Use Me

Over the summer the Lord began a transition in my mind. I was being transformed by the renewing of my mind (Romans 12:2) and learning to be consecrated to the Lord and not caught up in the ways of this world. I felt the Lord specifically ask me to give up some things and (I don't say this as a brag) it was pretty easy for me to do it in that moment. As the last couple months have progressed and I started getting into a more "normal" schedule I have found myself slowly forgetting the consecration I was called to. Spending more and more time looking for entertainment than searching the heart of the Father. Often thinking so much about myself that I lose the purpose behind why He created me... to love Him and to love others. But tonight I am reminded that even though it's not as easy as it was this summer, the Lord is still calling to walk in His presence and to love. 

Misty Edwards has a song called "Arms Wide Open"... the lyrics are penetrating my heart tonight:

"What does love look like?" is the question I've been pondering

"What does love look like?""What does love look like?" is the question I've been asking of You
I once believed that love was romance, just a chanceI even thought that love was for the lucky and the beautifulI once believed that love was a momentary blissBut love is more than this

All You ever wanted was my attentionAll You ever wanted was love from meAll You ever wanted was my affections, to sit here at Your feet


Then I sat down, a little frustrated and confusedIf all of life comes down to loveThen love has to be more than sentimentMore than selfishness and selfish gain

And then I saw Him there, hanging on a tree, looking at MeI saw Him there, hanging on a tree, looking at meHe was looking at me, looking at Him, staring through Me

I could not escape those beautiful eyesAnd I began to weep and weep
He had arms wide open, a heart exposed
Arms wide open; He was bleeding, bleeding


Love's definition, love's definition was looking at meLooking at Him, hanging on a treeI began to weep and weep and weep and weep
This is how I know what love is, this is how I know what love is


And as I sat there weeping, cryingThose beautiful eyes, full of desire and love
He said to me, "You shall love Me, You shall love MeYou shall love Me, You shall love Me"


With arms wide open, a heart exposedWith arms wide open, bleeding, sometimes bleeding


If anybody's looking for love in all the wrong placesIf you've been searching for love, come to Me, come to MeTake up your cross, deny yourselfForget your father's house and run, run with MeYou were made for abandonment, wholeheartednessYou were made for someone greater, someone bigger, so Follow MeAnd You'll come alive when you learn to die"

So, I am asking the Lord tonight to engrain in me the depth of His love so that I would long for nothing else. That I would be fully satisfied by Him and His will for me. That what I take in would be pure and righteous and what I would release would be sweetness to His eyes and ears. I want to see lives changed because I am allowing Him to have His way. You see, it's easy to seek the love or affection of man, but it doesn't satisfy. The only way I know I will feel whole at all times is by being in Him! In His presence! In His will!

If you are ready to stop living for self tonight, He's there. He's ready for us to release our control to Him. He's ready to release us in the earth so that we can release His Kingdom! 

Here I am Lord. Broken and ready for you to use to pour out your Spirit. Mold me into who you would have me to be! Give me the strength and courage to walk in obedience to that and teach me to be patient in your presence... not to rush through to the next thing. Still and at rest before you! I love you!