A word of possibilities by Kat Winter, December 2, 2023
Bible reading is an act of loving God with my whole mind & If reading the Word isn’t bringing greater delight and worship, one might be approaching it incorrectly.
Reflections from Biblical World View Week. YWAM DTS Week 9!
I learned so much from Simon Hales, our incredible speaker from YWAM Harpenden, this week, and his love for God’s word has sparked something in me!
The first day was so powerful and needed. We needed God to give us the gift of desire—for His word! No guilt or condemnation for all the reasons why I have fallen away from His word, but just a humble asking for a fresh fire and desire. I found myself at the end of the week desiring to read my Bible on break, so I praise God for answering!
A major theme this week was the nature of God expressed in His word. He creates and then fills. We have been given that same authority as image-bearers and have a creation mandate on our life! So powerful! All throughout scripture, we see the desire of God: to bless the nations through His chosen people! He is continually making promises to us and is unfailingly faithful to His word despite our natural tendency to be faithless. His promises towards us are based on His character and can’t be compromised by our sin nature. He is constantly giving us the opportunity to choose life and is consistently giving us the desire and the ability to do what pleases Him.
It is so humbling to recognize my own desire for law and rules over faith. I deeply want to be able to follow the rules and add to the word of God often to protect myself, but faith in Jesus is the simple Gospel. I pray my heart is yielding to that more and more each day.
An important reminder from this week is that the enemy is constantly trying to twist God’s word and offer us a counterfeit towards life, but there are no shifting shadows with the gifts God gives. They are only good and pure and for our deepest good. The question is… will I believe the lie over the words God has spoken? This is the tension we find ourselves in, and I was challenged to choose life in this area. He withholds no good thing from me!
A Few More Gems!
God doesn’t need our worship, but because we need it, He asks us to worship. No idol can carry the weight of my worship; it will crumble and let me down. Idolatry is misplacing trust in something that will hurt you and other people. He wants to remove idolatry so HE CAN FILL US WITH GOODNESS. THE REALITY OF FOLLOWING JESUS IS WE GET THE LIFE OF GOD AND THE FULLNESS OF HIS SPIRIT IN US!! GOD FORMS AND HE FILLS!!
Let’s have a little Selah:
Prayer: You make space for me and then fill me with yourself—you’re pushing out all the things that steal. You come to only fill. I trust you, Lord, to form in me a new mind and a new heart. Push out the old and forge the new. In your hands, I commit myself to you.
Die to Live: “To some, we will be a fragrance of life, and to others, a fragrance of death.” – Simon Hales
We have to die to ourselves to fully live. Hence, the reason why sometimes we are repelled from being around other Christians, knowing that we will be convicted by our fleshy attitudes and lack of desire for the Lord. We might have to die to hidden sin or fleshy comfort to experience the fullness of life… or is that the problem… Is it really the fullness of life? So, the question we pose to ourselves is, what is the real reason I don’t want to be in a church community? Is it because I have been hurt and burned, or is it because I don’t want to be confronted with the reality of my pain, fear, trauma, and unforgiveness? Do I not want to be in authentic community because of x, y, z, or do I not believe there will be life—true life and God’s deepest happiness for me—when there is death? Only the Spirit can search and know our hearts. Only He can judge the deepest motivations, but will I trust Him in His sweet and tender judgment and allow Him to give me more of Himself so I can have the desire and ability to be crucified with Him and then share in His resurrection life.
A reflection on What the Bible is to me now: The Bible is how I pull back the veil over my mind, experiences often cover, and the light that exposes what shadows cast might skew. It is the key that opens the eyes of my heart so I might be enlightened to WHO God truly is. The word is the lens I must view my current reality through and the telescope to see my future. It is the magnifying glass I need to see Him in even the most microscopic of things to bring my soul into the fullness of worship for which I was created.
A Prayer from AW Tozer, “Desiring God” :
Today, I ask heaven and earth to be witnesses. I am offering you life or death, blessings or curses. Now, choose life! Then you and your children may live.
Father, give us a heart to lead, to make decisions that impact those around me in life and not death. Oh, Your Spirit, we need.
Show me Thy glory, I pray Thee, so that I may know Thee indeed. Begin in mercy a new work of love within me. Say to my soul, “Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away.” Then give me grace to rise and follow Thee up from this misty lowland where I have wandered so long. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Until next week!!! Ciao!