Closing the Door

... go into your inner room, close your door,  and pray.

- Matthew 6;6

Something soft, beautiful, and gentle is happening - within and around me.

As always, it is difficult to put into words. Like a snapshot that doesn't do justice to the real thing, my words are inadequate to express what is going on.

Nevertheless, here's my feeble attempt to share, that you may have a glimpse into what God is doing in my heart and in my circumstances.

There has been what I'd like to call a holy quiet permeating the air I breathe. 

So grateful that Abba Father never gives up on me. He awakens me at the usual early hour, way before dawn... But lately I have pleaded with Him to forgive me for the many times I have not heeded the call.

There are still too many leftover things from my past that need sorting out, discarding, re-arranging. It can only be tackled one day at a time.


Another Level

These days I realize that I have entered yet another level in my destiny... and Abba is definitely preparing me for something new. He's removing blocks, clearing up my understanding.

It's a pruning of sorts, a simplifying of priorities, a descent.

Abba's word for me in September was Seek first My kingdom... and My righteousness... and all these things will be given unto you.

Father says, I have created you for greater things. Know Me, know yourself.

I know that I have entered what Richard Rohr calls the "second half of life" many years ago, but I am understanding it more fully now.

"In the second half of life, people have less power to infatuate you. But they also have much less power to control or hurt you."

What people say or think about me don't matter so much to me anymore, provided my heart is truly clean before God.

Abba says, Let go of those things, entrust them to me, my daughter... I will take care of them.

Yes, I do sense an inner movement toward intimacy, authenticity, acceptance, gratitude, humility.

He is, and always will be, my top priority. I cannot be preoccupied with anything that derails me from His goal for me in this next season of my life.

Doors

These past days I have been thinking a lot about doors. On several occasions, the subject matter of closing the door behind me has come up - in my devotional readings, and in my casual conversation with friends. 

Go into your inner room... close the door... and pray. Matthew 6:6.

Before Jesus raised Jairus' daughter back to life, He put the tumultuous crowd outside, and allowed no one but his three disciples Peter, James, and John, and the parents of the child, to go with Him inside the room where the child was.

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...He said to the ruler of the synagogue, "Do not be afraid; only believe." And He permitted no one to follow Him except Peter, James, and John the brother of James. Then He came to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and saw a tumult and those who wept and wailed loudly. When He came in, He said to them, "Why make this commotion and weep? The child is not dead, but sleeping."

And they ridiculed Him. But when He had put them all outside, He took the father and the mother of the child, and those who were with Him, and entered where the child was lying. Then He took the child by the hand, and said to her, "Talitha, cumi," which is translated, "Little girl, I say to you, arise." Immediately the girl arose and walked...  
- Mark 5:36-42

In the account of the widow and the jars of oil, Elisha the prophet commanded her to borrow empty vessels from her neighbors, go inside her house, shut the door behind her, and in the presence of her two sons, pour oil into all the jars she had borrowed.

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So she went from him and shut the door behind her and her sons, who brought the vessels to her; and she poured it out. Now it came to pass, when the vessels were full, that she said to her son, "Bring me another vessel."

And he said to her, "There is not another vessel." So the oil ceased. Then she came and told the man of God. And he said, "Go, sell the oil and pay your debt; and you and your sons live on the rest." 
- 2 Kings 4:3-7

The common thread: I need to go in and close the door behind me, that the tumultuous voices of the enemy may not reach me. 

Close the door behind me, for faith and unbelief cannot go together.

Turn your back on flattery, useless chatter, non-essentials. 

God does His work in the secret places, hidden from the eyes of those who only honor God with their lips but whose hearts are far from Him.

The mighty miracles of heaven are birthed in the secret place of true worship and humble prayer.

A Weak Spot

That my bonsai collection was stolen recently holds a subtle lesson for me. The enemy has gained access, I was complacent and had not been watching and praying.

There was a weak spot in my gateway... So today, the new, higher gate is being installed. I have been alerted to the schemes of the enemy.

God is my protector and my defense, but I have to make sure the gates to my heart are secure, keeping out unbelief, complacency, presumptuousness, offense... and all other things that Abba Father brings to my attention.

Words written by Bryan Purtle that have gripped my heart:

One of the reasons the people of God rarely make it into the life of prayer is that they seek to establish devotional lives in a religious manner, without real desire or holy intention, and they only find the strength for little spurts of reading and prayer. They lack the faith and hunger for God sufficient enough to inspire them to close the door on life, on people, on food, on errands, on entertainment, and even on ministry to others. But Jesus said we've got to "close the door" if ever we wish to enter into the heights of God-filled devotion. Are you closing the door on the world everyday, enough to engage the living God in secret? The powers of darkness will use any means to distract us from this place, and if we haven't sufficiently "closed the door" they will have their way with us... It's the secret life of prayer that lays the foundation for an abiding life in all settings.... Oh, friend, He will meet you there. He will open up the Scriptures to you. He will shower you with the waters of holy love, purify your soul with fire from above, still your heart and teach you His glorious ways. Once you have broken through the morass and clutter of life, the secret place will become your favored place, and you will wonder why you had neglected it for lesser company or lesser things.... (source)

Precious lessons, learning things the costly way. But it is worth it all.

My desire is to see things with my spiritual understanding... and then to respond in obedience. 

Spiritual things are spiritually discerned.

A Birthday Blessing for Second Grandson

My second grandson Full of Hope turns four years old today.

I am praying for my generations... my children... my grandchildren. May my legacy of faith live on in them.

Four years ago we battled for the life of this little one. 

But today, four years later he is healthy, intelligent, inquisitve. He is a learner.

I pray for you today, dear grandson, that you will learn to put up strong boundaries around your heart, that it may not be easily accessed by the enemy.

Abba Father, teach this little one to hunger and thirst for You... to long for the things that please You. 

Teach him to know what it means to close the door of his heart to unbelief and fear.

Father, he has a full life ahead of Him, but the world in which he lives is enemy territory. Be the protector of His heart, Abba. 

Be the door to His heart, Abba Father. Teach Him at this early age that behind that closed door is a secret place where He can meet with You often, to receive strength, peace, joy, and hope!