i want the simple truths

by Katherine Marie

“Then, one night in November, that year, just at midnight, I got down on my knees before God, and I just wept in sheer despair. I said, ‘With all my heart I have wanted to serve Thee. I have tried to my uttermost and I am a hopeless failure.’ That night things happened. The Lord seemed to make plain to me that night, through my tears of bitterness: ‘You see, for seven years, with utmost sincerity, you have been trying to live for Me, on My behalf, the life that I have been waiting for seven years to live through you.‘” Thomas later reflected: “I got up the next morning to an entirely different Christian life, but I want to emphasize this: I had not received one iota more than I had already had for seven years!” W. Ian Thomas

Sometimes there are these “ah hah” moments in my spiritual journey. The latest being that Jesus paid it all. I remember when I realised I was trying so hard to live a life for Christ without letting Him first live through me.

This gospel, these verses, those stories of Noah, Daniel, Moses — I’d forgotten their meaning, their impact, their value. I knew something was wrong in my heart when I so desperately wanted the radical faith that I saw unbelievers discovering around me. Why would I, a daughter of the Lord, envy what I already had? I had grown so accustomed to the applicable teachings of the Word without first understanding the deeper truths behind them.

Strip my flesh, reveal my heart, tear open my mind and pour in Jesus. I want the simple truths.

Christ’s love. His everlasting, overpowering, overwhelming, radical, life-changing, love that he gives so freely. Jesus loves me. The Jesus who emptied himself, was obedient to death, a servant, born in the likeness of men, who humbled himself, and was exalted above all names. That Jesus loves me. My Jesus. The one I take for granted. The one who covered every inch of my debt. But for the longest time I couldn’t fathom that my debt was covered.

I was taking my brokenness to the Lord and pleading at his feet for forgiveness that He already gave. He keeps no record of wrongs. My sins, my struggles, my burdens —- He paid it all, which means that He covered it all. I couldn’t fathom that His love was deep enough to pay my debt. I thought I owed Christ for the sins He took upon Himself. I was putting Jesus in past tense. But Christ is presently, radically, indescribably, right now paying a debt. My debt. And the truth that is so hard to fathom is that I won’t ever owe that debt because Christ is still paying it. Today.

“It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives through me.” Galatians 2:20

Because the same God that was working in Ruth’s life is working in mine today. Hebrews 13:8 tells us this, that “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” My beautiful Jesus took my sins from yesterday, today, and tomorrow upon his beaten and bloodied back so that I may rest in the overwhelming, beautiful, gracious, peace of Christ knowing that I have freedom in Him.

“For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.” Galatians 5:1

The freedom that Christ offers is so indescribable and unfathomable because we cannot grip the idea that we been forgiven. Our sins that weigh us down and break our souls have been blotted out by the Almighty Lord of All. We are called by Jesus Christ to live a life of freedom, not one of bondage.

Believe this promise, this gift, and live this marvelous life that our Creator gave to us out of love.

 

 

be still & know

by Katherine Marie

Sometimes I feel this whirlwind of thoughts and prayers all cascading through my mind, just waiting to be explored and explained.

Other times, I feel drawn into a season of silence. The Lord tugs my heart strings to just be still and listen. To make room for Him, and find peace in the quiet nature of His word.

I used to confuse this silence with feeling uninspired due to lack of creativity. But through these times that I’m still, my heart finds comfort in the time I make for the Lord.

“For if the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what one does not have.” 2 Corinthians 8:12

God resides in our hearts. He’s a part of each of us. That really makes me wonder if I’ve been hospitable to Him. I heard someone say, “you’re as near to God as you want to be”. Wow. That really hits home. So often, I think I’m giving my plans to God, and trusting Him with my life. But how often am I only going halfway?

How often am I saying, “here’s half my heart God, I’ve got the rest covered”. 

When you commit your life to Christ, you don’t get to pick and choose which parts you give to Him. We give God our ugly, our pain, our secrets, our sins. We give God our lives. 

And the best part about it is that God expects that. He knows He’s going to get all the junk in our lives. He created us, knit us together, and knows each and every flaw that we have. And yet He still calls us beautiful, and beloved, and His sons and daughters.

“God made my life complete when I placed all my pieces before Him.” Psalm 18:24

There are seasons of harvests, and seasons of silence. And in those seasons of silence, allow the Gardener to plow in your heart. Let Him tug the weeds and stir the dirt. Let Him work in you.

Because He is planting precious seeds in your heart when you allow Him to work in your life.

So just be still, and know.