Never Stop Drinking!

Fire that is all-consuming . . . Water that comes from an eternal well . . . mixed together . . . stirred up. Now . . .

Drink deep.

Guaranteed to change things forever: love will burn more deeply; the heart will beat with greater strength; the vision will expand to see what heaven sees. And best of all—lost ones will be found and healed and saved.

Never stop drinking!

Photograph: water and fire in glass, unknown

Clinging To it Bravely

You’re doing well, dear friend. You’ve not fallen yet—and you won’t, for the Lord is able to keep you standing. Their weapons formed against you will not prosper, not even their words. Though they should come at you from every side when you feel weakest—hold fast just as you are doing!

You know the secret, for I see you clinging to it bravely. And though I see you are alarmed . . . don’t be. Christ before, Christ behind, Christ below, and Christ above—so you are surrounded by the refuge that He is. Don’t forget. Remind your soul constantly: In this darkening world you are not alone.

. . . and you have an enemy who hates that truth.

Artwork: © Tristan Elwell

http://www.tristanelwell.com/

A Basket Full of Lovelies

My basket’s getting full—almost over-flowing-full. I’ve been told that I can pick whatever I see, whatever fair and fragrant thing my eye should set upon. I’ve been told that it’s okay to pick these things because He’s given them to me. And He’s given me the eyes to see them.

Oh, there have been some who’ve tried to dissuade me of doing this. But I am stubborn. I believe that time in my garden with Him is never wasted. And I do my best to not pick bitter thorns. Bitter thorns are not what God intends for us.

NO to thorns and weeds and strangling vines, ALL of them! He has planted things in my garden . . . and watered . . . and weeded regularly (sometimes painfully), but always with the intent to reap a basket full of lovelies.

Artwork: Betty’s Posy Shop by Jessie Wilcox-Smith

Love Came Down

Love came down. Not in the way many believed it should look like. But love came down in the midst of men and took the sins that all of us are guilty of, upon Himself.

Love was bruised. And it was love that spread His arms in quiet submission and took the nails. And then love did something that no one else could ever do—He rose up from the grave and conquered death forever.

Such love is very powerful. Such love is worth giving up all for. Islam, Buddhism, Ba-haiism, Hinduism . . . none of these could ever offer such love as this. I, for one, am a soul that has been undone by it.

Artwork: Allegory of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ © Patrick Devonas
http://www.patrickdevonas.com/

I Heard it Laugh

I thought it was a sheep. I did. I thought it was a gentle, loving sheep . . . until I heard it laugh. And then I knew—it was a wolf.

Only wolves can laugh like that: A derisive, shallow, gloating kind of sound. It stood tall over the broken creature that was curled up beneath it and it laughed.

The laugh is what gave it away, for a sheep could never laugh over a wounded one. A sheep has too loving of a heart. The sound grieved my heart for I knew from what pit the laugh had come. And I knew what influence the wolf was under.

And when the wolf laughed, I heard the darkest sound. I heard the sound of all hell laughing with it.

Artwork: Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing by artist unknown

Not Angels

We are the object of your affection. Not angels. Not animals. Not all the stars. Not even earth with all its varied beauty. But we are whom you’ve chosen to lavish love upon.

You, the infinite God of the universe have set your infinite love and desire on one thing . . . mankind. Outside of yourself, you have chosen humanity as the greatest source of your pleasure.

And further still, you gave your own son to make a way for us to have relationship. You wanted us that much! . . . my Glorious One, I am left speechless.

Artwork: Triumph of Light by Matsch

Bright With Life

“Look at all of them!”
“They shine very lovely, don’t you think?”
“They’re amazing. I never knew that words of life were so . . . so bright with life.”
“Quick, look now!”
“Ahhh, she’s speaking forth a new one. And what exactly is it?”
“It’s a declaration of What is Not as if it Were.”
“And can they really change so much? They are so—simple after all.”
“Very much, in fact.”
“Then why do they not all do it?”
“For they’ve not all learned. Some don’t believe that such a little act can be important.”
“Well, I think this one shall never stop.”
“Yes, once they learn they get quite excited at the results.”
“You know, if they all did it, those life-lit words might just fill the earth.”
“That is the intended result. He means for them to fill the earth . . . and transform everything.”

Artwork: Little Girl Sitting in Field with Fireflies © Mike Elliott