It takes patience and agreement with the Word of God to learn and accept His divine will, and just as importantly, time alone with Him, communing on which of our thoughts are acceptable to Him and what is not. In spending time with Him, we discover what is needed in order to fill the lacks and change the desires; this will allow us to submit to, agree with and eventually love His divine will.
“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.” -Matt 11:28-30 MSG
Our flesh wants this to be a hard thing, a badge to borne, an achievement to achieve. Jesus, the Good Shepherd says, "Lay those things down. Leave them, you won't need them here. Stop trying to do. Just sit here with me and become. When it's time to leave this pasture and go do, we're taking that smaller package."
Humility becomes our path to peace: it is the doorway to the self-mortification process and the appreciation of the Art of Letting Go. I learn to release myself from the offense, agitation, anger, desires of control, and fear of the I am nots - I am not so talented, I am not so smart, I am not so in control... I embrace and trust the great I Am. I come to a place of peace, free from turmoil, because I learn to appreciate and hold dear and true, I come to love, what God thinks about me. I begin to delight in the little, beautiful things revealed to me that I never knew about myself, and the things that I never knew that He thought about me.
I Am... Loved, Protected, of Amazing Worth, Strong, Wise, Free, Beautiful - all of these things and so much more, but only effectually and safely In Him.
As Christians, we must re-learn how and what to learn; humility - realizing how little we truly know - is key. Developing new, positive routines is useful scaffolding-work to build upon our Incredible Foundation. Unorthodox tools can be used to create indelible edifices that can stand the tests of time - that is to say there are diverse methods available which can write pathways of change upon our hearts; we bring them before the Word, test them, try them on to see how they rest upon us and do the submission-work to see them come to life in us so that they come to life through us.
Self-death - release from the ties and lies of this life and all its vain precepts - is the only true victory for the believer. These other things are good, but dying to self through living for and through Christ is God and it must be the one thing that I seek, forgetting and putting all other things beneath Him and behind me so that I may press onward to the prize of Christ-likeness that is before me.
This love story concludes in Path to Peace 5 - Loving the Divine Will
I dedicate this episode of Path to Peace to the memory of my beloved, dear departed former wife, a Warrior Queen for the Kingdom of Heaven who spoke peace to our hearts always.
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