His Unconditional Love

When we first came to God, we came empty-handed, accepting everything He had to offer us by grace. Now God is calling on us to jettison the loads we carry and come to him empty-handed again - humble and repentant. He wants to renew our minds, transform us, and show us how to love Him and our world. We need to come to Him with upturned hands. God's love expressed through us toward Him and toward others is possible, but it's not our love - conditional; it's God's love - unconditional, with no nasty side effects and no strings attached. 

To be healed of all the pain caused by conditional love, we have to set aside all agendas and seek God for Himself.  The prayer of the heart - waiting in stillness and in silence - is truly the only way we can let go of our focus on ourselves and put it on God. It's the only way to find our heart's desire, the rest in His loving presence that He promises.

Jan Harris, Quiet in His Presence 

Live Before You Die - day 14

Dying to self, what do we mean?  It means we die to our desires, our ego, and our will.  Sometimes this even means dying to our own vision.  But you may say, "I'm sure my vision is God-given.  It is His will."  Yet there is an inherent danger.  It is possible for the calling, promises, and vision God has given us to become our main ambition, making them opponents of God, for He is not willing to share our hearts with anything - not even with good things.

Many of us are willing to surrender until it begins to hurt, but true surrender is painful.  Some people are willing to surrender as long as it is logical, but true surrender is not subject to our rationale.  Others can surrender what is bad and harmful, but God is not satisfied.  To God surrender is not complete until it is all encompassing, exhaustive, total.  It is not simply saying, "your will be done," but it includes, "Not my will."  This death to self is not some form of divine sadism.  God always has life in mind. Just as a gardener prunes off the old branches so new ones can grow, God desires to remove that which hinders life and growth.  This place of death is also the place of birth, and it is how God's purposes are born in the earth!

What if He asked you to lay down your gift or talent, the thing that defines you - the thing in which you find self-worth?  Could you lay your promise on the altar as Abraham did Isaac, or push your treasures into the dumpster as John Wimber did?  Have you checked to see who is sitting on the throne of your heart?  Is it you? Is it your vision?  Is it your dream?  Or is it Jesus?

Resurrection only follows death - death to self, death to your will, death to your desires, and death to your dreams. It is in these painful moments of surrender that God's kingdom is established in us, when we pray with Jesus, "Not my will, but Yours be done."

Daniel Kolenda, Live before you die