A Way Out of the Drift

Dettifoss, Iceland

A Fresh Touch of His Power

photo source

Let us know, let us press on to know the Lord;
his going forth is sure as the dawn;

He will come to us as the showers,
as the spring rains that water the earth.

- Hosea 6:3

Love the Lord your God with all your heart,
with all your soul,
with all your mind,
and with all your strength.

- Mark 12:30

I have been hungering for God.

Longing for a fresh touch... a new power... a new beginning.

Yes, I have been reading His word, and doing His work. But I am ready for more. I am ready to move on.

And my God knows... that deep at the core of my being I am feeling a deep dissatisfaction within myself.


At one point or another in our lives, we come face to face with this truth - that we were all designed for something more.

And somehow I know and understand that the great lasting eternal satisfaction that my heart longs for is not going to come in this life - it will happen only in eternity, when I reach heaven's shores.

This explains our longing for something deeper, something more. We are all wired for eternity. It is the destination that we all long for.

However, I also know that eternity begins right here, where I am. Because eternal life is a progression, a moving up from one level of glory to another.

Eternal life in Heaven is accessed by a door, the door of death... but the road leading to that door is right here on earth.

And there are many times that God wants to give us a glimpse of heaven, a preview of what is to come - that we may be encouraged to keep walking on this journey where the enemy seeks to distract us, lead us astray, blind us to the eternal beauty and lasting joy that awaits us.

And if we're not careful, we could very well be on a wrong road and never be aware of it. Cause there are many effective counterfeits along the way, or our senses for the real could be deadened, and we may never even realize we have been going the wrong way, until we reach the end.

And by then it's too late.


God knew that in my seeking Him these past days... weeks... months, I have longed for something more, something deeper.

This longing doesn't really end, because the journey keeps leading us higher, nearer His heart.

And God is just so wise and so good that He responds to the longing of our hearts, if these longings are our obedient responses to His call to draw nearer.

God the Father knows.

He is not deceived or mocked by our false religiosity... the spiritual masks that we put on for others to see... the Christanized language that we have practiced and know very well to speak.

He recognizes the heart that truly seeks and hungers and longs for Him.


I have been on this blog for three years already, and those of you who have been reading my life as shared on this network know the deep desires of my heart - to know Him more, and to honor Him with my thoughts, words, actions, and the choices I make.

I desire to live an intentional life of seeking Him, and honoring Him above all.

And yet... even our best intentions are often not good enough.

God allows this so that we never reach the point where we have it all together. Something will happen, something will go wrong.

The roof will leak, the paint will peel off... the washing machine will bog down.

Sickness will strike. A child will go wayward. The garden will overgrow and the weeds will appear.

Many other things... a husband will die and leave you in the middle of life... to go on alone.

Your best friend will move to a faraway country, and there will be no one to take her place. Because a best friend happens only once in a lifetime, there will never be another one like her.

The relationship that I thought I had with God begins to lose its flavor... and I find myself longing for something more.



It all boils down to relationships, really.

We relate to others at different levels. The more important the relationship, the more willing we are to give of ourselves.

I believe that a meaningful relationship will never reach a plateau, or be at a standstill...we will always be moving forward... or upward.


But times are changing, and so is the nature of relationships.

We are seeing before our eyes the phenomenon of the facebook generation. I have no doubt that it has its merits... but in this social network, only seven percent, the verbal component, of the communication process is used. The more important 93%, the relational aspect, is missing.

Emoticons can hardly take the place of one's tone of voice or even the look in one's eyes.

And yet it's amazing how people have bought into this medium of relating to one another.

It's convenient, and it's fast. Information at the click of a mouse.

It's easy to touch and go, have a peek, speed read and skim over the words, then move on. There is not enough time, and there are many other "friends" to visit... so one can't stay long enough to really see what's going on in another person's life.

It's also easy to deal with an offending visitor - simply click "unfriend" or "block" or "delete" - change the settings of your life, so to speak.

Whether in cyberspace or in real life... there isn't much difference anymore.

In fact, cyberspace "friendships" seem to be an indicator of what is happening in face to face relationships.

It requires too much effort to go deep... to nurture the relationship... to understand what went wrong.

Why bother?

Few are willing to take the time.


On the other hand, one can choose to make a difference... aim for depth and authenticity, and in doing so, discover others who will not settle for mere surface level relationships.


I realize that this is true of God as well.

Deep calls to deep.

God knows those who are really ready for a heart to heart relationship with Him. He is paying attention. He draws near to those who call out to Him for something more.

His mercies are new every morning, and each morning, He issues a fresh call for us to come out of the shallows and discover the joys of relating to Him at a deeper level.

God is always willing to take the time.

---0---

We were running late Sunday morning when Worshiper, Chosen One, their baby, and I entered the our church sanctuary.

I had a prayer in my heart, asking God to meet me at my point of need.

Lord I want to know You more!

As I walked in my spirit sensed that there was something different in the atmosphere.

Pastor Marc Petersen had already begun his message, and the words I heard struck me. I listened intently to what was being said.

He was talking about the nation of Israel that had drifted away from the Lord.

He was talking about their love that was as transient as the morning mist...

The Lord cries out, "Oh Ephraim... Oh Judah... what can I do with you? For your love is like a morning mist, like the early dew that disappears."

Israel had become unfaithful, she had turned her eyes to other lovers.

You become like whatever you put your eyes on.

At one point or another we have all been like Israel... we have turned our eyes away from God... and we find ourselves caught in a riptide...

You and I have experienced what it is to be swept away.

How do you stop the drift when you're caught in one?

What is the cure for morning mist love?

God brings pain into our lives that we may turn our eyes back on Him. He so values the fact that we return to Him so He allows pain to bring us back to Him.

God uses the difficulty not to punish, but to get us back on track with Him.

When you're caught in a riptide, there's no stopping it. But God has given us a way out of the drift.

He invites us to return to Him as our first love.

...to turn our eyes back on Him.

...to put our eyes on the word of God.

...to draw near to Him that He may draw near to us.


I didn't think I was caught in a drift... but I suppose, in a way I was. For my eyes were blurry at this point and Pastor Marc's words sunk deep into my heart, speaking as if I were the only person in the room:

In life when you put your eyes on the word of God, and you let it thrill you... you start to make decisions based on the word of God, it stops the drift.

The drift is having no place to go, it’s not really knowing what you’re for – but the word adds parameters to your life, it frames your life with reality so that as you’re living your life and you know the word of God and you start making good choices, the word of God starts to show you your destiny.

You start to choose that destiny and you go against the drift and you start to live the way Jesus has called you to live.

Jesus conquered the force of death!

There is a power flowing out of heaven for us!

That power is for us!

James says – draw near to God and He will draw near to you.

He draws near and He says:

“I will pour resurrection power into you so that where you had no life before you’ll have life.

In the very core of your being you’ll have life.”

Toward the end of his message, Pastor Marc asked anyone who wanted to have a taste, a fresh touch, of the resurrection power of the Lord to come to the front.

I stepped out from where I was sitting and came almost running to the front. I had no doubt God was calling me.

It was a message God spoke in answer to the cry of my heart.


A Way Out of the Drift by Marc Petersen




You are Merciful to Me by Ian Smith