What do you want from me?
August 25
Up long before the sun, I began my quiet time with the Lord. Singing "Glory, glory, glory to the Lamb"; I then moved on to a time of confession asking God to "Create in me a clean heart". Launching into a prayer list, which ranged from the desires of the hearts of my children to a wide sweep of healing for numerous people battling disease and miracles for some hurting marriages, I then became quiet wanting to hear from the Lord and He really caught me off guard.
"What do you want from me?" He asked. "I beg your pardon?" I replied. Shell shocked, I thought, "What do I want from Him?"
My mind drifted back to two relationship scenarios. In the parental role sometimes we have children who only call when they want something...usually money! "Oh, Lord, when I come to You I hope it is with more than just my wish list!"
A radio talk show yesterday addressed the other relationship I am referring to and nailed the different marital desires of men and women. Now don't get ahead of me here and get sarcastic about the only thing men want....I believe the title of the book being discussed on the show was Love and Respect by Dr. Emerson Eggerichs. He explained that women want desperately to be loved by their husbands and husbands function best when respected by their wives. The book is based on Ephesians 5:33 which says:
..each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.
If we step back a verse, we will gain insight into where Paul is going with this teaching. The idea is that we are to nurture our relationship with Christ like a husband and wife are to nurture their union to one another.
So back to God's question this morning...What do I want? I want His love, which He offers so lavishly, so unconditionally, and so sacrificially! Balancing the relationship I pray He relishes the love and respect I have for Him. May I live in a way in which I am found verbalizing that fact to Him personally and living it out in my lifestyle and language with others.
Let's Pray: Lord, we fall humbly before You amazed by Your complexity. Try as we might, our minds were not designed by You to comprehend Your composition. We are just to know You are God and be glad we are Your children. The other day I watched a bee buzzing on a flower and was enthralled with how you made the wings of the bee with such intricacy and how You called forth that delicate flower in such vibrant colors. Being a God of order, You have a plan and we sing glory, hallelujah part of the plan is a ticket home to heaven. Yup, the ticket is in Jesus' name, Amen
Up long before the sun, I began my quiet time with the Lord. Singing "Glory, glory, glory to the Lamb"; I then moved on to a time of confession asking God to "Create in me a clean heart". Launching into a prayer list, which ranged from the desires of the hearts of my children to a wide sweep of healing for numerous people battling disease and miracles for some hurting marriages, I then became quiet wanting to hear from the Lord and He really caught me off guard.
"What do you want from me?" He asked. "I beg your pardon?" I replied. Shell shocked, I thought, "What do I want from Him?"
My mind drifted back to two relationship scenarios. In the parental role sometimes we have children who only call when they want something...usually money! "Oh, Lord, when I come to You I hope it is with more than just my wish list!"
A radio talk show yesterday addressed the other relationship I am referring to and nailed the different marital desires of men and women. Now don't get ahead of me here and get sarcastic about the only thing men want....I believe the title of the book being discussed on the show was Love and Respect by Dr. Emerson Eggerichs. He explained that women want desperately to be loved by their husbands and husbands function best when respected by their wives. The book is based on Ephesians 5:33 which says:
..each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.
If we step back a verse, we will gain insight into where Paul is going with this teaching. The idea is that we are to nurture our relationship with Christ like a husband and wife are to nurture their union to one another.
So back to God's question this morning...What do I want? I want His love, which He offers so lavishly, so unconditionally, and so sacrificially! Balancing the relationship I pray He relishes the love and respect I have for Him. May I live in a way in which I am found verbalizing that fact to Him personally and living it out in my lifestyle and language with others.
Let's Pray: Lord, we fall humbly before You amazed by Your complexity. Try as we might, our minds were not designed by You to comprehend Your composition. We are just to know You are God and be glad we are Your children. The other day I watched a bee buzzing on a flower and was enthralled with how you made the wings of the bee with such intricacy and how You called forth that delicate flower in such vibrant colors. Being a God of order, You have a plan and we sing glory, hallelujah part of the plan is a ticket home to heaven. Yup, the ticket is in Jesus' name, Amen
