Audio length: 9:05
Download Audio (8.3MB)
You are precious, you are beautiful, you are wonderful, each one. I have created each of you for a special purpose! I speak to you as an individual, as My beloved, that I would surround with My warmth, that I would clothe with the security and the protection of My love! I speak to you as the special creation that I have made, each with a special, individual, unique calling and purpose.
My eye has been upon you since before you were formed in the womb. I have been with you every step of the way. I have watched you. I have loved you. I have cared for you. You have never been out of My sight.
If you would take time with Me in prayer, and listen to My voice in your heart and through My Word, I would show you of My great love for you.—Love which is greater than the ocean, which stretches further than the horizon, which the whole universe with all its stars and galaxies cannot contain, which reaches out of understanding into infinity and eternity.
*
You know with all your heart and soul that not one of all the good promises the Lord your God gave you has failed. Every promise has been fulfilled; not one has failed.—Joshua 23:141
*
Not one thing that I have spoken will fail. All will be fulfilled and all will be answered according to My will and My purpose. That which you do not understand today may be because it is not My time to fully reveal to you My complete plan and purpose. Only believe and trust, even though you do not understand. For My ways are not your ways, and you can never know the mind of God by trying to understand and analyze with your own mind.
I promise that if you will hold on by faith—not even knowing if you have the strength to hold on—you will not fail, and you will come forth as finer gold! Those who pass through the fire and through the Jordan and continue to keep their eyes on the other side, who have been through the deep waters and the hot flames of testing, are those who come out as finer gold. So fear not the testing.
My love, this is simply one of your testing times. I know it is difficult, and the tests and trials run deep. You feel your faith shaken and think that you may not be able to stand. But you are not alone, My love. I love each of My children, and I care for each one, and train each one, and teach each one the lessons that are needed.
*
Precious in My sight
Precious in My sight is the death of My saints—the death to self, the death to sin, the death to your own ways. From this death springs forth the beauty of life, the beauty of resurrection, the beauty of My Spirit. For this death to self and the decision to say, "Yes, I will go to the cross; yes, I will go through the flood," is what brings forth the beauty of the resurrection and of the life to come. Without this death there can be no resurrection. The laying down of your life, your will, and your desires—even though you do not see what lies beyond—is the step of faith that brings forth the beauteous resurrection of My Spirit in your life.
For without faith it is impossible to please Me. If you can see the way, or if you know all that is ahead, then the decision is not one of faith, but one of knowledge and understanding and clarity. But when you don’t see what is ahead, when you look and see only darkness and you don’t know where the light is or when it shall come or from whence it shall come, but you say, “Yes, I will follow anyway, and I will take the step because You have said this is Your will and plan for me,” this is great faith that greatly pleases Me. I will strengthen you and lift you up, and so I pour forth My Spirit and My understanding. I will bring you into the rest of My Spirit that you seek.
*
Taking the first steps
Faith is taking the first step, even when you don't see the whole staircase.—Martin Luther King
*
Don’t be afraid to launch out into the deep! You don’t have to be like those who crowd the shoreline and look out in wonderment and amazement at those who ride the waves. Sometimes changes come into your life like a mighty ocean breaker. They come and come and come again, and the best way to deal with it is to ride these waves. Even though you don’t fully understand the plan, you take the plunge into the cold water. You have to fight against the current to get into position, so that the wave can catch you and drive you forward to new heights!
Though you may be inexperienced and though you may be cold or feel afraid, if you step out onto the water by faith, I can come under you with the power of God like a mighty wave to swoop you up. You’ll discover exhilaration in My Spirit beyond what you have experienced before.
So when you hear My voice call, if you launch out into the deep, you will receive the benefits. I promise you that you will be able to ride this wave and the many waves to follow, but it starts with taking the first step of faith.
*
My voice and My will speaks to each person individually and is not the same for all. I lead and guide each of My children in the way that I purpose for them to go. I direct their steps and I show them the path. I show them My will and I speak clearly to each person whose mind and heart is set on Me, who desires to hear My voice and obey My will. Each one who follows Me step by step, who yields to My voice and gives of their best, who stays humble and submitted, an open vessel unto Me, close to Me and on My channel, shall maintain a strong, sound mind of faith.
*
If I am in the habit of steadily facing [toward] God, my conscience will always introduce God’s perfect law and indicate what I should do. The point is, will I obey? I have to make an effort to keep my conscience so sensitive that I walk without offense.2 I should be living in such perfect sympathy with God’s son, that in every circumstance the spirit of my mind is renewed, and I “make out” at once “what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God.”3—Oswald Chambers
*
Abide in Me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, neither can you.4 The more you call upon Me, and the more you look to Me, and the more you yield and lean on Me, the more fruit you can bear for My kingdom.
If you will walk with Me in quietness, I will speak to you and I will reveal things to you to lead you into greater fruitfulness and greater truth. But you must make that effort of sitting at My feet, being patient to listen and to hear the words of truth and life that I have yet to share with you, that you might be more fruitful, and that you might look even more to Me in the days to come.
Originally published 1997. Updated and republished September 2013.
Read by Jerry Paladino. Music by Michael Dooley.
1 NIV.
2 Acts 24:16.
3 Romans 12:2.
4 John 15:4.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment