Do you remember Valentine's Day in (primary) grade school? The day held forth the promise of cupcakes and cookies and kool-aid brought in by the Moms.
Decorated brown paper bags that had been painstakingly embellished, were taped to the front of your desk. Empty bags but open and beckoning, hoping 2 receive paper heart-shaped treasures dropped into them through out the day. Oh the expectation, anticipation and bated breath!
Who could possibly explain that a bag full of small white envelopes holding corny, folded valentine's with silly sayings, meant that you were counted in and not on the outside looking in?
How many were painfully aware of the rejects and rebuffs? Not knowing that you were Already CHOSEN. Already LOVED. Already desperately desired as aValentine?
This Valentine's Day, I pray that you will embrace the Love that is ALREADY yours! I pray that you will turn and find your deepest desires not just met but fulfilled beyond all expectations and that you will be overwhelmed and swept away by the Lover of Your Soul. The ONE who knows you better than you know yourself and is as close as your own skin because that is where HE desires to be, under your skin, in the crevices of your heart and in every area of your life!
HE was there at each and every Valentine's day from your past, both the happy and the sad ones. Before you were even born He hummed and sang over you:
"I am your Valentine, Will you be Mine? Will you supine and your heart let Me entwine? I will be the song your heart sings, with words and melody that only Heaven brings! I love you so, more than you know, and I shall lovingly watch you grow. I shall wait for you, wait for you, wait for you My Love! For I died for you, bled for you, rose to give you life anew! I call to you, and woo you, and draw you to Me, your whole life through. So come to Me, dine with Me, recline with Me, and let me sing to you! Laugh with Me, smile with Me,
cry tears for Me that others may know My Love that's True, for don't you know I've cried tears for all of you? Flow with Me, Grow with Me, Then Go for Me, and Show for Me the Love that I gave to you. Reach for Me, Teach for Me, Use the Gifts I've Given to you. Love's the Key that opens the door, and there is so much more, just waiting for you to explore! So Come my Valentine, let your heart incline and feast on My Love sublime." Jesus
Have you ever heard someone say? " Oh, they are such a piece of work!" It is not meant as a compliment, but a put down. But what they don't realize is we are all a piece of work, HIS WORKMANSHIP, created in HIS IMAGE.
Gen. 1:26-27 (AMP) God said, Let Us [Father, Son, and Holy Spirit] make mankind in Our image, after Our likeness, and let them have complete authority over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the [tame] beasts, and over all of the earth, and over everything that creeps upon the earth. [Psalms 104:30; Hebrews 1:2; Hebrews 11:3] So God created man in His own image, in the image and likeness of God He created him; male and female He created them. [Colossians 3:9-10; James 3:8-9]
Eph 2:10-14 (ISV) For we are his masterpiece, created in Christ Jesus for good works that God prepared long ago to be our way of life. So then, remember that at one time you were gentiles by birth and were called "the uncircumcision" by what is called "the circumcision" made in the flesh by hands. At that time you were without Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise. You had no hope and were in the world without God. But now, in Christ Jesus, you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For it is he who is our peace. In his flesh he made both groups one by tearing down the wall of hostility that divided them.
And even when that "workmanship" is in rebellion, and has made itself filthy by wallowing in the muck of sin that is so readily found in the world around us, that does not change the fact that they are still created in HIS image! They just don't know, or have lost sight of that image. But it is emblazoned on their hearts and deep in their spirits.
Haggai 2:7 I will shake all the nations, and the one whom all the nations desire will come. Then I will fill this house with glory, says the LORD of Armies.
Ecclesiastes 3:11 (AMP) He has made everything beautiful in its time. He also has planted eternity in men's hearts and minds [a divinely implanted sense of a purpose working through the ages which nothing under the sun but God alone can satisfy], yet so that men cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.
The Prophet Isaiah had a vision of the Throne Room and saw the seraphim which flew around God's throne. And as they flew, one would call out to the other saying, "Holy, Holy, HOLY is the Lord!" (Isa.6:1-3)
I heard a minister say once the reason they cried out continually, was because every time they moved they saw God from a different facet or angle and it would cause them to cry out. Now, the Word doesn't specifically say that, but how many of you have ever known someone whom you loved or just admired greatly? The more you got to know that person, the more depth of their inward beauty you could see and it was like the unfolding of a flower, was it not? It's kind of like that with the Lord.
Psalms says it like this: Psalm 96:9 Bow before the beauty of GOD, Then to your knees--everyone worship!
My friend and I were talking and sharing back and forth and she was saying how she has met some really sold out, on fire people, that just bless her with their presence. At the same time she is rather humbled and amazed by their response to her, acknowledging the gifts and beauty that God has placed in her and saying how much she blesses them! As she talked, I thought of a beautiful woman of God that I "mentor" and how her insight and views have often just caused me to catch my breath and say, "Oh wow God!" as I would see something from a new facet that she had shared.
And out of my spirit came this response: "It is like the seraphim as they flew around God and kept seeing a different facet. You are seeing facets of God in them, that stretch you and encourage you and bless you. But they are seeing facet of God in YOU and that blesses them and stretches and encourages them!
Proverbs 27:17 (BBE) Iron makes iron sharp; so a man makes sharp his friend.
For you see, we are HIS workmanship. And into each one of us, He has deposited a piece of Himself, that we may behold a glimpse of Him in each other. It is only when the pieces are redeemed that He can start shining through. And the more we encourage and appreciate Him in ourselves and each other, the more place we give Him to shine and work through us!
So, let me ask you.
Have you belittled or made small the workmanship that is called "YOU?" What about others?
What steps can you take to make an adjustment to how you view yourself and others? Remember this is not a competition! We (all of us) are being fitly joined together (with each other and in Him)
Epheshians 2:19-22 Therefore you are no longer outsiders (exiles, migrants, and aliens, excluded from the rights of citizens), but you now share citizenship with the saints (God's own people, consecrated and set apart for Himself); and you belong to God's [own] household. You are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets with Christ Jesus Himself the chief Cornerstone. In Him the whole structure is joined (bound, welded) together harmoniously, and it continues to rise (grow, increase) into a holy temple in the Lord [a sanctuary dedicated, consecrated, and sacred to the presence of the Lord]. In Him [and in fellowship with one another] you yourselves also are being built up [into this structure] with the rest, to form a fixed abode (dwelling place) of God in (by, through) the Spirit.
1Peter 2:5 (MSG) Present yourselves as building stones for the construction of a sanctuary vibrant with life, in which you'll serve as holy priests offering Christ-approved lives up to God.
Sit down and write out the wrong thoughts that HE has brought to your attention and then write out the declarations of God; what HE says about you! And then quite simply choose to believe what He has said and when those wrong thoughts try to creep back in firmly shut the door. Give God the Glory for what He has done in you and through you and know that He is at work even yet, perfecting all that concerns you!
Psalm 138: 8 (GNB) You will do everything you have promised; LORD, your love is eternal. Complete the work that you have begun.
Philippians 2:13 (AMP) [Not in your own strength] for it is God Who is all the while effectually at work in you [energizing and creating in you the power and desire], both to will and to work for His good pleasure and satisfaction and delight.
Oh Lord, You take such great delight in me! You are continually attentive, watching over me and at work in me and on my behalf. This thought both comforts me and staggers me, as I realize how intimately involved in my life You really are! Help me to realign my thoughts to Yours in every area of my life. Both how I view myself, others and situations that I see or am in. Give me the view of Your heart and Your mindset, that I may speak aright, and walk in integrity before You and man. I thank You Abba for all that you have done and yet will do. I give you my heart, I give you my soul, come take complete control and have Your way in me and through me. Let it all be for the Glory of Your Name and the building and expansion of Your Kingdom. It is in Jesus' Name I pray and receive the Grace to walk in all that You have planned for me. Amen.
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