I spent the day being reminded of my first calling…”seek first His Kingdom and righteousness….then ALL will be added…”

I have been looking for a door….The Door. The Lord kept nudging me about a door. It may seem odd but nonetheless..He kept saying there was a door. This door I felt would meet needs for the ministry to continue and flourish….I find more and more I am sent into areas of great need of messages for the heart but also the resources Christ has given to me by way of music or poetry.

Yet as I rehearsed in my wilderness closet a song He had given some years ago…He used the lyrics to capture my heart today…and He certainly got my attention.

“Sometimes Sleepy eyed and weary

I stumble in and close the door…”

I abruptly stopped walking…”the door…” I said. The door I was singing  about was the door to my closet with Him. My secret place of abiding. The very place that transformed my walk with Him. It was where He taught me to hear His voice intimately and to know His presence well. It was/is my safe place where I can pour out all that stirs within me….nothing is left hidden there. It is where I can say anything so He can heal everything. It’s where He taught me to make magazines and how to hear a song begin when He opened His heart to mine…

Suddenly I realized the door was never a door of opportunity… but merely the door that shut me in with Him.

I’ve taught on this for years yet in this season I find the busyness of ministry….the needs are so great… yet my need is still greater….and my calling is first to seek Him…how easy it is to allow all manner of things to crowd Him out.

As I sat with Him this morning I realized that the heart often goes before us… we are there but we are not there…our minds wander into the day instead of simply being in His presence….resting in Him…drawing from His strength and heart desires. Even studying at times keeps us from simply “being with Him…” all becomes a form of ritual rather than a living relationship of fellowship and simply abiding in Him.

As I said, “Lord I never meant to move away from you…” I saw a mighty rushing river that swept me away. Then I continued, ” I’ve been swept away Lord? Swept away by the phone, the needs, the ministry, the to-dos, the concerns, personal pains and struggles that occupy my heart and mind, and , yes, even the church…”

I said softly, “that door I’ve been looking for is the door that opens into your heart and presence. The door that must be guarded at all cost isn’t it?” I realized He was merely calling me home.

Then the most beautiful presence of The Holy Spirit surrounded me to assure me I had found the door I needed. The door to The Door…which causes all else to align according to His will.

It was nothing short of an embrace. There is no lack in this embrace whatsoever….this is the joy of following Jesus. The fellowship with a God that so loves us that He allows His Spirit to bear witness in our lives….in a most beautiful way.

It’s this moment and this embrace that I desire daily… the great adventure and love affair that is mostly indescribable in mere words. May you know His embrace today…and guard your closet door fiercely. There is nothing more important…nothing… and if He sees you begin to be swept away…He will lovingly woo you back, even if He has to cut a few branches to do so…

The Door

Quietly I close the door behind me

And set His Music on low

Waiting my heart to get settled

Letting the world now go.

Slowly I confess my heart pondering

My admitting of busy busy roads

And telling Him how very sorry

I am for wandering so.

Tenderly His presence does touch me

And I then could barely move

For thick was the room and His breathing

And little tears trickled down soon.

For He had been waiting so patiently

For my heart to return in full

And often I’d sit in this closet

Yet, far far away from the room.

My mind was scattered and chaotic

No rest was allowed to ensue

A ritual and nothing but habit

Had infringed on the love I knew.

Walls of years and heartache

Had caused a mountain unseen

But now a bridge was restoring

All that was robbed from Thee.

For jealous He is for my heart strings

To remain so connected to His

And cut He will all attachments

That draw me from practicing this.

For weak and feeble I shall be

If from His presence I withdraw

Where strength is gained in the waiting

And restore He does then the “ALL…”

August 23, 2017

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 John 10: 9-10

I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. ¹⁰ The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.

Matthew 6:6

But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.

John 15:5

I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

Matthew 6:33

But seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.