Joy

"The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me,
Because the Lord has anointed Me
To preach good tidings to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives,
And the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord,
And the day of vengeance of our God;
To comfort all who mourn,
To console those who mourn in Zion,
To give them beauty for ashes,
The oil of joy for mourning,
The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness;
That they may be called trees of righteousness,
The planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified."

Isaiah 61:1-3

I lead a bible study of high school girls every monday night with a friend, Sarah. Not too long ago, we encouraged our girls to "be a tree." This 'stemmed' from Psalm 1:3 that says, "He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper." We encouraged our girls to constantly be near their "food source", the Word of God, and to let their lives be a witness to those around them by the fruit that they produce.
This verse from Isaiah takes that encouragement a little further. It tells us that we are to be called trees of righteousness:

How? By accepting the gifts the Lord has given us?
What gifts? How i read it is that God, through His Son Jesus Christ, wants to give to us these amazing things: beauty, joy, praise. He wants us to be flooded with these things by His power and might.
When? When we accept that Jesus DIED for us, released us from the bondage in our life that so easily ensnares us, and ask for his forgiveness.
Why? "That He might be glorified." What more of a reason can we ask? We become beautiful trees of righteousness, planted by streams of flowing water (drinking up the Holy Spirit) by ACCEPTING these gifts that he wants to give us. All so that He can be glorified.

Can you accept that? Will you? What is going through your mind right now? Are you mourning? Do you feel defiled, burned, full of ash? What is weighing heavy on your heart? Can you accept that the Lord has come to release you from this bondage? To heal you? To set you free? To comfort and console you?

Do you desire to be called a tree of righteousness? Release whatever you are holding onto, and let the Lord plant you by His streams of living water.

And may your life glorify the Lord.

Dear Erika

You suck. Or at least that is what the blogger-boss said to me today. It was basically because i had "created" this blog but didn't post anything. Ha. I didn't really know what to post. (secret: i still don't). So anyways, i had created the blog and then just left it there, hoping that i would get inspired. Inspired to say something...well...inspirational.

It still hasn't come yet.

So while i sat there trying to figure out what my first "inspirational" blog would be, i got this email that says (loosely paraphrased) "dear new blogger, we pretty much think you created this blog to spam other bloggers and we are putting you on blog probation. You suck!"

Apparently my blog-boss doesn't have the time to wait for inspiration. And apparently it wasnt necessary for me to wait for inspiration. Because God will give it to me. Because this blog isnt about me. Its about Him. Oh, and they took me off probation.

So here goes:

"Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for "God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble." Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you." 1 Peter 5:5-7

I would humbly like to submit myself to you. I ask that you would keep me accountable to keeping this blog about the Lord. Never about me. Ever. My prayer is that God would use me, my life, my "whatever", to honor Him and that, whoever you are, when you read this blog, you would be inspired by the Holy Spirit. To share His love, to share His wisdom, to serve others and to clothe yourself with humility before one another.

I dont care if i have a typo and i dont care if what i say doesnt "sit right" with you. My only concern is that my words would come from the Word of God and that He would use them as He sees fit. I want to be His vessel. I want my words to "sit right" in light of the Word. In light of Jesus Christ.

Because I love Him.