Hang In and Hang On

I'm in this season where nothing seems to stay the same for very long...and in the depths of discouragement I read this from My Utmost for His Highest...I hope it encourages you as it has me.

July 13, 2006

The Price of Vision

In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord . . . Isaiah 6:1

Our souls personal history with God is often an account of the death of our heroes. Over and over again God has to remove our friends to put Himself in their place, and that is when we falter, fail, and become discouraged. Let me think about this personally when the person died who represented for me all that God was, did I give up on everything in life? Did I become ill or disheartened? Or did I do as Isaiah did and see the Lord?

My vision of God is dependent upon the condition of my character. My character determines whether or not truth can even be revealed to me. Before I can say, "I saw the Lord," there must be something in my character that conforms to the likeness of God. Until I am born again and really begin to see the kingdom of God, I only see from the perspective of my own biases. What I need is Gods surgical procedure His use of external circumstances to bring about internal purification.

Your priorities must be God first, God second, and God third, until your life is continually face to face with God and no one else is taken into account whatsoever. Your prayer will then be, "In all the world there is no one but You, dear God; there is no one but You."

Keep paying the price. Let God see that you are willing to live up to the vision.

I continue to pray that despite whatever circumstances you are in whether good, bad, or indifferent that you will not lose sight of He who should be at the center of it all. I read an article on Natalie Grant (a contemporary Christian artist) and in the midst of discouragement she says that the Lord woke her up to reveal to her that her life is not her own, but it belongs to Him...it has always been His.

Have patience dear friends...press through the valley and wherever you are, be there...be all there. Don't try to be steps ahead of where He wants you and have Faith!

Original Post: July 13, 2006