surrender. Releasing my agenda and my idea of success, has led to the greatest surrender of my whole life…and I feel so much more peace…the peace that surpasses all understanding.
I stand today, as one who is open handed, arms raised and fully released all my cares, dreams, wants, and desires to the Giver of all good things.
Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters. Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, Who does not change like shifting shadows. He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of first fruits of all He created. James 1:16-18
365 Days in the Presence 