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"Come follow me and I will make you fishers of men." Matthew 4:19

Tag: God’s Breath

Sacred Spaces.

July 17, 2021 /
MaryEllen Montville

“God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us” –Acts 17:27.

“For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: to an unknown god. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship—and this is what I am going to proclaim to you. “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else” –Acts 17:23-25.

I love God’s written Word. It reveals His character and His kindness to Me. It has the power to remove scales from my eyes, and it softens areas in my heart I never even knew existed. God’s Living Word enables me to drink deeply and often from the very Source of my life.

I love meeting God in His Word, discovering Him there, being drawn into the very depths of Him.

Understanding His Justice and being ever thankful for the laws He gave, all that I might live free, safe, and protected. He is a Loving, intimate, deeply caring Father. A Father who, according to His Word, so loved me, so wanted to ensure that nothing, here and now, nor in eternity, ever separated us, that He gave His only Son in exchange for me, to demonstrate the depth of that love. He then placed His Holy Spirit in me, into this clay vessel, as surely as if He had slipped an engagement ring on my finger. Because He did, He has—I Am my Beloveds, and He is mine. “But God proves His own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us!” –Romans 5:8.

And yet, I also love those Kairos moments when I’m lost in Him.

When God sends His Spirit to enliven that one Word or sentence, when eternity lays exposed for the briefest of seconds, opening my understanding and forever changing me. These moments leave in their wake some intuitive understanding that I’ve just been given a most precious gift. A Pearl of Great Value. Some intimate “knowing” of Him. And all because I serve this Beautiful, Wonder-filled, personal God who loves me and desires that I know Him through His Word and His Spirit both. Relationally—Spirit and Truth, One.

My God, our Father, desires for us, all of us, to want Him, long to be with Him; He wants us to seek His face, look deeply into His eyes as only lovers do, and to witness the unplumbed depth of Him—to be one with Him. And no, I am by no means suggesting that a Pure and Holy God relates to us sexually. But what I am saying is this. The highest form of oneness expressed via human intimacy is between man and wife. And so, our God deigns to bend down to our level and use a language that will leave no doubt in our minds as to the depth of the connection He seeks with us, His beloved. The Song of Solomon is replete with such language and imagery. Solomon penned his love letter to his betrothed, the Shulamite woman. It foreshadows the intimate connection, the sacred love bond between Christ, our King, and His beloved bride. Listen to the bride’s heart-cry to her beloved: “Take me away with you—let us hurry! Let the king bring me into his chambers” –Song of Songs 1:4

Jesus Himself shared this Truth of the Father’s desire for such intimate connection with a Samaritan woman while talking with her near a well. A Truth as radical, liberating, as tradition-shaking, chain-breaking, and ceiling-raising as He Himself was when He walked amongst us—as He is, still. “But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth” –John 4:23-24.

Friends, our God doesn’t parcel Himself out to us. A wink here, a nod there. No, He is an exceedingly, abundantly, more than we can ever think or image, God. A God who still desires you and me. To be with us—Emmanuel, and to be seen by us. And though no longer with us in the flesh, now He openly shows Himself daily, through His creation. That we might catch some glimpse of His love and tender care for us through what He has created for us—wooing us to fall more and more in love with Him because of our seeing Him ever before us. “Of old You founded the earth, And the heavens are the work of Your hands. “Even they will perish, but You endure; And all of them will wear out like a garment; Like clothing You will change them and they will be changed. “But You are the same, And Your years will not come to an end” –Psalm 102:25-27.

“Sacred Spaces.” These two words have been stirring in my belly for the past several weeks now. These places God has created, carved out, that He might transcend time and space as we under it and intimately unveil Himself, show some aspect of Himself, His favor or will, His goodness, mercy, or great love, some personal attribute of His, to you and me. Imagine! Yet this awareness of sacred spaces isn’t new to me; only God has enlivened it, breathed on it, allowing me to see afresh, something I have been aware of for many years. I’ll explain.

From the beginning, literally, in Genesis 2, verse 8, we witness God create a sacred space to fellowship with His children, His beloved. A place to meet with them, sharing, displaying the many facets of Himself that they might witness Him, and drink Him in. Creator God. Abba God. God, our Provider. The Omniscient and Omnipotent God. A Tender, Merciful, Loving Father. The Sole Giver of every good and perfect gift. Supreme Artist and Author. A Jealous Lover of His own, to name but a few. And because of who He is, has proven Himself, shown Himself to be from the beginning. From somewhere back before, He stood over the dark void when He chose me in Himself before the very foundation of the world has even lain. Faithful and True, time and time and time again; I stand firmly on, and take deep comfort in, the Truth found in Matthew 28:20: “…surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age”.  

Knowing this Truth, believing it, assures me that contrary to how I may feel on any given day, my ability to sense Abba’s nearness, or not, God is nevertheless closer to me than my own breath.

Still, there are moments and places where, whether for seconds or minutes, maybe hours sometime, God pulls back the veil, and His palpable presence surrounds me—is undeniably with me. And, because of His being “with me,” all else melts away, is melting away still—especially time. I wonder if Adam and Eve ever felt this way when God walked with them in the cool of the day?

So, whenever I am blessed to catch the sunlight settling on some leaf, setting it ablaze, transforming its everydayness into something fiery, glowing, and alive. Or when the full weight of the sun gives itself over to the surface of the water, and a trillion sparkling tiny diamonds bursting forth because of that union. Or when the branches dance just so with the wind. When the morning birdsong fills the air swirling about my backyard, or when I float on my back in the sea, imagining it is God’s own hands, not buoyant force, at work cradling me—upholding me. When the intoxicating fragrance of some flower awakens something in me, allowing me to catch some watered-down heavenly scent of the prayers of the saints that have clung to Him as He passed before me. Sacred spaces each of these; places where God dropped a ladder from heaven to earth, and, in so doing, the things of heaven mingled with earth for one sacred moment, transforming everything in its wake. I know I have witnessed some aspect of my Jesus in those moments.

I know my God has revealed Himself to me in the way only dear and trusted friends do with each other, drawing me ever deeper into Himself as a result. “Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known” –Jeremiah 33:3.

So let me ask you: “Has the Lord been in your midst, wooing you, loving you, calling out for you to come and sit awhile with Him? Has He carved out some sacred space for the two of you to meet, and, like Adam and Eve maybe, you hid from His nearness?” Feared coming too close to His Beauty, His passion for you—His presence? If so, you’re in good company. Moses feared meeting the Lord face to face too. Yet before you turn away entirely, consider this, please. The very God that created you wants you, all for Himself! And He wants you to have an eternal, loving, and wide-open relationship with Him.

Lorraine Espenhain says this concerning God’s wanting us for Himself: How swift was Heaven’s intervention in the day His jealousy was aroused, when He saw you loving, needing, trusting, desiring, enjoying, and reaching out for something other than Him! From His temple He saw you giving to another what solely belonged to Him, and His jealousy was ignited in Heaven. Said scripturally: “I belong to my beloved, and his desire is for me” –Song of Solomon 7:10.

How awesome and humbling it is to know that our God loves us with such a fierce, intimate, and passionate love. That He created—creates still, these sacred spaces, these transformational moments in time when His Holy Spirit overshadows us—Mary-like, enabling us to conceive of Him—some part of Him alive in us! The impossible made possible. A miracle for sure. God allowing mere men to take inside of themself their Creator! Who but God could make such a thing happen! To enable finite man to take into himself the Divine. The Apostle Paul said it this way: “But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us” –1 Corinthians 4:7. And who but God could weave together the 66 books of the Bible, threading the 39 books of the Old Testament seamlessly into the 27 books of the New Testament?

Dear friend, if you’ve yet to experience this kind of love, this God who so loved you that He made sure you’d be reading this today so that you might ask Him to show Himself real to you right now. He’s patiently waiting just for you. His creation leaves us without excuse on that day; every man will stand before the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. So won’t you come to Him now? “The heavens are telling of the glory of God; And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands. Day to day pours forth speech, And night to night reveals knowledge” –Psalm 19:1-2.

“Your Future is Safe…” 1 Sam. 9:24

May 21, 2017 /

“And the cook lifted high the shoulder and what was on it [indicating that it was the priest’s honored portion] and set it before Saul. [Samuel] said, See what was reserved for you. Eat, for until the hour appointed it was kept for you, ever since I invited the people. So Saul ate that day with Samuel.” 1 Samuel 9:24: Emphasis my own.

No man can take or cancel out the plans God has for your life.  So, I’m here to say hold on! Just keep doing what God has for you to do, because what He has stored up for you is safely waiting—just for you. Don’t believe me?  Ask Saul, Abraham, or Moses. Talk a minute with The Woman at the Well. They’ll each confirm that what I’m advising you is not only right, but that it’s Truth.

If you have walked with the Lord for any length of time then I am confident of your awareness of this one fact. The ‘suddenly’ moments that occur as a result of God’s will for your life. The almost whiplash-like speed wherein God will bring whatever change, person, or shift in life-events that is needed into your life, in order that you are kept—or perhaps realigned back into, both the center of His will and Divine timing. Mind you, these quick shifts don’t happen daily. At least not to our conscious understanding; though, they are always happening around us…

What I mean is simply this. The very—literal second, God spoke, or thought the words, “Let there be,” while He was yet hovering there over the deep void, there was suddenly, an, “and there was” moment. A response to His command. It must happen that way (Isa. 55:11). The very second His Hands scooped a bunch of dirt together into a mound, shaped it, and then blew His Rauch (Life-giving Spirit) Breath into it, all that He spoke—intended, came forth. Was birthed (Gen. 2:7). And, contained within those—His same Words—same creations, was seed. Promise, potential—the future. A future that’s ever expanding, ever unfolding, it’s right there. Always illusively before us. A certain mirage. And we, foolishly forget, daily—or for days, weeks and months, that this same future is not entirely under our control…

We have a certain say, surely—but not control. We are not the One who stood over the void, or formed the dirt with our own hands…

I think Saul must have felt something similar on this day. Then again, I’m pretty certain, being a fellow human being, that Abraham, Moses, and, The Woman at the Well, each felt similarly too. Each had experienced this suddenly moment with God. And, if you’ve experienced a suddenly moment in your walk with the Lord, you know exactly what it is I’m talking about. If not, just give it a minute it will happen. It’s that second where your life is moving along smoothly, familiar—like an easy rhythm. You hum half unaware, a very sing-song cadence that follows one step behind you as you move about. Then, with just one step, a shift, of what, you’re not quite sure, happens and you find yourself in a life that kinda reminds you of your own, but is now completely different. New. It’s both terrifying—yet enlivening!

There’s just enough of ‘you’, and those things familiar in and around you, that remain constant for a time, no radical instant changes—usually. So, you’re not left feeling entirely disoriented. Rather, you’re just mildly thrown for a loop. Wobbly. Mind you, this is not a bad thing. Though in its initial stages it may certainly feel as if it is. What is this thing? This strange happening? Some call it Transition. Some, going from grace to grace. Some, a divine upgrade, and others yet, being moved—positioned, into your destiny. Your nest is being stirred. God is doing a New Thing…

Whatever you call it, this one thing is certain. It is a stark reminder that your life is not your own…

We know this, as Christians I mean. We’ve read it in our Word, heard it preached from the pulpit—said it ourselves to others. We take great comfort in knowing that we serve a God and Father who orders our steps, watches out over us, has a plan and purpose for our lives. But we too often forget it. Until…

For Saul, he was just going out to look for his father’s lost donkey’s, He had no idea that he would return the King of Israel. (1 Sam.9-10). For Abraham, seemingly out of nowhere, God calls this Abraham to leave his country—his father, all that he had known, and head out to some undisclosed location. And so, at 75 years old he goes. He takes his promise from God—his obvious faith, his wife, nephew, and some of his possessions and sets out. And Moses, well he was just standing there on Mount Horeb, perhaps whistling, playing a lyre, maybe taking a lunch break while caring for his father-in-law’s flocks,

when suddenly a fire breaks out in a nearby bush. In itself, this is not a strange occurrence in this part of the world. But this bush had a strange-looking fire. It wasn’t burning the bush itself, it was a fire that did not consume. And then it went from strange to stranger still—God started talking to Moses from within the very fire that was not burning up this bush! And—suddenly, Moses is sent to free God’s people from the grip of the Pharaoh of Egypt where they’ve been living as slaves (Exo.3:7-21).

And, lastly, this no-named woman we meet at Jacob’s well.  Much like Saul, Abraham, and, Moses before her, she too is simply going about her normal day. She’d gone out the well to draw water. We can imagine her humming softly as she walked along the dusty road, her water jar perched atop her veiled head, eyes down cast. “Will you give me a drink?” six seemingly innocent words, a reasonable request from a person standing near a well—but these Words would change the trajection of her life, presumably, forever… (John 5:9-42).

So, I’ve said all of this to say what precisely?

Simply this, as I was reading the Word mentioned above—Samuel 9, this is what struck me. What, I believe the Holy Spirit was saying to me. Maybe to you too.

So please, eat the meat and spit out the bones…

We forget that He—God, has a plan for His children. And we forget, I forget, though we may stray—or go completely off track at times, He will always, always, use our missteps to get us to the place we’re intended to be (Rom. 8:28). And He reminded me that before He put me in a skin suit and gave me an earthly life, He had a plan for that life—a purpose. I was not random, you, are not random! (Jer. 29:11; 1 Cor. 12:18; John 14: 2-3; Phil. 1-6; 1 Peter 1:3-4; 2 Peter 1:3) …

And, He reminded me that though it may not always feel as though He’s close-at-hand, that He is in fact, always with me, with you (Matt. 28:20), always leading, clearing the way for, pruning, nourishing, praying for and protecting—directing us towards our God-appointed destination. And too, as with Saul, so it is with you and me. What He—God, has for us is for us— it has been appointed—stored up, is waiting—to be revealed at His appointed time. And nothing or no one can take that from us (vs.24).

And lastly, He said, “Watch for Me…”

Friend if the Lord is pulling at your heart, if any of this sounds even vaguely familiar—if it’s resonating with, then please, pray. Ask for conformation. God will always confirm His Word. Ask the Lord what it may mean for you—personally, specifically, now, in this season.

 

And then do as He commanded, “Watch for Me…”

Blessings.

“Ruach” Ezekiel 37:1-14

April 2, 2017 /

What struck me as I began to unpack this trove of Scripture was its Triune nature. He is a Sovereign God, a relational God, and, He is Also an Omnipotent God. As I dug into these verses, The Holy Spirit began revealing a mere hint of the unplumbed depths of the God contained within them.

Of His immensity, the enormity of His love…

How He embraces His creation as He did His Cross—because they are one-in-the-same.

And, almost Immediately my mind went to The Gospel of John.

There we’ll witness that it is this same God who stood over the then blank canvas of creation, that had also communed with Ezekiel in his vision. In John, we witness God standing over the very edge of the void using this same Ruach—Spirit, Life-Giving Breath, spoken of in Ezekiel, to speak all of life into existence—not just to these dry bones. “…Everything came into being through the Word, and without the Word nothing came into being. What came into being through the Word was life…” (John 1:3-4).

I find it extraordinary that such an All-Powerful and Holy God would deign to touch mere man. Yet clearly, as evidenced in the opening verse of our Scripture, He did—and still does. The Apostle Paul said it this way: But somewhere it is testified in these words: “What is man, that You are mindful of him, or the son of man, that You care for him” (Heb.2:6)? Ezekiel displays this type of awe when God asks him if these dry—these very dry bones he is witnessing, could ever live again. Within Ezekiel’s response, we witness pure truth. We are simply incapable of being wholly able to take in—fathom, such an All-Powerful God.

Yet we have faith. We who have a relationship with Him. We believe that He is all that He says He is. And, in fact, can do all that He says He can do.

Right off the bat in our Scripture, we witness not only the intimate, relational aspect of God, but we are re-membered with His creative power—witnesses to His Sovereign, unstoppable Will. This same Hand spoken of in this opening of Ezekiel 37 is the very same Hand that flung the stars into the sky—that hung both the moon and the sun. This Hand formed Adam of out dirt and then He blew this same Ruach Breath spoken of in Ezekiel, into him—so that he, like those dead bones, would also come to life.

God used Ezekiel to Prophesy to the dry bones. These bones were representational of children of Israel trapped in Babylonian exile—thinking that their situation was beyond hopeless (the very dry bones), and that their God was incapable of restoring them. Of keeping the promises He had made long ago…

Did the gods of Babylon (this world) have more power than the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob? That was the big question on the Israelite’s mind. collectively and individually at the time of Ezekiel’s writing.Had God forgotten them?

Can you relate? Do you ever feel like God has abandoned you—forgotten you exist? Do you ever feel like the gods of this world are winning? The gods of greed, violence, lies—the gods that destroy families and rob people of hope?

“Can these bones live?” Do you believe that I Am who I Am Ezekiel? I know that Israel has lost all faith in me, will you stand in the gap and have faith for them?

That is, in essence, what God was asking him—is asking you…

And within His answer we find a string of pure Truth that unites man’s reliance to God: “O Sovereign Lord, you alone know.”  God alone is Sovereign. Ezekiel acknowledged that yes, he did have faith in God’s ability to do all things—He knew that without God nothing in this death-valley could ever live again (Isa. 55:8).

“Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the Word of the Lord! This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones. I will make breath enter you and you will come to life. I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am Lord.’ 

Ezekiel obeyed the Lord and Prophesied exactly what God had instructed him to. And while Ezekiel was busy obeying the Lord’s Word, the Lord was busy doing what no man could ever do for His people.

Piece-by-piece, in His perfect time…

“And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone.” Ezekiel obeyed God, and God acted—but, God both had and has a specific and perfect time for all things. There is a Divine order to all of creation…

He said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, human one! Say to the breath, The Lord God proclaims: Come from the four winds, breath! Breathe into these dead bodies and let them live.” I prophesied just as he commanded me. When the breath entered them, they came to life and stood on their feet, an extraordinarily large company.”

Even though Israel had rebelled against the Lord, been taken captive and now were living in exile, God had not forgotten the promise He had made to them. And He was about to restore to everything that had been lost—everything their enemy had taken from them…

Listen: “So now, prophesy and say to them, The Lord God proclaims: I’m opening your graves! I will raise you up from your graves, my people, and I will bring you to Israel’s fertile land. You will know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and raise you up from your graves, my people. I will put my breath (Spirit; Life-Giving Breath) in you, and you will live. I will plant you on your fertile land, and you will know that I am the Lord. I’ve spoken, and I will do it. This is what the Lord says.”

God has brought you here today—now, just as He did Ezekiel, for a very specific purpose. First and always to remind you of, if you know Him, and to introduce you to, if you don’t, the Truth. That He alone is the Triune God. Sovereign, Relational, and Omnipotent.

And, to ensure that someone has told you that you are loved beyond the grandest of loves that you can imagine. And, that there is nothing—nothing, no circumstance, no sin, regardless how dire or unforgivable it may seem to others—or you, that can stop God from loving you and fulfilling the plan He has for your life—if you are His child.

He wants—more, came into this world, leaving all of Heaven behind, specifically to grab hold of His Cross as if it were a most valuable and precious lover—because it was, it was you. And He laid Himself down on it—unto the point of death, so that you would never have to stay in that hopeless valley of separation from Him. Or continue to live in fear and despair…

He brought you hear today to push aside all the doubts that plague you, those voices that say, “give up, it will never happen, it’s too late!” He sent me here to tell you that those voices are a lie!!

He alone is Sovereign—and commands the Breath of life! And today He has instructed me to speak to your very dry bones—your long dead hopes and dreams. He sent me to tell you to listen, soon and very soon you will hear the sound of rattling…

Take heart beloved, He has sent me to restore your hope—just believe, that’s your part, that those dreams, desires, and, hopes that once lived in that secret place within, though dry—even very dry, are not dead…

God has just spoken life into them and they will live…

“Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts” (Zech. 4:6 emphasis my own).

 

 

 

 

 

 

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