GOD'S PURPOSE, MY CONTENTMENT

"I have brought you out for a purpose, to bring you in." (Deuteronomy 6:23)

Into what, into where, when and how?

"I have a plan, a purpose. You are valuable to Me. Not to accomplish great things, but to know Me deeply as companion and friend. (John 15:9-15) I have brought you into Myself and into My joy. My purposes are beyond what you are capable of knowing now. What I purpose, nothing can stop Me. What I start in you, I will finish. Is anything too hard for Me?

Father, I know that You have brought Your people into a completed covenant of grace and we already possess everything we need for life and godliness, but it doesn't seem to be a practical reality for the churches of America. Many of us are still stuck with Old Covenant concepts that keep us trying to relate to You at a distance as the Hebrew people did.

Deut.5:28-29 "I have heard what this people have said, Moses. Their heart is sincere before me, that is good. But Oh, how I wish their hearts would stay like this always, that they would fear Me and obey Me, so that it would go well with them and their children forever."

We have a better covenant than they and we have Your presence within us. When is the world supposed to recognize that we are new creations after the order of Jesus Christ? When will the Christian community reflect the reality of Christ in us? I guess I never realized how strong the cultural influences are to program us, nor how tanatious we are to defend ourselves and cling to our judgements.

Will You bring me into freedom from a deceived mind, programmed by my culture and the filter of my own ego? According to what You told Moses, I have a "YES" from You. According to Jeremiah, You know the plans You have for me, to GIVE me a hope and a future. I now choose to agree with You Father, regardless of common religious dogma and experience.

I just stopped to read again Jeremiah 29:11-13 and WOW. Forgive me for my discouragement. When things don't go our way immediately, we tend to blame You and feel like a victim.

"Plans for well-being, not for bad things." I am hearing You say to me, "My heart toward you is always to GIVE you good things, but often my people block the very things they ask for. Who told you that you are still naked." (unworthy, unable, lacking, disqualified?)

In spite of all I see to the contrary, I am persuaded that Your Word is true. I will not re-interpret the Word to fit the culture or the experience of the lowest common denominator in the Christian community.

You bring us OUT, to bring us IN, to all You died to GIVE us.