This might be a post never meant to be published. Because. Well. To be honest with you. I’m not the original source of the more important part of its content. Some personal stuff here at the beginning helps get me started but it was another author who wrote and shared the included devotional inspiration. I thank whoever they are with all of my heart! When I hit copy and paste, sadly, their name wasn’t included. My desire right now is to share it; transfer it to someplace “fresh”, someplace “safe”…to not leave it buried, to not acknowledge its impact on me. Most definitely to NOT leave it tucked deep in the bowels of my iPhone behind the obscure title, “20 November 2018”, which is when I first read…and then prayerfully followed thru with its exercise.
So many questioning, hungry, searching people need and long to see and experience for themselves the reality of The Full Gospel! Some things aren’t spoken of much, even in church circles, and I was taught “Holy Ghost things only happened during a certain period of time in the Bible”. That hasn’t been the crux of my own experience and I think it’s time I say so. Perhaps I’m just coming into my assignment in His Story. I wonder…Are there others like me who are not particularly common in any mainstream, and who not always comfortable and understanding of it, but most definitely housing a specific manifestation of Holy Spirit?!
What would happen if we became bolder in our transparencies, opened up more in our sharing, and stopped trying to ‘control’ The Different?! We live to please an Audience of One and we know no other formula works better than Himself…and HE has chosen, designed and equipped each for their part! The shape of GOD is a custom fit! How we share the Gospel of Christ is designed to be as unique and as original He has shaped and created each of us to be! It wows my mind when I think of all the untapped potential! Why are we prone to seek blending in when GOD breaks the mold after He makes every one! All of heaven celebrates over each lost soul who come by faith to Jesus Christ! “It is good,” says He, as He accepts and adopts; places in the Family He lovingly refers to as His Body.
How I long to more fully unlearn all the worldly things taught that have left me undone, that were allowed to creep in and make questionable something good!
YAHWEH, Your Kingdom come! Your will be done! To Your Word I declare fealty! It is my every source of pride and joy! Please don’t let insecurity or fear or “uptightness” gain any upper hand in any Different case! I don’t want to shush Holy Spirit, nor do I want to hinder what He wants to work! I don’t want to argue with Him or push back or hit pause with my own opinions! Neither do I want to be in rebellion, fall into disorder, or promote any sort of division! I just want to embrace every ounce of Identity and Truth You have for me, and work as one with Your Holy Flame!
I see I can be ignorant, prone to dichotomy and double speak! When I say I’m concerned about having a negative impact, perhaps I’m more worried about experiencing rejection or dealing with blowback! As I seek to daily serve and live to give You the glory, I need to declare the desire of my choice right now is to IMPLICITLY TRUST in how YOU ‘present’ and I’ll squelch any doubts that might arise about Your timing! I don’t want to hold anything back from You in this Relationship! Truly, I don’t want to make the same mistake twice! I want You to be seen as real and authentic in and thru me as You can get!
Father God, You overwhelm me with patience and kindness! I apologize for the most recent identity crisis…and I ask that since with You all things are made possible…that You would turn the moment I hesitated into something far more useful!
“Let not yours be the [merely] external adorning with [elaborate] interweaving and knotting of the hair, the wearing of jewelry, or changes of clothes; but let it be the inward adorning and beauty of the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible and unfading charm of a gentle and peaceful spirit, which [is not anxious or wrought up, but] is very precious in the sight of God.”
1 Peter 3:3-4 AMPC
From iPhone Notes dated 20 Nov 2018
Imagination and Going Deeper
Holy Spirit, help me to lay hold of this and to not be afraid of where it will take me. Give me the courage to go deeper, reach out for more…to truly become a vessel thru which Jesus can shine out of to rescue others yet held captive in the darkness of this world.
“I will lead the blind by a way they do not know; I will guide them in paths that they do not know. I will make darkness into light before them And rugged places into plains. These things I will do [for them], And I will not leave them abandoned or undone.”
ISAIAH 42:16 AMP
It may not be slow, the way I come to you. It may not be gentle—and definitely not the way you expect. For there is so much more of Me I want to show you, you see. There is a place, so much deeper, where I want to take you. There are things I want to reveal to you—and it is not your eyes that will be able to see what I want you to see. For here is how I use your imagination, if you’ll let Me.
First, remember that it was not in light that I created you first. So imagine darkness. And then imagine light . . . You existed before I formed you physically. And what I want to show you exists, even now—and always—even though its form is not necessarily in the physical world. The physical, you see, is made tangible to you through your experience with it in your mind, your heart. You can see and smell and feel and experience, in your mind, what I have given you to experience with Me. And what you see, what you experience with Me, will reveal to you more of Who I AM.
Yes, you can read about Me. Yes, you can hear My voice in your heart. Yes, you can pray and follow and respond to the wisdom I give you, but do you want more? Do you want to see what you haven’t yet imagined? Do you want Me to pour Myself into your mind so that you experience what you have never imagined before?
Do you want Me to help you imagine?
Close your eyes, dear one. Let me quiet you. Here we go . . . deeper now. Let me take you deeper. Here now, here is My hand. Do you feel it? I help you feel it. See now, not with your eyes. See with your heart. See with your mind. What makes sense doesn’t have to make sense any longer. I am a New Paradigm. Let me break open, wide open, what you believe about Me, who you understand Me to be.
You believe I am good? Let me show you how. You believe I am powerful? Let me show you a bit of what I can do. You believe I am with you, that I bring healing, that I hold the stars and the moon and more universes than you can count — that I hold them in My hands? I want to take you on an adventure then, just you and Me. But you are going to have to trust Me — and place any cynicism and skepticism on the floor for a moment. Keep your eyes closed . . Or not . . . I can work with your eyes open too. . . Let’s go.
Exercise:
You, My friend, are being invited to go on an adventure, right now. You’ve been asked some questions: Do you want Holy Spirit to pour Himself into your mind so that you experience what you have never imagined before? Do you want Him to help you imagine what your eyes cannot yet see?
To do this, you must be willing to open your mind and heart. You must be willing to be open to seeing and hearing and experiencing what you have never experienced before . . . Are you willing to let Holy Spirit open up your mind to more . . . more love, more wonder, more beauty, more joy, more peace, more more?
He has so much more for each of us . . . more to hear, to experience, to know, to love. . . And we get tastes of it, glimpses of it . . . of His glory, His beauty, His love in this life. But our experience is limited. Our wisdom is limited. Yet our God, in His power and His love and His creativity, is not limited. And here He is, asking us if we, right now, are willing to surrender our imagination to Him . . . if we, right now, desire to experience more of Who He is in our lives, beginning today, this very moment!
Holy Spirit, be our eyes right now. Be our ears. Be our senses of smell, of taste, of touch. We want more of You. We want You to turn around any false beliefs we have about You, to flip any misconceptions about who You are and what You are able to do. And we want You to break open wide our hearts and minds and imaginations so we can see You, feel You, experience You with the eyes of our heart that can do more, so much more, with You, than merely see.
Father, bring us deeper into wonder and majesty and beauty. Let us experience Your immense love. In these moments we wait, in expectation and excitement, on You.
All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! It is by His great mercy that we have been born again because God raised Jesus Christ from the dead! Now we live with great expectation for we have received a priceless inheritance in Him!
Amen!
P.S. Another word of gratitude to this inspiring writer for sharing such a creative word picture! I’m so sorry to have not caught your name but GOD used what you so faithfully sewed to shape Eternal Change! Godspeed!