Reminders

For the last few years I have caught myself doing a lot of reminiscing.... thinking about good times and looking back at lessons learned. I tend to do it a lot with pictures. Every couple of weeks I'll go through a few of my albums to remind myself of those moments in time. But tonight it was my Bible. I used to make a lot of notes on things in my Bible, until I realized that I like to write and so it's better for me to just journal it. So, tonight I was trying to remember a scripture and I pulled out my faithful friend. I turned to the book and chapter and there I found SOOOO many markings. Things were underlined, highlighted, noted, starred, etc. If there was a way for me to make known that this was something important to me, I did it. The chapter is Isaiah 61...

"The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion - to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of His splendor." (vs. 1-3)

It continues on to say...

"Instead of their shame my people will receive a double portion and instead of disgrace they will rejoice in their inheritance; and so they will inherit a double portion in their land, and everlasting joy will be theirs." (vs. 7)

This is one of my biggest life chapters! I am reminded tonight of why. I know that the voice behind these verses is the Lord; He is the one anointed to do all of these things, and many would argue that it's not our place to claim this for ourselves. But I would argue, to be Christ-like we must live as He. If the Spirit was on Jesus, I want the Spirit in me! If He was anointed to preach good news, I long for that same anointing! If He was sent to bind the broken heart, proclaim freedom, release those from the darkness, comfort, etc... I want to do that as well; I want to LIVE that as well! You see, Jesus is my example! If I'm not striving to see His kingdom come and will be done on earth as it is in Heaven, then what am I doing? What is my purpose?

I will not allow myself to be satisfied with a mundane, do the norm, blending in kind of life! I am called to change the normal; to shine brightly so people can see the Lord through me! That is life! That is my longing! It gets hard to remember that sometimes and so I am very thankful for nights like tonight where Holy Spirit reminds me so gently.

My prayer tonight Lord, is that You would remind each of us daily of the calling You have for us as Your children. That the same freedom we get to walk in and glory we get to experience is available for all those around us, and we need the longing inside of us stirred to share it! Let my life's cry not just be a cry but let it be the motivation that moves me into action! There's so much more and I pray we will not be satisfied with just normal, but we'd long for power and glory to be released through us! All for YOUR name's sake! Amen!