new blog address

http://laurenmusgrave.wordpress.com

old vs. new

In order to take up the cross, deny self and follow Christ– do we need to know what self is? I think if we didn’t know what self is, and who we are, then we would leave behind precious truth, and stories that have meaning and power to help and heal those that we cross paths with – we are not held by this wounded ‘old self’, but through looking at what self is, and the woundedness therein, we are being healed and brought into the ‘new self’ – the new creation, in Christ – this means to deny the old sinful self, and instead walk in the healed new self.

The self that takes up the cross of Jesus is one that is in the process of being healed – on the journey to real freedom.

This freedom connects and identifies with the the Holy Spirit as all that it is comes into line with life, being fully alive in the resurrection of the cross.

Matthew 16:24-28
Then Jesus spoke to his disciples. He said, "If anyone wants to follow me, he must say no to himself. He must pick up his cross and follow me. If he wants to save his life, he will lose it. But if he loses his life for me, he will find it. "What good is it if someone gains the whole world but loses his soul? Or what can anyone trade for his soul?

There is no good in forfeiting the human soul, for it has holds treasure to the person that walks the journey of healing. Losing the old self, means finding life in Christ, in his death and resurrection – which means we find life in suffering as we share in the suffering of Christ – this is crazy, but it doesn’t make sense to the human mind that processes all things on earth, but instead to the human spirit that is in line to the Spirit of God that processes and identifies with the humanity of Christ, here on earth as it is in heaven.

locks.

The oppression is from the consequences of someone's wounded disposition that found its crack in yours. That woundedness has locked into your own disposition and you have carried that for a long time now. You were not created to carry those burdens. Be free from the chains that have found themselves around your ankles and wrists. But even still, those words 'be free' still leave you with a pain in your chest. It numbs you....

You think that you are not qualified for being free...that you are meant to stay in this place...but you are not meant to remain here...

grace...

...has set you free from all bondage. All slavery. 

You have sin in your nature. And sin was done to you.

However, if you believe and have faith - you are free by the grace that has saved you through Jesus who died on that cross!

Take a little step. Then another. You can trust him. He is trustworthy. 

"Look! The winter is past. The rains are over and gone. Flowers are appearing on the earth. The season for singing has come." Song of Solomon 2:11-12

That pain in your chest will begin to shift to hope as his spirit shows you the locks that have held you for so long.

trust.

I'm sitting in a coffee shop...one of my best places to stop and think...as well as watch the world go by. I love people watching, it makes me aware even more so of people, seeing reactions, mannerisms, and interactions with others. I love it.

So, I have been thinking about a few things lately, and whilst picking up a treasured possession sometime last week, I found myself reading about wisdom...namely Psalms, and Proverbs. 

What was so astounding, was that as I was reading about lady wisdom, I realized that she keeps me safe, and secure. What does wisdom say it does? It says that if I cry out for insight and understanding, I will then understand the reverent fear and worship of my God...and I will therefore REALLY KNOW HIM! This is not insight of my own, but it is of God!

Where does safety and security come into the equation of wisdom? Well, these are found in trust. In a trustworthy relationship with the Father, his understanding above all things. 

Through your life experiences and seeking out the Word of God, your cry is to want to know Him! You know him when you trust Him, and trust comes when you cry out for his ways through the hardships and suffering, and not your ways. It sounds harsh, but he promises a land that you will dwell in forever, in safety and security...

'Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding...in all your ways, know, recognize and acknowledge him, and he will direct and make straight and plain your paths.' Proverbs 3: 5-6

This is lady wisdom...she says she will bring you into reverent awe, and prompt you to cry out for Godly insight, and in return she will keep you safe in a land that you will live in forever...a land where you settle in trust, where peace lay holds of you, and you will not be afraid of the terrors of the dark.

there comes a day.

I was on the bus today, it was my day off.

My capacity to think was not as high as normal, but I have realized that that is alright...as thoughts come in from nowhere that actually are good, and I have also come to recognize that voice that lets me know that it is safe to go 'there' (wherever your 'there' is), and allow the thought to progress into something....it's about having control over your thought life... 

But you know though, when it is so easy to worry, like where you have come from in your struggles and trials, what has happened in your life, and allow the old Lauren (insert name here) to run back there to that place. 

Fear loves to entrap you in that 'place' of numbness, where in your mind you think 'how silly do you think you are, that you could move forward.' But in your heart you just so want to be there person you were designed to be, in purity, integrity and wholeness....

There comes a day in all your trials and tribulations, that you can let go, and in courage move forward as you know trust in your heart, that your life is not meant for nothing....that your life's trials were not meant for nothing.

That day will come for you...it really will come...

beautiful story.

Some of the the most beautiful stories of the hearts of men and women, are birthed from some of the most painful experiences of loss and suffering.

Even though you don't understand what is going on through this time in your life...just remember to keep on persevering in your faith...never underestimate perseverance...your story is going to be one of the most powerful stories that touches the hearts and lives of others, to inspire them and give them hope to the hopeless heart, mind and soul. 

Your perseverance is promised to develop character...a character that is being built up in confidence, humbless, compassion and kindness...

...and above all, the love that we experience through coming to know hope, is a love that doesn't shame or disappoint us...Rom 5:3-5

This is the love that we come to know through the stories of our own lives, in loss, pain or hardship...the stories that will change the lives of others, and set eternity in their hearts...

...those stories which God makes beautiful...in it's time.

a little something.

..never dismiss the patient enduring...it is for the development and establishing of the things unseen...

... don't live by the superficiality of the surface, but resource yourself from the crevices of the healing deep.