Shirley's Corner - Emptiness

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Earlier this week, I heard the Lord say, "I love empty things...I can only fill empty things." As He spoke, in my mind I saw an empty calendar, empty boxes, empty rooms, empty baskets, empty purses and empty wallets. As the week has passed, our conversation has continued...

" Lord, how much do You want me to empty?"

"Shirley, how much do you want Me to fill?"

Over and over in the gospels I have marveled at the way He answered a question with a question, and now He is putting the ball firmly in my court. How much am I willing to deny myself in order to make more room for Him? What does dying to self look like in real life?

I am looking now at my calendar--at these days that comprise my life. We are allotted 24 hours a day...7 days a week...52 weeks a year. He assures me this is plenty of time to accomplish His will for my life. What are the "time wasters" that rise up day after day? I know that the Holy Spirit is the greatest time management expert to be found, and He is found in me if I will allow Him to teach me. I am realizing He is on call 24/7--am I? I hear Him say to fulfill the obligations I cannot cancel and to meet the responsibilities I have incurred. He also says not to say "yes" to anything or anyone else without first checking with Him. These are the steps to clearing my calendar so that He can order my days according to His good pleasure. He looks forward to filling these days with satisfying activity--things we can do together, my Lord and I.

I am looking at our finances--everything He sends through our door. For I know that every good gift, no matter who the messenger is, comes from Him to be used for His purposes. He has placed in my heart the desire to help feed and clothe the "street boys" at the orphanage in Zimbabwe. Am I willing to spend less on my own food and clothing in order to raise their standard of living? Am I willing to curb "eating out" that they may eat at all? The Holy Spirit has offered His services as my financial advisor if I am willing to let Him set up my budget. He will teach me the difference between "want" and "need" and fill me with joy as He accomplishes this. As I empty my bank account, He will fill it up again so that the works He planned for me before the foundation of the earth will come to fruition over and over again--and we shall rejoice together as we see the hungry fed and the naked clothed.

I am looking at my relationships--He did not allow me to choose my mother, my father, my sister, my children or any of my other relatives. How can I demand the right to choose my friends, my teachers, my pastors, or any other relationships? How can I know who I need in my life or who needs me? God has every right to remove from or introduce into our lives the individuals He chooses. Are we willing to bow in this area? To let Him teach us to love the unlovely...to spend time with those we have nothing in common with...to humbly accept the neighbors, the co-workers, the people He places over us or under us? If we will receive those He sends, He will fill us with patience, understanding, endurance, and before we know it, we will begin to see the value He places on them. We will begin to love them with the same love He feels for them because He will fill us with His love. "Greater love has no man, than to lay down his life for another.". He isn't asking you to physically die for another, but to live for another's well being--will you?

So many areas He wants to fill if we will only make room for Him.

It seems this has always been a problem...

  • There was no room for Him in the inn at Bethlehem in the very beginning, so the Creator of the universe was born in a stable.
  • He found no welcome in the Jewish synagogue as He reasoned with the scribes and Pharisees, though He wrote the very scripture they argued about.
  • Today, there is no room in our public schools, no room in our government as little by little He is being rejected by people He formed in the womb.

Yet, there has always been a remnant from generation to generation., seeking more of Him, desiring to know Him in the fullness of His glory. Not satisfied to merely know about Him, but hungering to become One with Him. Willing to empty themselves before Him in order for Him to fill them with Himself. Refusing to settle for anything less than the Godhead, Who promised to make Their home in man...The Creator filling the created until they are One.

And so it goes...emptying ourselves in order to be filled. What needs to go in your life in order to make room for the Lover of your soul...in order to enter into a deeper Oneness than you have ever experienced? Ask Him...He's waiting.....

With love from my chair at the Harvest Table,

Shirley

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