good morning lovelies! i am looking forward to a relaxing saturday. i hope everyone was able to watch the UK/OSU game last night...amazing! i am so proud of my wildcats.
anyway, back to this little study on satisfaction in God. i wanted to share a few thoughts and quotes with you from mike bickle's book.
you see, God gave us the desires listed in the last post, very intentionally.
"the master plan of God is an amazing thing. He created a Bride for His Son, watched her fall into imperfection, and then offered His Son to redeem the Bride for Himself. all along God rested, confident in knowing He has endowed the Bride with longings she could not ignore. He knew the enemy would use those longings to manipulate Jesus' Bride. Even this did not make God nervous. He knew what He had to offer. as she has run from place to place trying to fulfill her longings, God has remained confident she would only find fulfillment in returning to the identity and destiny for which she was created -to be the Bride of Christ. she will have to come to a holy romance if she is ever to be truly happy."
the emphasis on certain phrases is mine. the desires, expectations, and needs we have are good. they were intentionally put there by our Creator to draw us to Himself. these longings are designed to make us needy and dependent on Him. of course, the trouble comes when the enemy waves sin in front of our face and makes us believe that the sin will satisfy our longings. it looks like a remedy, but the truth is it separates us from God.
mike bickle describes the devastating effects of sin so well: "the pleasures sin had to offer suddenly appear as they really are: cold, hollow, and always demanding our time, attention and energy while butchering our hearts piece by piece."
is that not the truth? have you ever experienced a counterfeit to the satisfaction of God? it left you disappointed, ashamed, embarrassed, broken... etc.
what counterfeits do we turn to? it's different for everybody, as the enemy knows how to bait each one of us. but here's a starting list: drunkenness, dependence on the opposite sex, flirtatiousness and immodesty, popularity, perfectionism, performance/striving for approval...im sure there are many more. these are easy to turn to...but they can draw us away from intimacy with God faster than we know.
even still, as mike bickle says, the Lord is confident because He knows the hollowness of what we chase. He knows that sooner or later, chasing after sin and idols will get old...it will bring us to our knees because we do not feel perfectly loved or satisfied.
for some it will take unthinkable wreckage to bring them to the Lord. but they will realize that He has always been worth whatever it cost them to be loved, and then healed, and finally satisfied and whole.
anyway, back to this little study on satisfaction in God. i wanted to share a few thoughts and quotes with you from mike bickle's book.
you see, God gave us the desires listed in the last post, very intentionally.
"the master plan of God is an amazing thing. He created a Bride for His Son, watched her fall into imperfection, and then offered His Son to redeem the Bride for Himself. all along God rested, confident in knowing He has endowed the Bride with longings she could not ignore. He knew the enemy would use those longings to manipulate Jesus' Bride. Even this did not make God nervous. He knew what He had to offer. as she has run from place to place trying to fulfill her longings, God has remained confident she would only find fulfillment in returning to the identity and destiny for which she was created -to be the Bride of Christ. she will have to come to a holy romance if she is ever to be truly happy."
the emphasis on certain phrases is mine. the desires, expectations, and needs we have are good. they were intentionally put there by our Creator to draw us to Himself. these longings are designed to make us needy and dependent on Him. of course, the trouble comes when the enemy waves sin in front of our face and makes us believe that the sin will satisfy our longings. it looks like a remedy, but the truth is it separates us from God.
mike bickle describes the devastating effects of sin so well: "the pleasures sin had to offer suddenly appear as they really are: cold, hollow, and always demanding our time, attention and energy while butchering our hearts piece by piece."
is that not the truth? have you ever experienced a counterfeit to the satisfaction of God? it left you disappointed, ashamed, embarrassed, broken... etc.
what counterfeits do we turn to? it's different for everybody, as the enemy knows how to bait each one of us. but here's a starting list: drunkenness, dependence on the opposite sex, flirtatiousness and immodesty, popularity, perfectionism, performance/striving for approval...im sure there are many more. these are easy to turn to...but they can draw us away from intimacy with God faster than we know.
even still, as mike bickle says, the Lord is confident because He knows the hollowness of what we chase. He knows that sooner or later, chasing after sin and idols will get old...it will bring us to our knees because we do not feel perfectly loved or satisfied.
for some it will take unthinkable wreckage to bring them to the Lord. but they will realize that He has always been worth whatever it cost them to be loved, and then healed, and finally satisfied and whole.
No comments:
Post a Comment