Where is my focus these days? What are my priorities? Who or what is my first love? Being very honest with myself, what role does Jesus really play in my daily life today?
Perhaps you've already asked yourself these questions for 1994. Bear with me as I present a few more. We are preparing for a special event that will be occurring in our midst this summer, The National Charismatic Renewal Retreat. What an incredible privilege and a humbling call for Northern California to be asked to host this event. I believe the Lord wants us to be ready and receptive to what the Holy Spirit is doing in our community. I believe He wants us to be able to enter into the Master's plan. Thus we must develop and refine our inner ear to hear His voice.
These questions are an invitation to position us, to check where we are in seeking and hearing the Master's voice. We need to be ready to follow where He is moving and to be sensitive to the way He is moving in our midst. It is so easy to move in the flesh or to start a work in the Spirit and then let the flesh take over. Is it not, however, the desire of our hearts to give Him free reign with His plans; to enter into the desires of His heart?
Getting ready first requires cleaning house, so let us begin now and take stock. Where am "I" today? Not my neighbor, just me.
As Christians, our first call is to respond to the invitation: "Come, follow me." Who or what do I follow? What is the driving force behind my day? What are my anxieties, ambitions, and concerns throughout the day? What do I do with them? Is Jesus really Lord of my time, my interactions, my activities, my dreams?
Jesus said that He came to do the Father's will. The will of His Father; who is all good, all knowing, and all forgiving. He has our best interest in mind. He, as St. Catherine of Siena said, could not resist creating each of us because of His intense love for each one. With that in mind, let us ask without fear, "Whose will am I doing?" Jesus learned the Father's will by living daily in Fellowship with Him. It was an "I--Thou" intimacy. Am I growing in the "practice of the presence of God" throughout my day? Do I move ahead out of a compulsive mode of doing and accomplishing or in a responsive mode. Is my inner ear trained, listening, seeking to hear the Holy Spirit and go with His gentle movement? Following the Spirit is like stepping into a river's flow and allowing the current to give you direction.
As I reflect, I am brought back to the basic Charismatic tools that I learned in the beginning; praise, tongues, the Word of God, eyes on Jesus. For there is nothing that can happen in my life where God has not provided what I need in order to deal with it. Ephesians 4:24-24 tells us:
"Put off your old nature which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful lusts and be renewed in the spirit of your minds and put on the new nature, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness."
Our battle ground is definitely in our minds. So, it is not a bad place for us to begin assessing where our focus is during each day. With stirred up fervor, let us return to our first love, Jesus, "In whom we live, and move, and have our being." (Acts 17:28)
Printed in the January 1994 issue of the "Living Water." Published for the Charismatic Renewal in the Diocese of San Jose, California. Permission to copy is granted, as long as proper credit is given.
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