Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Linda's Journal - March 30, 2010

I was reminded this morning about a Word that the Lord spoke through me a couple weeks ago at a gathering of believers. I was sharing with Tom this morning about a dream I had last night… it was a spiritual dream with a sense of “urgency” to stay focused on what the Lord is calling us to do because the time is very short! While sharing the dream with him it made me think about the fact that he hasn't been spending time in the Word lately like he used to so I asked him about it. He said that he tends to rely more on “reading” and “studying” the Word, which is where he is more comfortable, but is now working on “listening” and “hearing” God’s voice. So, he has set aside the comfortable and familiar to work on the area that is weaker and not so easy for him. And that is when I remembered the Word from the Lord. 

At a meeting a few weeks ago, a group of us were praying and sharing and the Lord told me to go over and massage a woman’s shoulders. I hesitated until the Spirit poked me enough times so I knew it wasn't “me” and started massaging her shoulders, neck and back while the group was sharing what the Spirit was leading. Then, as I finished massaging the women’s “right” shoulder area, which was done with ease, I moved to the left shoulder and found it to be awkward and difficult, and as I was wondering about this the Spirit spoke to my heart and said “We tend to do the things that come easy and are comfortable and natural to us, spiritually speaking, like using our “right” hand for doing tasks, but I want to encourage you to work on the area’s that are not so comfortable for you, like using your “left” hand to do tasks in order to “strengthen” and develop your weaker areas!” He was encouraging us to work on our spiritual “balance”. Even though it is awkward and difficult, we need to strengthen the weaker side of our spiritual life. Focus on the area’s that need strengthening and work on our “spiritual balance”. In essence, that is what Tom was saying he was doing :)  So, turning that around to me… what area am I weak in that needs to be strengthened?? Well, I know Tom’s strong suit is knowledge of the Word so I tend to rely on him a lot in that way so I would have to say that I should work on spending more time in the word… among other things! I also know I need to familiarize myself more with the Holy Spirit and learn more about His “features” that I have not even tapped into or explored as well. Lord, please guide me and direct me as I move to strengthen the areas in my spiritual life that are weak!

Then Oswald got to me again this morning.  I have been praying for Tom lately for certain things, and until I read Oswald, I didn’t realize how “selfish” my prayers were!! I wanted God to help him to change so that “I” would feel better about where he was… and not really asking God what HE wanted for Tom. This is the statement that got to me “Are we worshiping God in a way that will raise us up to where we can take hold of Him, having such intimate contact with Him that we know His mind about the ones for whom we pray?” Am I so connected with God that I am praying the Mind of Christ for Tom?? I am convicted that I am not...  Lord, I know You know Tom better than I do so please help me to dwell in Your presence, and worship You more and more so that my prayers for Tom (and for others!) are YOUR prayers for him!!

Another note worthy item is that we heard chainsaws on the land today… they have already started cutting down the trees on Bud and Beth’s land!!  They are moving very fast!  It will be interesting to see how this all plays out. Bud and Beth had a meeting with a woman from the land acquisition department last week and she said that by June all the trees should be down and the utility poles erected or being erected so the June weddings will be affected!!  This is not a good thing….  Bud and Beth are faced with some hard choices to make!  Father, I pray that they would “run” to you at this time and not try to work all this out on their own!  Lord, guide and direct them and fill them with Your peace as they seek you for what You would have them do.

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