Wednesday, June 8, 2010
This was an interesting day. I believe we have moved into the "thick darkness" I spoke about yesterday. There is a sense of not quite knowing where we are or how to move forward. This was reflected in out time together. I know from previous experience that the seventh day can be difficult in a fast.
I started the meeting with a reference to the word that Melody left us with the previous night - flourish. Psalm 92:13-15 states: "Those who are planted in the house of the Lord Shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall still bear fruit in old age; They shall be fresh and flourishing, To declare that the Lord is upright; He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him." I believe this is something we need to be holding on to and meditating on as we complete our journey over the next few days.
The Scripture that I really started the session with was Acts 1:9-11. The disciples were looking up into the sky where Jesus had been and the angels basically told them they had to move forward. We can't look at where Jesus was but have to move forward. We should not look back to the place we were, we are past repentance and breaking chains--we have moved thru the darkness. We moved into the clouds, the place of refreshing. We are going to move into the thick darkness where we can't even see our hand in front of our face, where we will feel lost. Again, we cannot look back to the place of the clouds, where we felt refreshed and more comfortable. We must continue to focus on the Lord and we will move through to where He is, in the fire.
I read Isaiah 41:9-10 - "You are My servant, I have chosen you and have not cast you away: Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand." In this place we must not allow fear to hold us back from moving forward. His plans for us are good, not for destruction.
Melody immediately felt the need to respond with Song of Solomon 8:6-7a - "Set me as a seal upon your heart, As a seal upon your arm; For love is as strong as death, Jealousy as cruel as the grave; Its flames are flames of fire, A most vehement flame. Many waters cannot quench love, Nor can the floods drown it." We treasure your love, oh God.
We sang "Come as Close as You Want." The whole song is amazing but the chorus struck a chord with what we are going through: "Holy God, Take my heart, Purge with flame and truth! A holy heart is all I want, That I may live with You!" (Listen to it by clicking here.) Lord, you are the author & finisher of faith (Hebrews 12:2a), increase our faith to finish this journey and continue the race. Lord, increase my faith!
After a couple more songs, Nathan felt led to stop playing & we prayed in silence for about 20 minutes.
I closed with John 14:4-6 - "[Jesus said,] 'And where I go you know, and the way you know.' Thomas said to Him, 'Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?' Jesus said to him, 'I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.'" Jesus is our way. We may feel lost but we do know the way. Lord we remind You of Your Covenant with us and we trust Your way. You will get us there.
Melody came forward and said that there was lots of angelic activity and she had seen silver wings. She also saw a meteorite flying thru sky that was actually coal from God's altar and from it everyone received their portion from Him.
Melody then prayed in closing: Lord, You are teaching us to trust. Even when we do not know it, You are so active. Some of us are being cracked open so that Your glory will shine out as never before. Lord, seal what you have done here tonight by Your Spirit.
As I was thinking afterwards, it struck me that in the thick darkness we are stuck with ourselves. We can no longer see those we are traveling with. We must really come to terms with ourselves as we come face-to-face with God. In the silence, He is there and we are even more aware of ourselves and the flaws we don't want Him to see or touch. In the thick darkness, silently Jesus bore our sin on the cross. We are in the place where self can be dealt with in the deepest way.
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