Movement II.

My own words judge me.
I just read my own blog. Movement.
And. I don't know to say it in any other way, than those words were a seed choked in my own heart.

God, in all His tenderness and affection, again, is telling me to slow down.
Praise God for His steadfast love. It endures forever. It overcomes our mistakes, and reaches us.

There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ.
And this includes self-condemnation.
It must end here.

"Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your' hearts, as you did in the rebellion."
Hebrews 3-4.
This is written three times in these two passages.
Unbelievable.
I hear that, in Hebrew (even though this was written in Greek), when something is written three times, it implies extreme emphasis.

Its time to hold fast to the word of the Lord.

We had a speaker this week, who was incredible. She talked about prayer, the Trinity, salvation and quite a few other things.
For me, specifically. She said, "Taylor. You need to stop looking down. You need to stop focussing on you. Look up. Look at Jesus."

During one of our sessions, she began to talk about how the move of God, is movement.
God moves at just the right time. But, the movement of the Spirit, is one that comes to us and returns back inside the Trinity. God. Meaning God is making us one with Him.

We talked about holiness a lot this week. Letting the fullness of God dwell in us, like Paul prays in Ephesians 3:19.
Christ had the fullness of God. Colossians 1:19 says it was pleased to be within Him.
Looks like that same fullness of God, is able to dwell in us.

What?

Yeah, I just said that.
God, in His FULLNESS, can dwell in us. We can be holy here and now.

But this blog isn't about holiness.

Its about slowing down.

Its about resting. Its about enjoying God. Enjoying your life with Him.

I'm guilty of making God a task, like cleaning a toilet.
I'm guilty of making relationship obligation.
I'm guilty of believing lies about the character of God.

God moves. He breathes. He brings rest. He does stuff.
But He also rests.

I see how people get burned out. And if I didn't have people in my life (even showing me more so, the importance of community), I would be headed there again.
But because I know people who care for me, and know me and know God. God is able to speak through them, when I don't pay attention to Him.
I'm also guilty of grieving the Holy Spirit.

Hebrews 3:7-4:13 is a passage that talks about the Israelites, and how they, in the place of testing, ignored God.
Do not harden your hearts.
As you once did.
This is another chance. Another test.
Do not harden your hearts, if you hear Him.
Don't believe you don't hear Him.
Don't ignore the smallest whisper which, in your mind, can barely be hard.
If you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts.

Its in hearing His voice, not listening to it through one's own hardness, and acting in disobedience that the writter of Hebrews describes. They couldn't enter the rest of God because of unbelief.
And if man could've given them rest, aka Joshua, God wouldn't have said to them "Today,..." implying another time.
He brings rest.

I'm not talking about being a work-a-holic.
I'm talking about life with God.

How many of us are guilty of saying,
"I'll read three chapters of this book of the Bible, pray for this long, and 'God-time' is over."
Many. But we all know, that isn't relationship.
Relationship says,
"I'll go hang out with this person at this time. And we'll hang out till we're done."
Sure, there are time limits. But that freedom we give our time with people, we need to give to God.

And God lives outside of those God-times.
He is living, breathing. We can't compartmentalize Him.

And you know what.
I'm done saying what we can do, and can't do. Those are destined to parish with use.

Its time to explore relationship with God in freedom. Free for freedom's sake.
It is time to fix our eyes on the founder and PERFECTER of our faith.
Steadfastly.

I'm done looking at what I'm doing wrong, because when I fix my eyes on Jesus, what I'm doing wrong has no power or authority. I'm attracted to that, which makes me who I really am.

Slowing down enough to hear the voice of God.
To recognize it. To grow familiar with it.

Today, if you hear His voice. Do not harden your hearts.
And encourage each other, holding one another accountable, as long as it is called "Today."
So that none of us may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.
We know Christ, if we hold fast to this, till the end.
Finish the race with me friends.

We can't do this alone.