Would You Dance?

I have come to heal the broken hearted and bind up their wounds.

I am intimately acquainted with all your ways: your joys, your fears, your insecurities, your strengths, and all your weaknesses- and I LOVE YOU!!

I created you. I love you, and I have a special calling on your life. 

 I have prepared good works for you that you should walk in them. 
Would you walk in them, My child?  
 Would you choose to believe in My love and choose to come along? 


“The winter is past, the rain is over and gone”, 
would you put it behind you

 and follow Me?

Would you dance?

Would you let Me lead you into the abundant life that I have especially, uniquely prepared for you?  Yes, you!!

Would you accept this personal invitation to take your seat at the banquet table, to partake of all that is rightfully yours as My child, and to overflow with living water to those around you?  Would you 'shine' to powerfully impact the world around you- with LIFE- “to open their eyes so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me”? (Acts 26:18) 

Yes, you- I want to use you.  And I can.

I want to heal up all the brokenness in you, the hopelessness and all the fear and fill you with hope and peace.

 Rejoice in Me always.  Be anxious for nothing; but by prayer,

 let your request be made known to Me-with thanksgiving. And My peace, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Would you dance?

As the Bride of Christ Lets Him Lead

 “My beloved responded and said to me,

‘Arise, my darling, my beautiful one,

And come along.

‘For behold, the winter is past,

The rain is over and gone.

‘The flowers have already appeared in the land’

The time has arrived for pruning the vines,

And the voice of the turtledove has been heard in our land.

‘The fig tree has ripened its figs,

And the vines in blossom have given forth their fragrance.

Arise, my darling, my beautiful one,

And come along!’”

Song of Songs 2:10-12

 Imagine this scene:

        You enter a seemingly empty but magnificent grand ballroom, but then there He is. There is Jesus, dressed in His best, holding out His hand, awaiting yours, and saying, “Arise, my darling, my beautiful one, and come along.”

     It’s an invitation just for you. 

     You arise, and your crimson garment immediately turns white as He takes your hand- the hand of His beloved bride.  He secures you in a gentle embrace, and together you begin ‘THE DANCE’. 
      
      He leads in a beautiful dance. All you must do is relax in His loving arms and LET HIM LEAD.  

        With your eyes fixed on Him, all of your invisible defenses, all your sense of failure and shame, and all the subtle sin that has held you in its snare for far too long, just fall to the ground around your feet as if you have just shed old skin.  And you leave it behind as you dance along. 

     It’s a dance of life and love and abundance, and it is all His leading.  Amazed at how easy and effortless it seems because you don’t know how to DO this, you stand in awe of HIM.  What a gentleman!  And when your feet get all blistered and tired, He picks you up and cradles you in His arms and keeps dancing. 

     Oh, to follow His lead through this unpredictable life- to follow Him through the good and through the fiery trials- as "Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted." 2 Timothy 3:12.  Oh, to stay there in His arms of love and power and take refuge there and not run away and head for cover.

“In repentance (returning) and rest you shall be saved,

In quietness and trust is your strength.”

But you were not willing,

And you said, “No, for we will flee on horses,”

Therefore you shall flee!

“And we will ride on swift horses,”

Therefore those who pursue you shall be swift.”

Isaiah 30:15, 16

     Do not be one who is unwilling.  There is no escaping.  But there is peace in our Savior’s loving arms.  We are a people who want to be DOING something.  Repentance, rest, quietness, and trust just seem a little too simple and not enough.  So we begin to take the lead in the dance and direct the next step and then the next and the next until we look around and find that we’ve stepped off that ballroom floor. Without even realizing it, we have taken ourselves out of the dance, and we long to be back there.  

       He is waiting with outstretched arms, saying, “Arise, my darling, my beautiful one and come along!”

“Therefore the LORD longs to be gracious to you,

And therefore He waits on high to have compassion on you.

For the LORD is a God of justice;

How blessed are all those who long (wait) for Him.”

Isaiah 30:18

     How He longs to be ENOUGH- 
                              to truly be all you want and need because He IS all you need.

(Spend some time meditating on Psalm 91.  "My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust!...under His wings you may seek refuge;  His faithfulness is a shield and bulwark.")

Sit with Me

“In repentance and rest is your salvation.”

Rest.

Pull away to be with Me.

Obey, even though it doesn’t make sense (as there seems to be no time to do it all).

I am the Maker of time.

Come and see if you are supposed to be 'doing it all'.
You can’t hear Me if you don’t slow down.
 It would not be running away from your responsibilities;
run to Me,

and I’ll have you right where you need to be.
 To be useful!

Sit with Me. 
 Trust Me.  
Don’t even think about yourself.
You don’t have to believe one iota in yourself or your abilities.

Believe in Me.

Prepare the way of the Lord.
 Make hearts yearn for Me and My Word
and obedience to it by your life-

that the King of Glory may come in.
Who is this king of Glory? 
The Lord- STRONG and MIGHTY, MIGHTY IN BATTLE, the Lord of Hosts.
He is the King of Glory.

There is a choice set before you today:
You can be busy doing all the 'right' things- what you feel you
should be involved in, what you should be a part of,
 or where you need to have influence -
 and risk the possibility of being spiritually shallow,
or 

in repentance (from the busyness of all this,

                          from the lack of feasting on the bread of life,

                                       and from prayerlessness)-

                 ...in repentance and REST- 

waiting, spending time in My word, obeying-

you can go deep in relationship and intimacy and depth

 and knowledge of Me and My word 

and have something (Me) 

to give as you influence those around you.

 “The measure of the worth of our public activity for God is the private profound communion we have with Him.” Oswald Chambers

You still wonder what you can possibly give up:
As you put Me first, you will see clearly the other priorities. 
 Like the blind man in Mark 8: 22-25, he did not see clearly at first either:

“And they brought a blind man to Jesus and implored Him to touch him.  He brought him out of the village; and after spitting on his eyes and laying His hands on him, He asked him, ‘Do you see anything?’  And he looked up (gained sight) and said, ‘I see men, for I see them (they look to me) like trees, walking around.’  Then again He laid His hands on his eyes; and he looked intently and was restored, and began to see everything clearly.”

The picture is a little fuzzy right now, but as you spend time with Me, you will see this picture clearly- it won’t look like trees walking around.

        As you, too, look intently into My face in prayer and into My word, you will be restored and begin to see everything clearly. Don't settle for just seeing 'men like trees, walking around'!  Press in; excel still more.  

.... fixing our eyes on (looking to) Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, ....so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

Rest

      He is for you. He is not against you. He is in this, sovereignly in control of all things.


So you can rest.....and fight the battle at the same time.


     Rest in His love and care and support, and watch Him move even as you are strengthened in His love. You do not need to fight this battle. Step aside and allow Him.


What is impossible for you, is a ‘nothing’ to Him.


Yes, it ‘feels’ heavy, but do not give into how it ‘feels’; cling to what He has said it IS.


Even this heavy, impossible thing falls into His ‘nothing’/ ‘all things’ category....as NOTHING is too difficult for Him (Jer. 32:17,27) “With people this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” (Matt. 19:26) So allow Him to handle this.


     It is hard to carry and to bear.. so fling it upon Him… hand it over. Even this moment- give Him every worry and every concern and watch Him do what your worry and ‘control’ can never do. Be persistent in prayer- 'everything by prayer'.


Watch Him unravel the mess-(in His timing) because He loves you, and He cares..do not doubt that, Beloved.
And that is who you are: you are called, beloved, and kept. Jude 1:1 


Watch Him even unravel the mess in your soul that this 'impossibility' has unleashed. He is able to refresh your soul and perfect you as you cling to Him in the midst of the storm.


“Now to Him Who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy, to 
the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, 
majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and 
forever. Amen.” Jude 1:24,25


See also Excel Still More: Everything by Prayer