Looking For Jesus

People who look for Jesus always find Him. It is a more sure truth than the daily rising of the sun or the ocean's tide. He is continually watching for anyone who might be looking for Him. Where does one look for Jesus? Everywhere. He doesn't stay within the confines of a church building. Those who expect to see Him, will. Wherever you go , open your eyes; you may see Jesus there. There is no place He will not go to be with you if you are truly looking for Him. He has been found in the most exquisite palaces and in the smallest, most miserable-looking huts - among the flowers of a garden and in the dark coldness of a cave. Jesus will find anyone who is looking for Him. He will meet you in the highest or lowest places of the earth. If you are looking for Jesus, He will find you wherever you are.

A Favorite Poem

Our Hidden Leaves
By Frances Ridley Havergal

Oh the hidden leaves of Life!
Closely folded in the heart;
Leaves where Memory's golden finger,
Slowly pointing, loves to linger;
Leaves that bid the old tears start.

Leaves where Hope would read the future,
Sibylline, and charged with fate:
Leaves which calm Submission closeth,
While her tearless eye reposeth
On the legend, 'Trust, and wait!'

Leaves which grave Experience ponders,
Soundings for her pilot-charts;
Leaves which God Himself is storing,
Records which we read, adoring
Him who writes on human hearts.

All our own, our treasured secrets,
Indestructible archives!
None can copy, none can steal them,
Death itself shall not reveal them,
Sacred manuscripts of lives.

Some are filled with fairy pictures,
Half imagined and half seen;
Radiant faces, fretted towers,
Sunset colors, starry flowers,
Wondrous arabesques between.

Some are traced with liquid sunbeams,
Some with fire, and some with tears;
Some with crimson dyes are glowing,
From a smitten life-rock flowing
Through the wilderness of years.

Some are crossed with later writing,
Palimpsests of earlier days;
Old remembrance faintly gleaming
Through the thinking and the dreaming
Outlines dim in noontime haze.

One lies open, all unwritten,
To the glance of careless sight;
Yet it bears a shining story,
Traced in phosphorescent glory,
Only legible by night.

One is dark with hieroglyphics
Of some dynasty of grief:
Only God, and just one other,
Dearest friend, or truest brother,
Ever read that hidden leaf.

Many a leaf is undeciphered,
Writ in languages unknown;
O'er the strange inscription bending,
(Every clue in darkness ending,)
Finding no 'Rosetta Stone,'

Still we study, always failing!
God can read it, we must wait;
Wait, until He teach the mystery,
Then the wisdom-woven history
Faith shall read, and Love translate.

Leaflets now unpaged and scattered
Time's great library receives;
When eternity shall bind them,
Golden volumes we shall find them,
God's light falling on the leaves.

Havergal's Poems - 1885

Perspective

It is intriguing how a change in perspective can change everything. But how can perspective be changed? Change your distance. Are you so close as to only be able to see one small detail, or are you so far away that the entirety appears to you as a meaningless dot? Perspective can be influenced by time. Some music that you would love to hear at 3:00 in the afternoon, might be totally obnoxious to you at midnight. Size will also affect perspective. If you are as small as an ant, you might consider a hermit crab to be gigantic. Or, what about position? Are you looking at something from the inside out or from the outside in? From above, or from below? Does the amount of light affect one's perspective? Or does experience? Do the things in our history effect the way we see our destiny? Isn't it tragic that we so often tend to feel qualified to look at people from one side, in one small moment, from a distance, and forever after judge them by that glimpse? Or that we can stand so close to one small corner of truth that we are blind to the rest of the building? God can see clearly from every perspective, every time, every position, every realm of experience, and always in the clearest light. His perspective is the only one that really counts. If only we could grow more like Him in this way and see things through His eyes...

Everything really is much more a matter of perspective than we realize.

Psalm 81

My God, how endless is Thy love! Thy gifts are every evening new,
And morning mercies from above gently distill like early dew.

Thou spread'st the curtains of the night, Great Guardian of my sleeping hours;
Thy sov'reign word restores the light, and quickens all my drowsy powers.

I yield my powers to Thy command. To Thee I consecrate my days.
Perpetual blessings from Thine hand demand perpetual songs of praise.

Isaac Watts (1674-1748), Psalms of David Imitated

Authority

Authority is the invisible force which God uses to order the universe.
It is one of the ways of God - a law of the Kingdom - more constant
and powerful than gravity.

It fills up every space.

Authority can be given.
It can be received.
It can be increased or decreased.

Authority can be earned.
It can be stolen.
It can be touched and handled.

Authority can be recognized.
It can be ignored.
It can be used or misused.

You can have authority,
be under authority,
speak with authority
or speak against it.

Authority can be resisted or released.

"Of the increase of His government (authority) and peace there will be no end" Isaiah 9:7

Undivided Attention

This morning our pastor asked us to give God one hour of undivided attention. Undivided attention - a rare treasure in our time - a forgotten, undeveloped, unrecognized art. How long has it been since someone gave you one hour of undivided attention? One hour. No distractions. No agenda or list of issues. Just one hour of complete, undivided attention, listening to hear what is on your heart. Do you know what is on God's heart? Someone has said, "God does not reveal Himself to casual inquirers. He reveals Himself to those who seek Him diligently". How long has it been since you have given your God one hour of undivided attention?

Eternity

"And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent." Jesus Himself is with us. We say it. We believe it. But how often do we see Him, or even recognize His Presence with us? John the Baptist recognized Him while still unborn. Simeon recognized the baby in the temple. To Phillip, Jesus said, "Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known me?" Mary recognized Him in the garden when He spoke her name. The disciples at Emmaus didn't recognize Him till their eyes were opened. What does it take to recognize Jesus? What part of eternal life are we meant to experience today? How clearly are we meant to see Him at this present time and in our lives? What is that hidden wisdom of which Paul spoke in Corinthians 2 that was ordained by God before the ages for our glory? I wonder just how much of our purpose and destiny we are missing by not recognizing Jesus when He shows up in our schedule.