Showing posts with label Afflictions. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Afflictions. Show all posts

6/11/2016

KNITTING Ourselves to The LORD+




How do we KNIT OURSELVES TO THE LORD ? 

 

We  YIELD our thoughts, our plans, our activities  to HIM+,  daily …even hourly.  The MORE we YIELD, the more we will receive His+ Direction.  That is how we  experience His+ Will  as an active reality in daily living.  HE+ will  minutely direct us if we  stop ourselves … hourly … and YIELD to HIM+.

 

Here is a true, personal story from one follower of JESUS who practices YIELDING to HIM+ through-out the day.

 Dear friend, you asked me to write to you about my week.  Well, my “activities”  have been mostly inner, spiritual journeys this week, with lots of quiet time and vigils before HIM+… not much to write about.

 Puzzling over this, I asked The LORD what to share with you, and HE+ brought to mind my KNITTING — of all things !

 For reasons of His+ own, The LORD has led me to take up knitting although I have very little ability at doing these hand-work skills that many ladies do. I make lots of mistakes in spite of the fact that I go SLOWLY and am exceedingly careful . 

 As I un-ravel my rows to correct mistakes, I often ponder WHY I must knit ?  Why does Our LORD take pleasure in my knitting  … when obviously it does not come natural nor easy to me.

During this past year I have learned — by His+ enabling power alone —  to knit socks.   I have made about 5 pair so far and am half-way done with my 6th pair.

 sock_foot

This week during my meditation time, as I was knitting and being “still,” I found myself beginning the cuff of my second sock for this current pair of socks.

 Now, if you know anything about knitting, the standard knitting of a sock cuff is done in such a way to make it elastic and stretchable by working a knit-purl stitch combination. ( Purling is a backward knit stitch.)   It is REALLY beginner’s work and very easy to do.

 So, this second cuff I knit and UNFORTUNATELY unraveled due to mistakes … 5 TIMES ! 

 Over and over again, I knit this cuff and after about 1 inch of knitting I would discover a bad mistake which I could not correct without unraveling the entire  cuff. 

 Soon, I began to wonder: WHAT is going on here ?

 This is NOT TRICKY knitting, but I was knitting bad mistakes into this cuff. 

 The problem HAD to be with me.

 Berating myself for not keeping my mind on my work, I  diligently re-started the cuff again from the very beginning of cast on stitches, WORKING VERY SLOWLY,  counting my stitches, checking each row vertically as well as horizontally.

 I finally completed the first inch again when the thought “occurred”  to me that I should compare this cuff to my finished sock to see if it were as loose as the finished one.

 WHEN, LO…

 I discovered the BASIC error

 I had worked a pattern on my cuff as Knit 1, Purl 1 which gave the sock cuff a very delicate look, like for a baby’s sock.  

knit 1 --- purl 1

 K 1 P 1 GRAPHIC

HOWEVER … I SHOULD HAVE BEEN working Knit 2 stitches, purl 2 stitches in order to match the finished sock. I re-checked the pattern and it indeed was Knit 2 stitches, Purl 2 stitches on the cuff  

KNIT 2 PURL 2
K 2 P 2 GRAPHIC

During this entire time of working on my second sock, my eyes had been “holden”  as I diligently and carefully continued to knit K1, P1  — the WRONG PATTERN — for about an inch until “something”  caused me to work errors in  my  knitting and I had to un-ravel it all and start again.

 THEN , LO…

I SAW THE LORD’S HAND in it.

If HE+ hadn’t stopped me, I would have knit all the complicated sections and patterns of the sock down to the toe.  THEN I would have discovered the awful truth: my socks did not match.

You see, you CANNOT unravel just the cuff AFTER the entire sock is knit.  A knitted sock can only be unraveled FROM THE TOE up to the cuff . 

  The entire sock — about 12 inches of knitting and untold hours of labor for me — would have had to be re-done IF THE LORD WOULD NOT HAVE HINDERED me.

 I was stunned.

 HE+ saved me from a HUGE AMOUNT of distress BY STOPPING my diligent — but  wrong — work.

 HE+ simply would not allow me to complete the project, knowing the distress awaiting me if I kept on going “my” way.   

 Thus, The LORD JESUS  was blessing me and helping me, but  I  could ONLY SEE that my work was being thwarted on every side.  I was kicking against the WALL that would not move out of my way. 

 I was so stunned and humbled.  So very humbled. 

 We really DO need to praise HIM+ when things “go wrong” because in Truth, they actually may be “going right”  … as HE+ sees what we DON’T SEE nor do we see what lies ahead.

 Let us bless HIM+ instead of  clamor for doing things “our way”.  Let us THANK HIM+ when HE+ does NOT allow us to obtain our short-sighted desires. Let us acknowledge that HE+ is better at knitting our lives together than we are.

 As it is written:

Before I was afflicted I went astray:

but now have I kept Thy+ Word.

Psalm 119:67

 

As it is written:

It is good for me that I have been afflicted;

that I might learn thy statutes. 

Psalm 119:71

 

As it is written:

I know, O LORD, that Thy+ judgments are right, and that THOU+ in faithfulness hast afflicted me. 

Psalm 119:75

 Let us pray:

O Gracious Heavenly FATHER,  we come to YOU as a quieted and weaned child.

We  know  we do not see our  doings as YOU see them.  We do not see the end from the beginning, as YOU do.

O LORD JESUS,  thank YOU for blocking our way when we  mistakenly enter onto a path that will bring us heart-ache in the end… even though that path looks so right — and desirable — to us now.

Make us SOFT and PLIABLE in Your+ Hand.

Help us to YIELD continuously unto Your+ LORDSHIP, O CHRIST.

We know that no good thing will YOU+ withhold from us when we walk uprightly.

Teach us to walk quietly and humbly before YOU+ and to lay all our thoughts, our desires, at Your+ feet, O LORD.

Help us to humbly and GRATEFULLY accept Your+ Divine Will in our lives. YOU+ do all things well.

This we pray in Thy+ name , 

O LORD JESUS CHRIST, 

YOU+ Who+ truly saves us 

from destroying ourselves.

In the Name of The HOLY FATHER,

Who created us;

His+ BELOVED SON+,

Our LORD and SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST,

Who saves us;

And the BLESSED HOLY SPIRIT,

who sanctifies us.

Amen.


7/19/2013

For WHOM Do You EVANGELIZE ?

Circuit Preacher, from holstonlegacy.com


What?
Know ye not that your body is
the temple of the HOLY SPIRIT,
which is in you,
which ye have of GOD,
and ye are not your own?

For ye are bought with a Price+:
therefore glorify GOD in your body,
and in your spirit,
which are GOD'S.
I Cor. 6: 19-20

For WHOM do you evangelize?

What are you promoting with your life? If you are promoting the life-style of your community, then you are being "your own."

What are you promoting with your conversation, your words? If you are promoting "what you think", then you are still being "your own."

When you realize that YOU have been bought with a PRICE+ ... a PRICE+ that you can never repay with all the riches of this world... you will realize that you indeed are NOT YOUR OWN MASTER.

In the days of the slave markets in the ancient Roman world, slaves would be auctioned off, standing stark naked so their prospective owners could ascertain the value of their purchased property.

The Christians, who refused to attend theaters, sporting events, public baths, and other places that revealed the flesh, would go to the slave market and purchase one of these poor fellow humans.

For CHRIST JESUS, of course, was the purchase made.

The Christian would quickly clothe the nakedness of the new-bought slave... and set him or her free. For the love he bore to CHRIST JESUS, the Christian and his friends would provide the newly-freed slave with the means to make a living and an abode. 

The slave was FREE ! 

There were no strings attached.

The slave could take
his freedom,
his wealth,
his provision, 
...and GO. 


The slave was free to live his life however he wanted to live it. 


OR... 

the slave was welcome to attach himself to the Christian and find out WHY his life was being made so different from all the slaves he left behind in the slave market. 

As a witness for CHRIST JESUS, the Christians did this because... 

CHRIST JESUS 
DID that 
FOR THEM.

HE+ 
set the captives 
free... 

  • Free from sin
  • free from serving self
  • free from being a slave of  human spirits and
  • free from the control of the demonic forces.
    Free to follow HIM+ alone



~ WORSHIP: GUIDED MEDITATION ~ 

Response: O GOD, THOU knowest my foolishness: and my sins are not hid from THEE. I am NOT MY OWN; I am bought with a  PRICE+.

Before I was afflicted, I went astray: but now have I kept Thy+ Word+.

Response: O GOD, THOU knowest my foolishness: and my sins are not hid from THEE. I am NOT MY OWN; I am bought with a  PRICE+.


It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn Thy+ statutes.

Response: O GOD, THOU knowest my foolishness: and my sins are not hid from THEE. I am NOT MY OWN; I am bought with a  PRICE+.


I know, O LORD, that Thy+ judgments are right, and that THOU+ in faithfulness has afflicted me.
  
Response: O GOD, THOU knowest my foolishness: and my sins are not hid from THEE. I am NOT MY OWN; I am bought with a  PRICE+.


WORTHY IS THE LAMB+ !

Worthy is The LAMB+ Who+ 
has guided my afflictions;
Worthy is The LAMB+ !

Worthy is The LAMB+ Who+ 
 sets me free; 
Worthy is The LAMB+ ! 

Worthy is The LAMB+ Who+ 
allows me to be HIS+ freed slave 
...or to follow my own way;
Worthy is The LAMB+ !

 Worthy is The LAMB+ that was slain
to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor 
and glory and blessing. 

Blessing and honor and glory and power
be unto HIM that sitteth upon the Throne 
and unto The LAMB+ 
forever and ever
Amen.