“Stephanie, does your church sing Hillsong worship songs?” Alison said.
“I think so...” she replied.
“Stephanie...did you notice I just used the word your in reference to your church?”
“Yeah...that’s weird.”
That was just a small snippet of my conversation with
Stephanie as we got ready for church last Sunday. You see, from August 2001 to April 2007, her church was my church. My biblical foundations were laid in that church, I met my best friends at that church, I worked for that church, and my heart was broken and then healed again in that church. Now it’s not mine anymore.
When I moved away from that city in April 2007, I knew very clearly God was bringing me to my new city for a specific purpose and season. I quickly found a local church and fell in love with it! For awhile, I felt like I was a part of 2 church families; my old church as the church of my heart and my new church as the Church of my present. Slowly, so slowly in fact that I didn’t even know it happened, the church of my present has also become the church of my heart.
Last weekend the full-revelation of that transition really set in when I was visiting
Stephanie for her birthday. We spent the weekend visiting with friends, shopping, going to a game night at her co-worker’s house, and going to a service at her (my former) church. I had a lot of fun, but my favorite part of the weekend was the discussions we had about life, God, and everything in between. Through the weekend the reality set-in that the city wasn’t mine anymore, and I was OK with that! In fact, I was more than OK. I could finally look back with a full heart and mind of all the wonderful things that God gave me through that time in my life. Unfortunately, there was a period of time where all I saw were the hurts and frustrations, and I wasn’t afraid to share it with others. Maybe I’ll just chalk it up to self-preservation and defense mechanisms so it wouldn’t hurt so badly when I actually left. God is faithful to convict and give us the opportunity to be forgiven and to forgive. Thank you, God, for giving me the Holy Spirit to impart in me the strength I lack to do what is right.
43"No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. 44Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thorn bushes, or grapes from briers. 45The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.” Luke 6:43-46
Jesus clearly says in Luke 6 that what we speak is out of the overflow of our heart. In other words, what I store in my heart will eventually spill from my lips. Scary, huh? My recent prayers have been for God to show me how to walk in His sanctification, and I think the fruit of that prayer is starting to grow. Isn’t it encouraging when God shows us the answer to our prayers? I still have a long way to go, but these words of Oswald Chambers urge me to keep moving forward:
“Sanctification means the impartation of the holy qualities of Jesus Christ to me. It is the gift of His patience, love, holiness, faith, purity, and godliness that is exhibited in and through every sanctified soul. Sanctification is not drawing from Jesus the power to be holy— it is drawing from Jesus the very holiness that was exhibited in Him, and that He now exhibits in me. Sanctification is an impartation, not an imitation.”
Thank you, God for the peace, forgiveness and grace to walk the path you set before me.
Click
here to read the rest of his devotional of sanctification in Jesus life, and click
here to read his devotion of sanctification in Jesus’ death.
