Be Magnified

Be Magnified

I have made You too small in my eyes
Oh Lord, forgive me
And I have believed in a lie
That You were unable to help me
But now Oh Lord, I see my wrong
Heal my heart and show Yourself strong
And in my eyes and with my song
Be magnified
Oh Lord, be magnified

Be magnified, Oh Lord
You are highly exalted
And there in nothing You can't do
Oh Lord, my eyes are on You
Be magnified
Oh Lord, be magnified

I have leaned on the wisdom of men
Oh Lord, forgive me
And I have responded to them
Instead of Your light and Your mercy
But now Oh Lord, I see my wrong
Heal my heart and show Yourself strong
And in my eyes and with my song
Be magnified
Oh Lord be magnified

After today's reading of the 40 day devotionals, the Lord was telling me how i was actually relying on the arm of the flesh for strength... and how i was so caught up with ministry more than Him... you know why? Cos everytime i see something go "wrong" with ministry and i become frustrated over something happening, i get all discouraged, down, frustrated, etc... i lose my joy and my rest in God... that's the problem.. cos joy is my portion and rest in God is the ever constant thing that i should have in my life... and the fact that i lose that when something happens in ministry is cos i've not learned to look to Him and keep my gaze transfixed on him... that ministry itself has become a god in my life to be able to affect me in such a manner... being afected by these things show how more important they were in my life as opposed to my relationship with God.. and that's my portion.. He's my portion..

This changes everything... the way i look at ministry.. it makes me think... the reason why the Lord has allowed so many ups and downs and bump arounds in ministry is perhaps to teach me this one plain truth.. and it took so long for me to get it.. The reason why certain things go on in the ministry is cos God was trying to get my attention to tell me that if such things can affect me and draw my focus away from Him, then it has become a god, an idol.. the Lord wants me to rest in Him...

Many times i'm so frustrated by my mom and what she does that apparently has the effect of disturbing me while i'm praying... sometimes i get so irritated and i react... and today it occurred to me that if i'm reacting that way, it's wrong already...cos in such a manner, i am making prayer a god while Jesus would rather have me honour her instead of reacting to her.. Cos it's a call and an opportunity to worship and glorify Jesus in my conduct and in manifesting the fruit of the Spirit in patience, kindness, gentleness and self-control... and problably if Jesus were really there face to face, i wouldn't have reacted in that manner... it's Jesus i worship, not prayer... so in my eyes and with my song, Lord be magnified... see how subtle the deception can be? It's called being religious... and God doesn't want religion but a relationship.. being religious is concerned with works, with doing... while relationship is trust, rest and being- ceasing from those works... and many times in reacting as such, i lose that rest in God that i could otherwise have... and in that religious spirit, the environment of prayer becomes important to me than God Himself and manifesting Him and maintaining that rest in my spirit, in my relationship with Him... We are called to live the higher way, walk the higher walk, live the higher life.. and it's a call to rest in God...

It seems that everything i've been receiving from the Lord nowadays is a call to rest in Him... JK said something about the rest of God during worship prac today... Last sat when i received Psalm 139 during worship, it also talks about the rest of God... when i received Jeremiah 17 last month, it talks about the rest of God... Isaiah 58 talks about the rest of God... and so does Isa 61 cos it talks about the Jubilean anointing and we know that Jubilee is a season for rest... breaking off the yoke talks about rest and Jubilee cos the yoke is symbollic of burden.. so breaking it talks about the rest of God. Isa 46 talks about the burden coming as a result of idolatry and the casting down of idols will result in the rest of God. Eating from the tree of life is an invitation to His rest. Adam and Eve rested in fellowship with God in the garden and because of the Fall, they had to work in producing food and labour in producing offspring.. but Jesus has come to restore us back into the glory of God.. the one that man accessed before the fall... the rest of God... Saul didn't know this rest cos his lust for power drove him to try to kill David... David on the other hand, knew this rest cos even when being pursued by Saul 10 years in the wilderness wandering around for his life, he wrote his psalms and found in God what Saul couldn't find in the world- selah, the rest of God... Jesus knew this rest while sleeping inside the ship during the storm, while the diciples feared for their lives... Moses knew the rest of God up the mountain while the rest of Israel were dancing in their idolatrous revelry... The rest of God is found at a higher place of order.. the place where He is- His presence... His secret place- just you and Him... The Pharisees, with all their rules and regulations against work on the Sabbath never knew the true Sabbath rest of God in the Person of Jesus Christ while Jesus in all His tiredness in His earthly ministry in John 4 and 6 still found rest in doing the will of the Father... The Israelites in the desert didn't have to work for the manna they received in the wilderness.. they just had to gather it.. and the manna is the bread of heaven as Jesus is the bread of life who is from heaven.. so the question still echoes, "Why spend money on what is not bread and your labour on what does not satisfy?"

Isaiah 30:15 says in repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength... if we can't trust Him, we can't rest in Him... but He prepares a table before us in the presence of our enemies. If there's one things the world needs right now and what Christianity can give them, it's the rest of God found in Jesus Christ... that's the true answer to world peace and the solution to every problem you find all over the earth... the rest of God...

Lord, I want to live in perpetual rest... to always keep my eyes on You... many times, Lord i lose that rest when i look unto man and i get disappointed with people and i get discouraged and frustrated... help me to cast these things aside and learn how to look to you and to live in that rest in You...

When we truly learn how to live in Christ and know the rest of God, enjoying our relationship with Him and fellowship with Him, the Christian walk becomes easy... Romans 8 talks about living.. about how to live.. and it's one of my favourite chapters in the Bible.. it says that the mind set on the flesh is death but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace.. and if by the Spirit we put to death the misdeeds of the body we will live... this is an awesome promise for us to live as overcomers by the Spirit of God.. and breakthrough comes through a relationship with the Lord of the Breakthrough, the Captain of the Hosts.. Jesus, the Warrior King... and having a relationship with Him by His Spirit.. and we can share in that same overcoming nature... :)

Oh that we may have eyes that see and ears that hear and hearts that understand the depths of the riches of His promises and his all-surpassing glory that is available to us...

God bless! :)