God is my Refuge

Last Sunday, Nathan had a revelatory thought about God as our refuge:

He saw God's castle, a fortress well protected with huge stone walls that nothing can breach.  God is asking us to join Him there in safety and peace.  Instead we insist on running around the outside of the castle, still in His presence, but not within His safety so we are continually getting beaten and bruised.  We need to take the action of stepping into His refuge in order to benefit from His protection.

This reminded me of Psalm 27:

The Lord is my light and my salvation-
whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life-
of whom shall I be afraid?
When the wicked advance against me
to devour me,
it is my enemies and my foes
who will stumble and fall.
Though and army besiege me,
my heart will not fear;
though war break out against me,
even then I will be confident.

One thing I ask from the Lord,
and I shall seek:
that I may dwell in the house of the
Lord
all the days of me life,
to gaze on the beauty of the Lord
and seek Him in His temple.
For in the day of trouble
He will keep me safe in His dwelling;
He will hide me in the shelter of His tabernacle
and set me high upon a rock.
Then my head will be exalted
above the the enemies who surround me;
at His tabernacle I will sacrifice with
shouts of joy;
I will sing and make music to the Lord.

This is a wonderful promise of God's protection, but it begs a question in my mind.  What do I do to dwell in His house?  What do I need to do to say within the walls of His protection?

Hear my voice when I call Lord,
be merciful to me and answer me.
My heart says of You "Seek His face!"
Your face, Lord, I will seek.
Do not hide your servant away in anger,
you have been my helper.
Do not reject me or forsake me,
God my Savior.
Though my father and mother forsake me,
the Lord will recieve me.
Teach me your way, Lord,
Lead me in a straight path
because of my oppressors.
Do not turn me over to the desire of my foes,
for false witnesses rise up against me,
spouting malicious accusations.

I remain confident of this,
I will see the goodness of the Lord
in the land of the living.
Wait for the Lord,
be strong and take heart
and wait for the Lord.

I always found this an interesting second half of this psalm since it starts so confident. There is something in the desperation of David in this second half that for the first time ties this whole psalm together for me.  I think that David was given a revelation of God's refuge, but then saw what could happen to Him outside of the fortress.  He knew that in order to be in God's protection he needed to be in the presence of God.  So David is suddenly like "Oh crap, God I need your presence all the time, look at all me enemies, be my help like you've been before, I can't take a chance being apart from You God, please stay with me."  And then at the end, it's like He's reminding himself of what He knows.  "Don't worry I know the nature of God, in His time I will see His goodness here on this earth."

So don't worry, be strong and take heart.  Wait on Him and He will come.  Trust in His fortress, it will not fail.  In His presence you will find peace from your enemies.

Sticky Rain

Recently I woke up with this feeling that God really wanted to tell me something, so I sat in His presence, and this is what unfolded.

As I closed my eyes I was taken into a vision of honey falling down on me like rain. 
I heard His voice say "You know they great thing about honey is that it's sticky."

Not understanding what this meant at all, I looked up verses in the bible dealing with honey and kept coming across "the land flowing with milk and honey."  Upon researching this phrase, I found that honey denotes delight.  After getting more understanding about what was going on, I reentered the vision.

This time I was dancing and laughing with my arms open wide as honey droplets fell on and around me.  That's when Jesus entered the scene and I fell into His embrace comfortable in my role as His bride.  Together we enjoyed the rain as we danced in the Father's delight. Then The worship playing from my computer burst into the vision singing "sons and daughters of the living God."  The Father in His gentle voice simply said " They're your children too."

Revelation flooded in as I understood for the first time why God has placed me in my job. As the Father pours His delight on me, I am able to pass that delight on the little ones I spend my day with.  As the Bride of Christ I love them like my own because they are His.

A Tiny Tidbit

Trusting God is like being thrown in the air by your father as a child.  Your stomach flips and you get the feeling like your going to fall, but you're not worried because your big strong Daddy would never let you fall. Your Destiny is in His hands and it might feel as though your being tossed about, you feel as though you are about to hit the floor at any moment, but Daddy God will always catch you as you let out a giggle of delight in the feeling of His strength. So enjoy the stomach flips as you look forward to the Father's arm surrounding you.