Come Alive!

I hear my Abba’s still, small voice:

“My precious child, I have searched your heart and I have known you since before you were ever born. I am the One who knows when you sit down and when you rise up. I understand your thoughts better than you understand them yourself. I see where you walk, what you eat, and when and where you sleep. I am indeed well acquainted with all of your ways, so much so that I know what you will say before you know it yourself. I surround you with My presence and My hand of blessing is upon you.

“And yet, somehow,
you feel that I don’t notice you
and that you cannot really find Me.”

“I am with you, dear one. Christ is in you. Pursue this reality! I have truly given you everything you need for life and godliness. There is no need to look everywhere else when I have already deposited Myself on the inside of you. When you came to Me, My Holy Spirit took up residence inside of you as a deposit of the great and glorious inheritance that is already yours in Christ Jesus. Your challenge is not where to look for Me—but that I am already found in you and you know it not!

“This condition can be remedied, for those who search for Me with their whole hearts will always find Me. Check your heart, beloved, and see where your loyalties have become divided. Are you trying to straddle two worlds? Are you torn between ways of living and ways of thinking? Are you tossed this way and that with every wind of opinion or wave of circumstance? This need not be!

“Come to Me in the quiet place. Let Me be your strong tower. I am your refuge. My shield of favour already surrounds you. Open My Word and delight in it and you will always find Me there. Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal Truth to you. Truth is a Person and His Name is Jesus Christ! Become a disciple who follows the Master so closely that you feel His warmth in the footprints you follow. Hunger and thirst after righteousness every day and you will be filled every day. Remind yourself that Jesus Christ is the Living Water and the Bread of Life. As you feed on His Presence in your life you will sense your whole being—body, soul, and spirit—come alive in strength and purpose. Pursuing Christ is your purpose, for as you do this your life will glorify the Father who is in Heaven.

“This is a simple assignment that you must follow every day if you are to live in the fullness of what was gained for you at the cross. It is also monumental, for it requires changing your thinking, rearranging your priorities, and cleansing your perceptions of what life is all about. I am less concerned with what you do than I am with who you are—in Me. As you grow in your relationship with Me, you will find your desires coming in line with My will for you. Submit to this process with heartfelt diligence—it is, after all, your fullness of life that is at stake. To simply follow a list of things to do or not do is to trivialize your life into bits and pieces of performances about this and that. No—that is not My desire for you. I am deeply interested in who you are becoming on the inside—your character. As you spend more and more time with Me, you will take on more of My nature and more of My character.

“Are you willing to follow Me so closely that your journey leads you to discover who it is that I have created you to be? Isn’t this what you are really looking for? Accept no substitutes. The world is full of counterfeits when it comes to suggesting how you might live your life. Choose what is true and authentic. You will only find the real you when you follow the real Me. I love you dearly, child. I am your Abba, and I want you to reach your greatest potential in the life you have been given to live. My love for you has made this possible, for in Christ all things are possible.”

References
Psalm 139; Zephaniah 3:17; 2 Peter 1:3; Colossians 1:27; 1 Corinthians 1:24; 2 Corinthians 1:21-22; Philippians 4:13; Galatians 2:20; James 1:2-8; Mark 6:31; Psalm 61:3; Proverbs 18:10; 2 Samuel 22:3; Psalm 46:1; Psalm 5:12; Psalm 84:11; John 14:26; Psalm 119:30; John 14:6; Matthew 5:6; John 4:11; John 7:38; Revelation 7:17; John 6:35; Philippians 3:12-14; Romans 12:1-2; Philippians 4:8; Philippians 4:13; Deuteronomy 4:29; 2 Chronicles 16:9

© Carol Schafer 2020