picturesfromheaven

It's a beautiful evening, and I'm about to go work in my garden. But before I do, I just wanted to post one more picture. I pray that it will be blessing to you.

Picture…a slide show of musical instruments. It begins with a ram’s horn, then a lyre, and then a simple stringed instrument and then speeds up giving only glimpses of the different musical instruments that have been used through two millenniums of time. The slide show stops with a picture of a man. It’s fairly straightforward slide show of musical instruments until that last slide of a man just standing there, with his arms hanging loosely at his side.

Hear…the Lord say, “I want to play you like an instrument. I want to use you to do awesome things in this world.”

Consider: When I first learned to play the clarinet, our dog, Fritzie, used to howl. When I transferred to French Horn, he just hid. The moment he saw me take my horn out the case He would run for cover. He didn’t even wait to hear how it would sound. He knew it was not going to be to his liking. It took quite a bit of practice before Fritzie would stay in the same room with me when I played my horn. But God doesn’t need to practice in order to play you well. He is your creator and He knows everything about you. He is a Master Musician and He knows how to bring forth the most beautiful music from you…that is if you will surrender control of your life to Him. For some this is difficult, because of their hands-on approach to life. They want to be able to control, if not others, at least their situations and/or themselves. But if you will trust Him enough relinquish control of your life to Him, and take your hands off so that He can put His in their place, He will be able to use you to accomplish great things. He’s not looking for great, powerful and gifted people. He is looking for people who will say, “I trust you God. Do with me whatever you want to do with me. Play whatever song brings you pleasure.” For some people it is not a control or trust issue that causes them to shy away from yielding completely to God, it is the fact that they have believed a lie. They feel inferior and believe that their gifts do not compare favorably with others. I just want to say one word about that, it’s not biblical but it is appropriate. Hogwash. That is a lie of the enemy. God did not create any inferior people with small or useless gifts. Every child of God was created and gifted by Him to be a part of a beautiful symphony that He wants to play in these last days. Every instrument is important in a symphony, every musician critical to the outcome of the performance. Do not hold back because you do not feel that you have much to offer. Recognize God created you for a purpose. Surrender your life, your strengths, weaknesses, gifts and abilities both small and great into the Master Musician’s hands. He will use you in a beautiful and meaningful way.

Pray: Father, use me for your purposes. I am sorry that I have held any part of my life back from you. I repent of that selfishness. I yield myself unreservedly for your purposes. Here I am, use me. I trust you, and will be obedient to whatever you want to do with my life. Make my life be music that can comfort, inspire and aid others.

Picture…a beautifully wrapped box sitting on the table. But it is moving around like there is something trapped in it trying to get out.

Hear…the Lord say, “My people have placed me in a box, they have restricted me with boundaries. They have hindered what I can do for them and through them because of their own feelings of failure. They limit me because they really don’t know me well enough to totally trust me. They limit me because of disappointing experiences in the past. They have developed a criterion by which to judge the way I will move in the future by what they know of me from their limited and frustrating past. They believe “this is how it will happen, in this order, and with this results.” They couldn’t be more wrong because they really don’t know me at all. I am straining to break out of their mindset box. I want to be set free to do creative and powerful things. Children, open the lid and release me to do things beyond your experience and understanding. I want to do miracles beyond anything that I’ve ever done before in your lives. I want to speak to you and through you. I want to use you in ways that you have yet to imagine. Let me out! ”

Consider: I don’t think that we set out to put limits on God. Who in their right mind would want to limit God? Not me…and probably not you. I think the real problem is that we are unaware of the restrictions that we have placed on God. They have just sort of developed through past life experiences, the good the bad and the ugly. Have you ever used a pattern to cut out a number of items? During the years I was involved with children’s ministry I have cut thousands of pieces of ribbon, construction paper hearts and flowers and a sundry other items using a pattern. What I found was if you use the same pattern over and over again, eventually the pieces will get smaller and smaller. Perhaps you’ve noticed the same thing with wallpaper, 2x 4’s, and/or costume patterns. The point is, if you don’t keep re-measuring or creating new patterns, your final cuttings will be far different than the original. We need to re-evaluate our expectations. We need to look closely at what we are accepting now as just a part of life, and what we HONESTLY think God will do for us. Then rip the top off the box and release God to do what He wants to do.

“…that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height, to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us," Eph 3:17-20 NKJV

Pray: “Lord, I want to remove any and all boundaries that I may have inadvertently placed on you through the course of my walk with you. Whatever they are, they are definitely not intentional. I want to remove the limits, take off the lid and destroy the boundaries that I have placed on you. Help me to see you with new eyes today. Help me to trust you as never before. I give you permission to ‘rock my world.’ Help me to change the way I process your Word so that it becomes alive in me. I love you and I want to turn you lose today, in Jesus name, A