Close to the Flame
I often struggle to surrender and God is so faithful to talk me though it in my journals. In fact those times of my life are the ones when I am so completely sure and know beyond a shadow of a doubt that I am hearing the voice of God in my journals. He gets so specific and doesn’t let me off the hook at all!
So often we get close to the flame but are too afraid of catching on fire. But it is that very fire that is the power and glory of God shining and living through us. We were made for this. That’s casme.
He tells me stubbornness is an unintelligent barrier that must be blown up with the dynamite of obedience…..ouch.
Another thought about being a container; we are a cup or container for the Lord but we also need to drink the contents of the cup! When we drink it requires taking the contents into our entire digestive system and distributing it throughout muscles, bones, cells, nerves etc. We take something that is not us into our lives so that it becomes us and enters into our living. Same as a washcloth in the bathtub. Christ in us as us…
I also see much from an analogy of a flowing stream. We often talk about going with the flow of God. When we are navigating rapids we need to be in the flow of the deep water path, between the rocks that will be in the way. We have to tap into God, our inner source in order to be calm and tuned in and go with the flow, otherwise we panic and stick our oars in when we shouldn’t- taking us out of the flow and throwing the whole thing off balance. So, making our way through rapids is more intuitive than planned. God in us sticks the oars in when needed as long as we are completely tuned to him and letting him live through us. (I discovered it works once when I was in a regular kayak but I was in the ocean and I had to avoid hitting folks in the head who were playing in the waves! Instinct took over and I was amazed afterward at how I automatically steered that thing correctly…and didn’t even capsize.) I would love to live that way all the time and I believe that is what God is offering us.
Sara, I think that in “any” crisis it becomes more than an offer. Instinct is the way we believers handle life and know once again “God always comes through.” Our problem is staying awake when there is no crisis. But I think if we “notice” God even during easier times, we are more aware of the flow. How about being in every day traffic for instance? How many “close calls” have we avoided? How many times have we smiled at a stranger and maybe “made their day?” My hope is to “recognize” how much I am already “in the flow.”
I was struck especially by how drinking the water is like Christ in us or “Christ in me” which we’ve taken to abbreviate, “Casme”. Your thought, “We take something that is not us into our lives so that it becomes us and enters into our living” is right on. I feel relieved that it is not any harder a process than drinking water, because Christ is already in me ready to come forth and take over as I yield the reins to Him.