Wait Upon the Lord:  by Joey

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I receive your presence and not the fear that wells up in me like a lion. Ready to ravage and destroy all that is good. I receive your power to overcome by your word, rather than the opinion of those around, who know not the path that leads me to abound. I receive your peace to walk in your joy and the faith to call forth what you desire, that without hesitation I draw near to this fire. To receive an understanding of your will to look to tomorrow with an expectation that thrills my inner being. And by your spirit imparts all that is needed to enter this journey of the heart.

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I am wondering how many of you have been in a place of such weakness that all you can say is: Father this is a pit I can not find my way out unless you show me. I am wondering too if some of you have been in a place that has said: Father I believe... help my unbelief. Or maybe some of you have been faced with situations so despairing that your prayer has been Father: don't let me grow bitter in the circumstances.

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I have! And I am here to tell you that despite my greatest fears... the Lord has been as a taproot of faithfulness: that is overtaking me where I see only shifting sand and setting me on solid ground. And though my circumstances have not changed, He is changing what and who I believe. He is changing how I believe and he is changing why I believe.  Strengthened by the revelation of Selah as being Gods' peace within: I have begun to experience in a fresh way what it is to be still, to interrupt the pace that so easily takes over, and wait.  Psalm 40:1 I waited patiently for the Lord and he inclined unto me and heard my cry. He brought me up also out of a horrible pit out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.

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I can hear some of you saying: But Believe me I know that place. Yet he is showing me again with such gentleness the way into that peace ... is now faith. And what is that faith???? It is to remember that the battle is not ours but the Lords.  2Chron.20:15  Thus saith the Lord, be not afraid nor dismayed ... Ye shall not need to fight in this battle SET yourselves, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord "IS"... with thee. Again: enter stage left Selah.

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As I have begun to walk this out I am reminded that: man is 98% water. We believe water to be the gift of His life in us revealed in His word. So if I am only 2% of this equation: then as I stir up that gift which is Him is that not a place of peace that passes all understanding? Oh, I know there are a lot of things that can steer us away from that. But it is said we are to call forth the unseen as though it were... knowing that It does not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort but on God's mercy. And that before we have finished speaking He will answer. Think about it and tell me there is no rest in the storm.

 

Bringing new meaning to the following verses:  Hosea 6:1  Come and let us return unto the LORD: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up. After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight. Then shall we know if we follow on to know the LORD: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth.
  
I know this may seem oversimplified to some and to others maybe you have never had to prove the Lord and find this to be so. For me, it has become my daily bread for the circumstances I face.
Knowing that they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength ... strength to run the race, strength to go the distance and press to the mark of the high call.  Isaiah 9:7  clearly states, "of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end.  Written by me, in 2003, during a bout with cancer, and now that it is over it remains just as true. The only thing I prayed when that happened was to have faith in the end. Bless the Lord...I do!