I CANNOT BE WHAT ONLY HE IS

This is a truth that God revealed to me a few years ago, and yesterday I heard myself speak it again in a message I taught during the recent study of the book of Esther.  What a profound thought…I CANNOT BE WHAT ONLY HE IS.

We are often seeking to be holy, kind, loving, meek, compassionate,  all the attributes of God, we seek to mimic, with often sincere motives and efforts, trying to be perfect and good like God.  However, in doing that we often find that we fail, sometimes gently and sometimes blatantly.  But either way the net of the matter is, we fail and fall short of the Glory of God. 

Then comes the revelation of God! 

• I cannot save and sanctify myself.
• I cannot redeem the world.
• I cannot make right what is wrong.
• I cannot purify what is impure.
• I cannot make holy what is unholy.
• I CANNOT BE WHAT ONLY HE IS!

Like all stories, there is a "BUT GOD" that comes next.  But with God, all things are possible. When I walk and talk with God in the garden of life, I tell Him I love Him and seek to obey His Word, and then by the power of His Spirit, I yield my body, mind, and heart to His will to be a vessel that He can use that day.  And a miracle happens, I begin to think His thoughts, love with His Agape love, like what He likes, hate what He hates, and long to be with Him and thus I become like Him.  THIS METAMORPHOSIS ASTOUNDS ME TO THIS DAY! 

An old hymn that my dad likes very much is called “In the Garden”.  The words go like this…

IN THE GARDEN

I come to the garden alone,
While the dew is still on the roses;
And the voice I hear,
Falling on my ear,
The Son of God discloses.

And he walks with me
And He talks with me,
And He tells me I am his own;
And the joy we share as we tarry there,
None other has ever known.

This miracle, that God lives in me in the person of the Holy Spirit, and that through His active work and His presence in my being, I can do all things, even the impossible task of being like Him, through Christ who strengthens me.  Therefore…

• I cannot save, but I can be saved from sin, Satan, and death and be made holy
• I cannot redeem, but I am in the world and can have an impact on this world
• I cannot make wrong things right, but I can think right, do right, walk right, stay right by the power that lives in me
• I cannot purify, but I can have a pure mind and heart before God and man
• I cannot be perfect, but I can become holy as I enjoy private worship before Him daily
• I CANNOT BE WHAT ONLY HE IS, but I can become more like Him until I see Him face to face when I know as He knows and be like Him forever!

1 John 3:2-3

2 Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.

3 And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.

WHAT A DAY THAT WILL BE WHEN MY JESUS I SHALL SEE, WHEN I LOOK UPON HIS FACE, THE ONE WHO SAVED ME BY HIS GRACE.  THEN HE TAKES ME BY THE HAND AND LEADS ME TO THE PROMISED LAND.  WHAT A DAY, GLORIOUS DAY THAT WILL BE (another old gospel song I love).

LIVE YOUR LIFE NOW, NOT TOMORROW

This sign hangs proudly on my hallway wall and every time I go to my living room or my kitchen, I look at it and sometimes even read it. 

The past few days, I have been on a quest of getting my family affairs in order.  I have been writing long letters to my husband, my children, and others in my family to say what I would want them to know if I was to leave this world tomorrow.  in addition, I typed a five page document to list all our names, Social Security numbers, home, auto, and life insurance policy information, etc. Those of you that know me, know that there is no estate to pass to my children, so the life insurance is as good as it gets.  I keep reminding my children that our legacy to them is a spiritual legacy, not a financial legacy (they are not amused!)

In doing this process, I face my deepest feelings of love and total admiration for my family.  But I am also forced to face that I sometimes act and respond in ways that do not speak of that deep love and admiration. To share a real and raw idea of what I am talking about…here is a partial glimpse of my final words written to my best friend, soul mate, and husband...(meant for him to read if I die before him)

“You deserved more unconditional love, more tenderness, and more “back rubs” than I gave to you, but you must never doubt the depth of my love for you and my respect for who you are as a man.  I have never known a man that I revere more than you; you are my best friend and my soul mate.  Other than Jesus, no one in this life excels as you do in my eyes.”

Why are these words so much deeper and loving than my day to day actions?  If we are to live life now, and love those we love now, because we are not promised tomorrow, then why?

Ecclesiastes 3:1-5

1 To everything there is a season,

A time for every purpose under heaven:

There is a season for all things in the Lord.  But here is the truth written in red by the blood of Jesus Christ on relationships and life.  In Christ, every moment of every day is the season for love, for God is love, and it is to be lived in deed, not just in final words when we die!

Matt 22:37-40
37 Jesus said to him, "'You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.'   

38 This is the first and great commandment.  

39 And the second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'  

1 John 3:18

18 My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.

James 4:13-17

13 Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit";

14 whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.

15 Instead you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that."

 16 But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.

17 Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.

Sisters, Jesus’ heart on this often complex matter is “that if we want to truly live, we must love NOW, because we do not know if we have tomorrow.

Back to the wall hanging that I read every day in my home…

LIVE YOUR LIFE NOW, NOT TOMORROW…if we are truly going to live our lives now, we must love NOW.  For life in Christ is to love as He has loved, and the two are inseparable!

Oh Lord, Forgive me for not always loving NOW.

I need You to enable me to truly live and to truly love till death do I part!

I AM JUST SAYING...

I like this tag at the end of sentences in our culture today. I find it cute and funny because it is often used to reflect someone speaking a true comment, but doing it in jest, and then following the comment with the words... "I am just saying".

This blog, however, is seldom going to be "I am just saying" commentary, because those are for another place and time. The title of this blog is "Tammy's Prayer Talk" for a reason. The things I want to write are thoughts and prayers intertwined together that come to my heart as I have my quiet times, as I reflect on the goodness of God throughout the day, as I think of revelations that He has shown me. It is not a time of "I am just saying", but more of a time of "He has just spoken" and "I am simply responding"!

SO FOR TODAY...

What I have been meditating upon and being reminded of is how beautiful and precious the restoration of our God is in our lives. When you know and trust Jesus as Savior and Lord, the surrender of our will begins and over the years, there are various stages of this surrender. Sometimes it is fierce like the hurricane winds that beats against our beaches and homes; other times it is like the gentle break of a wave on the seashore that happens naturally and peacefully, with us barely noticing. But no matter how this surrender comes, fiercely or gently...it comes as we walk hand in hand with our Lord.

I see Him doing this in 3 of my precious friends/families lives right now...and I stand in awe every time I experience this for myself and when I see it in others' lives! To God be the glory, great things He has done!

When it happens...now that is worth talking about! The peace that the natural woman can't comprehend happens inside our soul; the fear subsides; the answers come; the spark of joy is renewed; and hope is unveiled again out of nowhere.

And then as we walk this surrender out, through obeying what we know, praying what we have on our heart, worshiping the One who makes it possible, and simply waiting for His will to be done ~ on earth as it is in heaven...THEN, He begins the next stage of His miraculous work. He begins to restore things that were lost, relations that were broken, truths that were forgotten, and hope that says deep down in the secret place...IT IS WELL WITH MY SOUL AGAIN!

He also restores even the practical things like health, jobs, financial stability, fellowship with friends/family/and the body of Christ. He is a God of restoration! If you need that aspect of who God is in your life today...my prayer is that you ask the Lord to restore what the enemy has stolen in your life; to restore the things I had and trampled upon myself with choices and mistakes. He will then hear from heaven, forgive, and heal us. If this is your story, ask Him for the courage and power to obey Him today no matter what...and begin to thank Him now for being a God that reconciles His daughters to Himself! I pray that you know and feel the restoration of our God today as you dwell on the Psalmist words below:

Psalms 23
The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
3 he restores my soul.
He guides me in paths of righteousness
for his name's sake.
4 Even though I walk
through the valley of the shadow of death,I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.
5 You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
6 Surely goodness and love will follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the LORD
forever.

In His Grip,

Tammy

My 1st Post

My desire with this blog is simple: To honor my husband's request for me to put in writing my heart, thoughts and prayers regarding ALL that the Lord has taught me through the years.

Jesus reached down from heaven 24 years ago, and showed mercy on me setting me free from addiction, relational bondage, and from a life without hope, love or peace!

I have nothing worth sharing with anyone that has not been imparted to me by my God.  It is through His Word, by the power of His Spirit, and because of His mercy and grace that I am able to share anything of value ~ His Wisdom! 

He is enough for all that concerns you and me! He is God! He is Everything we need forever! He needs no introduction; HE SIMPLY IS, ALWAYS HAS BEEN, AND ALWAYS WILL BE!

He is my Jesus, my Savior, my Best Friend, my Safe Harbor, and my Secret Place. I invite you to go there with me from time to time and together, just maybe, we can touch the Hem of His Garment!