I believe in Jesus.  His life changing love is transcendent and permeates all of creation.  But there is one place that has the power to keep Him out.  The heart of man.

Recently, one of my absolute favorite people in all the world got saved.  A light came on for her and she is understanding and seeing things through the love of Jesus instead of just her own love.    It is a joy to see her.  She already had a very sweet heart, but now she is shining with the compassion, love and mercy of Jesus.

She has free will.  God gave that to her and respects her sovereignty.  In the end, she gets to choose whether Jesus has access or not.  She chose to give Him access and He is transforming her.

But the choices for us are not limited to accepting Jesus and His great gift of Salvation then sitting back in an easy chair for the rest of our lives.  There is also the life we will live in Him.  That life is going to be full of choices.  Will we listen to Him or will we listen to ourselves?

What I’ve been learning is that, remarkably, God has limited Himself.  He requires us to choose Him and His ways.  He will never forcibly save you.  No, He’s a gentleman.  He waits for us to choose to submit to His will.  What’s amazing about that is that I can be saved for years and years, but still not yield large portions of my life to Him.  Why is this important?

Jesus works in people’s lives through US.  He requires willing and obedient hearts to accomplish His will in others.  It is not good enough to say that if I don’t do it, someone else will… because they may not.  My friend’s salvation came about from a few simple acts of obedience by a couple of different people.  She doesn’t even know all of the circumstances that God used to lead her to the moment that she met Jesus.  And honestly, they may be easy to overlook like so many day-to-day things are.

My friend has a rare, beautiful, tender soul.  She is gifted in the same way that my Mom or my friend Angi happen to be.  Jesus is going to touch the lives of SO many people through this girl just as He does through my Mom or Angi.  It so happens that we are ALL treasures to Jesus.  We are worth the high price He paid.  And every single one of has been instilled with gifts that are to be used to bless others.

But we have to be willing.  We have to learn to listen to the leading of God when He is moving in a situation.  This can take a lifetime.  Just ask my Mom.  She’s one of the best at this, yet she’ll tell you that she’s still got a lot to learn.

It isn’t enough for me to rest in my Salvation.  I need to grow my relationship with Jesus.  To do that, I must focus less on myself and more on others.  The fantastic thing about serving others is that you lose the focus on yourself.  That’s when Jesus can do His best work in your heart.  I know because I am watching it unfold in my friend’s life.  I see it in my Mom’s life.  I see it in Angi’s life.  It is only when our eyes turn inward toward ourselves that we begin to sink.

If there is a perception that God is not present on earth or that He taken His hands off of humanity, it is simply because His people are less willing to open their hearts and pour themselves out for one another.  It only takes a small amount of that willingness for God to begin to use you to bless others.  And guess what?  You will be surprised about how blessed you will be in the process.

Let’s open up our hearts and let Jesus work in the lives of those around us.  He needs my willing, obedient soul to bless others.  He needs yours too!  I want to do this because I feel such gratefulness in my soul.  I am so thankful that He has saved me and loves me more than I can know.  I am so thankful that He saved my sweet friend.  She is truly a treasure.  And if I love her as much as I do, how much more does Jesus love her??  He desperately wants to bless us as we bless others.

Side note 1 – I have been re-reading The Shack.  I know that some Believers have issues with some of the allegory and theology in that book, but I have been wowed by it yet again.  This fictional book goes a LONG way in explaining the love God has for us as well as His desire for relationship.  I challenge you to read the book if you haven’t.  It can be had at Amazon in many formats inexpensively.

——-

Side note 2 – I have finished compiling the final Ishur Ninku EP.  It will contain five songs and two bonus tracks.  I’m calling the EP “Beyond The Red Door“.  Once the artwork is completed, I will launch it on iTunes, etc.  So if you enjoyed my previous Ishur Ninku releases, you may want to grab this one too.