Hill Country Thoughts

Posted by Paul on 20 Oct 2009 | Tagged as: General

“You are the canvas. The paint and brushes are the trials and pain! The Portrait is His Son.” Page 31 – The Night Shift – by Ron Mehl

I read this book back in the early part of 2005 and the quote above caught a hold of my heart because it is something that I really began to recognize or see taken place in my life in my walk with the Lord.

It has been through the dark night of the soul, through the battles, through the trials that I have and I am being changed by the Lord.

When it looked like nothing was happening, when it seemed so hopeless, that was the time that I was being made stronger, being molded and shaped in so many areas of my life!

It is amazing to look back now to the beginning when all the events happen. When it seemed I was being attacked from all sides.

From the chemotherapy, the radiation, the surgeries, the recoveries, the battles with social security and the unwanted divorce.

Yet out of all of this, the Lord has and is changing me, enabling me to walk with my head up, my heart open, knowing that I am becoming a portrait of Him.

Through the things that we go through, we are being conformed to Him. Molded and shaped to reflect the character, the love and the passion of the Lord. We are to be a portrait of Christ.

We are to be that canvas. To allow the trials and pains of our lives to be the paint brush that is used in our life to reflect Him.

The finished product, that which others will see, will be that which reflects the Lord, that they will see Christ within, to see the hope, the new life and the new beginnings He has given us.

That others will see the hope that is within.

For is it not all about Him?

Till later,

Paul

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First Love Lost?

To abandon, to dissert, to forsake, to remove, to give up, resign, relinquish, forsake, one who quits the service without permission and in violation of his engagement!

What does this have to do with love, especially first love? Jesus makes the following statement in the book of Revelation: “But I have this [one charge to make] against you: that you have left (abandoned) the love you had at first [you have deserted me, your first love.]“ (Revelation 2:4 – The Amplified Bible)

Charles “Chuck” Swindoll makes the following statement “…Jesus said, in effect. You left that love. You once had a love that was incorruptible, but you abandoned it. You once enjoyed a devotion that was constant, meaningful, satisfying. In fact, the warmth of your love transformed your thinking and your attitudes; it revolutionized the way you related to me, to your heavenly Father and to your brothers and sisters. But you cooled off.” (So You Want To Be Like Christ – Chapter 1 Page 7)

Sometimes it so easy to be sidetracked by the things of life, the things that we go through, that we lose sight of what it means to be in love with the Lord. We lose that passion, that hunger for the word, for the presence of the Lord. The zeal is gone and and the sad thing is, we don’t even realized it until it is almost too late.

As I look back now. I don’t regret what I have gone through because it has brought me back to the center of God’s will for my life. He has and is restoring my first love for Him. Oh, I am sure that there was a much easier path for me to have taken, but what has happen in my life, is what it took to get my attention.

That in loosing all, I have gained much. Through the trials, the surgeries, the divorce, the Lord reached out and drew me back to that first love relationship with Him, to begin to see things through His eyes. To have a new appreciation of my children, grand children, of all those in my life past and present.

As I began to focus on Him I began to see more clearly. He began to open my heart and life again, to reveal things that needed to be changed, removed. Things that hinder my relationship with Him, as well as with others.

It is so easy to take things for granted, whether it be people, things or the Lord. We become complacent in our relationships. We forget the “little” things in our relationships. The importance of the word love, or a hug or the encouragement that we give one another and then one day we wake up and wonder, what happen, how can this be?

In Revelation 2:5 we are told to remember. Think back, repent, change the inner man to meet God’s will. We are are told to remember the love, the passion that we had for the Lord. Allow the Holy Spirit to rekindle that fire, the passion for Him. To hunger after the word, the presence of the Lord.

Let us learn to dwell in that presence of the Lord. To abide in Him. That we can have an attitude of worship, of praise. That we can walk with the Lord daily in this present world. He is not a Father who is afar off. He is as close as we want Him to be. He desires our fellowship, our communion with Him. He delights, takes joy in us. He has chosen us, called us for a day such as this, that others might see the reality of the Christ within.

The Lord is calling us back, calling you, calling me, back to a place of intimacy, of a place of knowing Him, not just about Him. He is calling us back to a relationship, where He will reveal Himself to us!

He is calling us back to that First Love!

Till later,

Paul