Lord, Show Me More...

We can easily miss the gift of what’s right in front of us, especially beauty that’s part of our everyday lives. We can also easily miss the beautiful ways God works in and around us daily. But believers in Jesus can ask God’s Spirit to open our spiritual eyes so we can understand how He’s at work, as the apostle Paul wrote in his letter to the Ephesian believers. Paul yearned that God would give them the wisdom and revelation to know Him better (Ephesians 1:17). He prayed that their hearts would be enlightened so that they’d know God’s hope, promised future, and power (vv. 18–19).

God’s gift of the Spirit of Christ can awaken us to His work in us and through us. With Him, what may have once seemed like “just the office” can be understood as a place that displays His light and glory. Our Daily Bread for September 28th 2019

It's interesting that the place Our Daily Bread was today is where my Bible Plan has me today as well in Ephesians.  
I will admit that my mind was on other things earlier when I tried to return to sleep.  Things that I hope to accomplish today.  Things that happened yesterday.
Yet I am also reminded of something that I prayed years ago now that Jesus still grants today.  Show me more...

We get suckered and sucked into so much, so easily that we miss what Jesus wanted to share with us in this moment.
Ever think of that?  Of how Jesus shows up to spend time with you and you give him an excuse why you can't right now?
Come now, be honest, you're just as guilty of this as I am.  We give other things more of a priority than God. 
Now is where the rubber meets the road.

If you're going to finally be honest that is.
If you're going to face the truth that is.

You are attracted to all the wonderful lights and sounds and smells of everything except time with Jesus.

Years ago we went on a long vacation. It was one of my biggest in so long that I couldn't remember.  No radio. Nothing really on TV. No distractions of cars going by.  No noisy neighbors.  No police helicopters.  No medical vehicle's racing nearby.   Just the quiet peaceful sounds of God's creation, a beautiful sunrise and coffee.  Nothing between us and God. No distractions at all.  

Luke 14:16-24 NASB

But He said to him, “A man was giving a big dinner, and he invited many; and at the dinner hour he sent his slave to say to those who had been invited, ‘Come; for everything is ready now.’ But they all alike began to make excuses. The first one said to him, ‘I have bought a piece of land and I need to go out and look at it; please consider me excused.’ Another one said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out; please consider me excused.’ Another one said, ‘I have married a wife, and for that reason I cannot come.’ And the slave came back and reported this to his master. Then the head of the household became angry and said to his slave, ‘Go out at once into the streets and lanes of the city and bring in here the poor and crippled and blind and lame.’ And the slave said, ‘Master, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.’  And the master said to the slave, ‘Go out into the highways and along the hedges, and compel them to come in, so that my house may be filled. For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste of my dinner.’”

Jesus mentioned earlier in that book that we need to deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow Him.

We are easily manipulated by sin. By the devices of this world.  That's just putting it all out there as it is.

We get pulled so many directions it's not funny.  Jesus wants to you to spend time with Him.  He wants to teach you how to deal with life. To learn from Him. 

So look at what you do and why you do things.  Is a program on TV more important than a talk with Jesus?  Do you make the time for a 2 hour movie but can't find 1 hour on a Sunday Morning.  Do you find time for a football game but not even 15 minutes to share your heart with YOUR Savior?  Do you really look at how you are dressed?  Do really look at your behavior in front of the various people you encounter every day? 

Of course we don't.  If we did our country, let alone our Church wouldn't be in the shape it's in.

We wear outfits that boast of what is important to us. Yet we are afraid of others to see in whom we believe.  We would rather them see just how much more important it is to fit in with the world around us. 

It took and is still taking quite a bit for Jesus to prune off of me things that were not healthy for Spiritual growth. 

When He got me to a place where it was time, I asked to be shown more.  To be honest with you, I thought I would miss all the stuff and things that I used to consider important. 

I was reading in Isaiah 6 this morning too. Once the Lord directed an Angel to take a coal from the alter and touch Isaiah, and his sins were forgiven, his things in his world didn't matter.  Serving God did. He wasn't consumed by what his life revealed moments earlier when he realized all of his sin and what he was before a Holy God. 

Do you want to know more? Ask Jesus.
Do you want a life that's what He wants of you?  Ask Jesus.

When you die, all that goes with you is your lifes deeds. What you did, what you said, what you thought, all that was you is brought before Jesus. It will be put to the fire. What remains is up to you.

In Christ, those who are saved, will not lose their Salvation.  But every thought, secret intention and everything will be laid bare before Him.  There's no hiding anything.  Those not in Christ, those not saved, face the same.  Yet all of these will see that everything they did or tried to do could not save them.

What will your life reveal?

I find that the more I let go the more freedom that He grants.  The more I talk with Jesus the more peace He gives. 

If you really want to learn more, ask Jesus.

If you really want to see more, ask Jesus.

The stuff of this world doesn't compare.