Taking the Challenge to dust your Light...

I do not know God as I should-simple and true fact.

I've been underdeveloped in my perception of Who God is, and overdeveloped in my perception of myself. I awoke Saturday morning with more of a desire to do my hair than to spend time in His Word and it is at that point that change needs to happen. So I decided to do the undone in my life- go out with the Lord. I do not mean that irreverently in comparison to human terms but I thought of is this way: If I got asked out by a male-type individual, I would take time to make myself look nice and I would be EXCITED (if I were normal) to spend time with said person. And as time develops and you come to love someone, you take the TIME to show them the love you possess for them...So why do I not regard the Lord in such a way? I'm not joking- why does the Lord receive less excitement and attention than temporal things? SO- I woke up, got as dressed up as I could, did my hair, and left for a time alone with the Lord.

I went to a place near where I live called Lake Robinson and I sat down with my Bible and asked the Lord to show me Himself, really and truly. I want a changed perception, a changed heart, and a changed life as a result of both of those things. I'm telling this story not to magnify my own spirituality but to state in truth that I have reached stagnant Christianity, or rather fallen into it and I'm hoping whoever you are from whatever country you hail from that you can identify with this same position and see the need for a change. So here is a glimpse into my time alone with the Lord, and what He gave to me:

"I was reading John last night before bed and the first 7 verses are what I stayed on, 'In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word WAS God (By delving more in to the Word, I delve more in to Christ!) The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him and without him was not anything made that was made. In HIM was LIFE; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe.' WOW-He existed solely to let that Light of Christ shine through him! I googled facts about light last night, since Christ describes Himself as Light and 2 facts in particular stuck out to me. The first was 'Light is a form of energy which our sense of sight can detect.' So by being filled with Christ everyday-the Light of the Word will radiate from me and be detected by others-WOW! The second fact was this, 'A heavy coat of dust can block up to half of the light.' So of course, Jenn's mind goes to "What is so awful about dust" lol...interestingly it said this, 'At the surface, dust seems so harmless. It's just that random 'stuff' that collects on undisturbed surfaces in our homes. It's just a little dust from outside right? If only the story of dust were so innocent and innocuous. The true story is that dust is simply disgusting. Dust contains inoffensive items such as fabric fibers and salt crystals to more alarming substances including ash, fingernail filings, human skin scales, fungal spores and insect fragments. The solution? Regular housecleaning, minimizing dust-collecting display items and keeping clothing stored properly-just to name a few.' WOW-I felt like those articles were written specifically to me! The Light is over half-blocked by dust..I am supposed to be displaying the Light for all men to see, but I can state plainly right now I have dust that has collected on my heart. Dust has the opportunity to lay when I feed it with things that disgust the Lord-things like pride, hatred, feet that are swift in running to mischief, lieing, wandering eyes-ALL of these are sins I have struggled many times with and now I see what they have done to my heart. They have not only hindered my Christian walk but they have hurt my testimony for Christ. Yesturday I walked around the building and just sat on the front steps for a little while talking to the Lord. I've really been struggling with the fact that I do not know God like I should. Ive made wrong assumptions about His character because I don't know Him, and I know I need to know Him more but my flesh has been fighting that. I had become a discouraged mess, but when I stopped to talk to Him, He seemed to say 'I am calling you to growth-to a higher standard-to KNOW ME MORE.' I have come to place where I'm standing still, where I find I am content in what I know of God and that is a WRONG contentment because I have no desire to make the effort to know Him more!
Since Seth's accident, it's like I've been mourning as if he's dead, assuming the Lord to allow hurt instead of rejoicing in the fact that He chose to show mercy and glorying in the fact that He saved me from my sin in GRACE AND LOVE. THAT is what has been wrong at the core-I've come to the realization that I do not KNOW my God as I ought to know Him and I feel an emptiness because of that. I came out here today to seek to change that! I want our relationship to be special and in order to show that Light I've got to be cleaned and refilled everyday! That starts with being sill, with memorizing Scripture, with displaying the characteristics of the Sweet Teacher-but again, all those tings cannot come without KNOWING Him and I've got to know Him. He is calling and I desire to respond to that call! I want to know You, Lord; I want to ever grow in that knowledge of You and that's not something that can stop here-it's got to continue throughout the rest of my life!.'

So where do we go from here? I started at the very beginning-Genesis 1:1, and I'm going to read through this Incredible Book writing down everything the Lord gives me about Himself. I want a renewed view, a washed heart of all assumption and a TRUE knowledge of the One Who created me! I'm finding all the answers are in that wonderful Book and for every situation, the solution resides in the knowledge of God.

I've given myself the challenge and if you will, step up with me and do the same. I desire to stand before my closest Friend in Eternity..not an acquaintance, and to know that the "well-done" came only because the knowledge of Him gave me the strength to carry on.