CassieIf you will but trust Christ, not only for the death He died in order to redeem you, but also for the life that He lives and waits to live through you, the very next step you take will be a step taken in the very energy and power of God Himself. You will have begun to live a life which is essentially supernatural, yet still clothed with the common humanity of your physical body, and still worked out both in the big and the little things that inevitable make up the lot of a man who, though his heart may be with Christ in heaven, still has his two feet firmly planted on the earth. –Major Ian Thomas
Did you know that eagles spend merely 4% of their time in the air flapping their wings? The other 96% consists of just resting, floating, relying on thermals in the air to carry and completely move them.
But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew [their] strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; [and] they shall walk, and not faint. ISAIAH 40:31
Over a year ago, the Lord Jesus began a work in me that brought me to His cross of redemption of sins and accepting His working, perfect, eternal Spirit within me.
On a day that I will never forget, in which by His Spirit I more truly than ever before recognized my need for a Saviour and the decaying of my mortal body, my pet fish, Walter, died. God used the death of that fish to bring me to my knees and demonstrate the kind of death to my self and my flesh that would take place in order to accept His Spirit and live by Him.
Remembering that the counter-Truth of Christ’s gospel is a “do-better, try harder” attitude, for Christ calls us to know Him and rest in His presence and allow His Spirit, which He gives WITHOUT LIMIT (John 3:34), to just receive who He is and what He’s doing and the Truth that HE moves on our behalf.
And since truly accepting and asking His Spirit to dwell within me, He has little by little been working in and through me for His sake.
Calling me to repentance,
Showing me that He works through my human weakness to reveal His strength,
Revealing Himself to me in radical and ordinary ways, always seemingly miraculous but also simply Truth.
This past weekend, I woke up and felt a little anxious. I had, for the first time in a months, a day ahead of me with absolutely no plans. Not even a to-do list made up. I was tempted to write one, but convicted to pray. And so I spent my morning with Jesus, and Jesus guided my day for His sake.
With no fleshly plans in the way, I was by His grace in tune with His operation through me all day long.
By the Lord Jesus, I got to know my beautiful roommate Mary’s boyfriend, Aaron, and his precious heart for Him more than I ever have. I even grew closer with Mary in the time we all got together. And Mary’s friend, Jill, came over, and I learned from the Holy Spirit in her and lived in JOY with these blessings of people.
Joy.
The Lord has taught me the value of HIS PRESENCE AND NOTHING ELSE. For whatever we mourn in giving to HIM, will have its time again if it is Jesus’ will. And when we live in faith that this is true, we do not fear giving anything up.
Such as my life on the altar (the only place “my life” can ever be).
Such as my fish.
And so, that same day, I ended up somehow someway (Jesus Christ the Lord!) at a pet store with Mary, Aaron, and Jill, and left with a beautiful blue and red fish whose name is very clearly Joy.
We stopped in a market and I had Joy in her jar in my hands. Joy caught people’s attention and I could not stop smiling at her and making eye contact in smiles with others, often laughing. A man carrying a jar of pickles exclaimed, “You have a fish!”
“I have a fish!” I replied, “You have a jar of pickles!”
“I have a jar of pickles!”
Your JOY no one will take from you” (JOHN 16:12).
Yes. Because when we have the advocate of Christ Jesus dwelling within us, we have the ONLY eternal source of joy dwelling within us. And this is REAL. And He is TRUE. And He WORKS, AND MOVES.
Jesus, I lay down my crowns.
