LOVE TALK

Psalm 27:8 “My heart has heard you say, “Come and talk with me.” And my heart responds, “Lord, I am coming.” NLT The same verse reads this way in the NKJ version, “When you said, Seek my face; my heart said to you, Your face, LORD, I will seek.” NKJV

There are times in every loving, caring relationship when one heart cries out to the other, “Come and talk with me. Spend time with me; just me!”

It’s really a matter of the heart. Hearts that care for each other need that special one on one time, exchanging words of encouragement, care, reinforcement, and tenderness. This special time is like a life giving stream flowing into a stagnating pond, renewing everything it touches, and refreshing tired or worn areas of the relationship. Real love is sharpened and strengthened in these one on one exchanges. The opposite is also true; that when these one on one heart exchanges do not occur on a regular and frequent basis, the relationship suffers and weakens considerably.

When two people are in love they may say “I love you!” a hundred times a day, however there are times when nothing else matters, and the concerns of the day have been placed aside. Our worries, cares and anxieties have been driven out of our minds by a concentrated, focused, intentional effort to become one with those we love. We sit face to face, heart to heart, gazing into each other’s eyes and beings. We speak the words quietly, from the inner most parts of our being, “I love you!” and in moments like these, those three words can brighten the darkest day and resurrect the deadest hearts and lives.

Acts 3:19 states that the same is true with our Heavenly Father. The Holy Spirit reveals that “…times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord.” When the Supreme Creator of the universe bends His knee and stoops to lend His ear to our heart cry, no matter what our need, He pours out a response that fills our being with His Presence. God listens to our heart’s cry and then in the way that only He can, He speaks a word that revives the very core of our being and faith comes alive. “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Romans 10:17

Many think that this means every time we read the Bible our faith is renewed and strengthened, and it is. However this passage uses the Greek word “rhema” for “word of God.” It means that still small voice that is gently commanded into our spirit being as we wait upon the Lord in silence, longing to hear His voice.

God calls us to get quiet and still in His Presence. He calls us to come and converse with Him. This is the scene portrayed in Isaiah 40:31. “But those who wait upon (Sit quietly, focused on Him, hearts straining to hear His voice.) the LORD will renew their strength; they will mount up with wings as eagles; they will run, and not be weary; and they will walk, and not faint.” As we sit in the Presence of the Lord and exchange our hearts with Him, we come alive again.

The staggering thought in today’s passage is that Father God has these same longings in the core of His being for you. God’s heart beats with these thoughts, “Come and talk with me.” He longs for your fellowship and your intimacy. 1Corinthians 1:9 states that we “…were called into the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.” This fellowship conveys a heart empowered exchange of feelings and loving actions and mutual concern for the well being of one another. It means investing time in empowering and building the relationship.

Do not let this week pass until you have spent some alone time with those who are most precious to you! Put everything else aside and concentrate all of your focused heart in their direction. Watch them come alive under your gaze.

Do not let this Day pass until you’ve spent time with your Maker. Listen to His voice and let your heart respond as He proclaims “I have loved you…with an everlasting love. I have drawn you to Myself.” Jeremiah 31:3

DRY SPELL?

Psalm 42:1 “…as the deer pants for the water, so my soul longs after you, O God.”

Are you exhausted, drained and depleted, physically, emotionally, spiritually, or all of the above? In Psalm 42 verses 3 & 4, David tells us that he once led the entire congregation into the presence of the Lord, but now he can’t find the Presence of God for himself! Sound familiar?

I read a story recently of a traveler in Africa who hired local porters to help him carry his load. The first day’s journey covered much more ground than expected. The next day when the journey was to continue, the tribesmen refused to move. They told him they had moved too far and too fast the first day and now they “were waiting for their souls to catch up with their bodies!” Have you ever felt like that?

I’ve learned a lot over the past 31 year walk with the Lord. I’d like to share with you some of the reasons I’ve experienced myself and learned from others about walking in dry spells. Perhaps, you’ve created the scenario yourself, but no matter what caused the dry spell (oftentimes it’s the Lord Himself), God will use that time and place to bring you closer to himself and to further mold and shape you to conform to the image of Jesus.

A) Growth…When we find that we have settled in one place too long, God often causes discomfort or dryness in order cause us to move from one place to another. Deuteronomy 2:3 “You have circled this mountain long enough: turn northward.” The Spirit of God lives in you and the majority of time He is moving and leading us toward greater heights in Himself. In these times we get more honest with Him and allow Him to be more honest with us! We pray harder, talk with Him more and reach out to spend more time with Him.

B) Idolatry… If we’re spending too much time in the wrong environment, worldly affairs, and carnal pursuits, it will cause thirst. Perhaps it’s too much television, work, amusement, Facebook or whatever else has taken pre-eminence in our lives. Any good parent will create an environment that stimulates pursuit of better living.

C) Reassignment…Perhaps God is activating an area of ministry for you, or moving you from one area or level of Ministry to another, and you’ve experienced a certain level of discomfort, or the Kingdom work you’re currently involved in has lost is luster. We become comfortable with what we’re doing and where we have arrived, but God is developing us for one greater task after another. He has invested gifting and talents in your life, and He commands us to use them as we grow into spiritual adulthood. Read the parable of the talents in Matthew 25. It speaks to us concerning those who stagnate in the use of their individual giftings and “talents.”

D) Disobedience…Isaiah 59: 2 “…your iniquities have separated you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you…” 1 John 1:6 “If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie…” Like it or not, sin or disobedience cuts off your fellowship (intimacy) with God! Until we confess & REPENT (quit) or sins our own conscience will hinder us from coming into God’s Presence. You may shout at Him from a distance, but the place of intimacy where you access ability, power and wisdom is never reached. You will not “abide in Him,” “dwell in the secret place,” or abide under the shadow of the Almighty,” positions required to secure His blessings. (John 15, Psalm 91)

E) Revelation…Oftentimes God will speak to us with great revelation of exactly Who He is. In order to accomplish that, He stirs up a hunger within for companionship and fellowship with Himself. This revelation will not just be of what He can do for us, but WHO HE IS! Sometimes we travel through barren and parched places so that our thirst rises to the point of desperation. Desperate people pursue desperate measures. We seek him and wait on Him like never before because we know that this thirst is something only He can quench.

David follows the panting deer declaration with the following… “My soul thirsts for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God?”

Take Time today to spend with Him. Listen as He speaks today to your thirst… “…Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believes on me, as the scripture hash said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.” John 7:37-38

He declares a positional change from thirst.......to quencher of thirst if we simply come to Him!

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