....my journey
I promised a little more on the journey. After the little allegory yesterday, I wanted to say more about my own personal interpretation of both the difficulty of the journey.... the reality of the enemy.... and the reality of that great, big beautiful lake we have been called to.
Most of Christianity would interpret that destination... the lake..... to mean heaven.... finally some peace... finally some rest.... finally no more pain.... finally I get my mansion in the sky in the great by and by, live on streets of gold, just sit around all day on a cloud playing my harp. Sorry. I don't believe that. Heaven has a whole lot more for us than that silly stuff. That's the world's interpretation.... all that the world system wants is mansions, lots of gold, no pain and nothing to do all day....why wouldn't the religious system have the same goals?
What the Lord wants is to change our hearts. I've tried to say this in a lot of different ways..... the journey is designed to draw us into a relationship with our creator. If the journey was easy, we would just really believe we have it all together, I'm in charge of my life, there is no such thing as an enemy, don't worry about a thing, 'cause old Philip has it all under control.....not!
It is a very difficult upriver swim. There is a very real enemy standing all along the shore trying to catch and kill us. Our only real protection is our Creator. He lovingly protects us and draws us slowly towards Himself. I'll be 73 in a couple months, and I can tell you tons of stories...His protection, His provision, His care, His love....boggles my mind. I flipped and flopped up that waterfall for years and finally made it into the Lake.....
I believe the Lake is when we get to the place where we really enter into His rest.....see absolutely everything as part of His plan.... everything as from His loving hand... trust Him implicitly for each new exciting, demanding, crazy thing that's happening in the Lake. The attacks continue you see, even in the Lake, sometimes more than before... Satan never quits......but there is peace....there is rest.... there is favor like never before....it is a place in Him.
It's more real than anything you can touch with your hands or see with your natural eyes. It's the Kingdom of God, right here on earth and.... it's in the King.
:)
Most of Christianity would interpret that destination... the lake..... to mean heaven.... finally some peace... finally some rest.... finally no more pain.... finally I get my mansion in the sky in the great by and by, live on streets of gold, just sit around all day on a cloud playing my harp. Sorry. I don't believe that. Heaven has a whole lot more for us than that silly stuff. That's the world's interpretation.... all that the world system wants is mansions, lots of gold, no pain and nothing to do all day....why wouldn't the religious system have the same goals?
What the Lord wants is to change our hearts. I've tried to say this in a lot of different ways..... the journey is designed to draw us into a relationship with our creator. If the journey was easy, we would just really believe we have it all together, I'm in charge of my life, there is no such thing as an enemy, don't worry about a thing, 'cause old Philip has it all under control.....not!
It is a very difficult upriver swim. There is a very real enemy standing all along the shore trying to catch and kill us. Our only real protection is our Creator. He lovingly protects us and draws us slowly towards Himself. I'll be 73 in a couple months, and I can tell you tons of stories...His protection, His provision, His care, His love....boggles my mind. I flipped and flopped up that waterfall for years and finally made it into the Lake.....
I believe the Lake is when we get to the place where we really enter into His rest.....see absolutely everything as part of His plan.... everything as from His loving hand... trust Him implicitly for each new exciting, demanding, crazy thing that's happening in the Lake. The attacks continue you see, even in the Lake, sometimes more than before... Satan never quits......but there is peace....there is rest.... there is favor like never before....it is a place in Him.
It's more real than anything you can touch with your hands or see with your natural eyes. It's the Kingdom of God, right here on earth and.... it's in the King.
:)
