He wants all of me...Relentless Love

He won't relent until He has it all

No matter how hard we try to run away, hide or just turn a deaf ear, God will not give up.  For a while now I've been listening to the song “Relentless” by Jesus Culture and not for one second had I thought of searching for the below words in the Bible.

"Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm, for love is strong as death, jealousy is fierce as the grave. Its flashes are flashes of fire, the very flame of the LORD. Many waters cannot quench love, neither can floods drown it..." Song of Solomon 8:6,7

That is a passionate love letter between a husband and wife--between King Solomon and his bride. But perhaps the most profound and amazing thing is, that these words are not limited to an earthly husband and wife.  At the heart of the Song of Solomon, is a message of God's love for us--of Christ's love for His Bride, the Church. And this Heavenly Romance is at the very center of all of Scripture. It's such a profound mystery that I have only begun to scratch the surface of it.

But the lyric to "You Won't Relent" that gripped my heart from the very first time I heard it (maybe because of the season I was in, or certain things God was speaking to my heart at the time) is the part that says "You won't relent until You have it all, my heart is Yours." According to Webster, to be relentless means "showing no signs of slackening or yielding in one's purpose." You see, God wants our hearts--our whole hearts.

I am so guilty of what the scripture says.

"The Lord says: 'These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me." Isaiah 29:13

God won't stop cutting away all the things that hold our hearts other than Him, all the wordly things--the idols--that keep us from walking even more intimately with our Savior. He is RELENTLESS in this, showing no signs of giving up in His purpose. God wants nothing more from us than for us to love Him with all of our heart. Even more than our church attendance, more than our tithes, more than our music preference. One of the most frustrating things to see is someone trust in Christ for salvation, but then their walk with their Savior ends there. From the time we are saved, God begins to mold us, to shape us, to make us more like Him. He is changing our lives daily. And that involves a breaking away from the world that used to hold our heart. So God begins to break us away from the world, piece by piece, bit by bit. And for our entire lives, He continues to break us of the worldly things. And He won't relent until He is finished, until He has our whole heart.

I am so stubborn at times, because I know what happens when I give God permission to cut away all the unwanted things. IT HURTS ME SO MUCH

I want to be taught daily. I want to look away from all that is happening around me no matter how hard it is. God knows how I battle to stay focused. I know how jealous He gets when I give attention to the world, and yet He never stops loving me. Writing this brings tears to my eyes. I have to make decisions daily, decisions that affects my life, my family’s lives, my friendships and I cannot do it without God. 

God wants your heart. And He won't relent until He has it all.

So trust Him with it. He will not lead you astray.

"Teach me your way, LORD, that I may rely on your faithfulness; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name. I will praise you, Lord my God, with all my heart; I will glorify your name forever. For great is your love toward me; you have delivered me from the depths, from the realm of the dead." PSALM 86:11-13

In His Love

Leslene

BUT LORD… Listen to me please???

In general people will write about their feelings and really express themselves. Then you get those who lies up a storm and people think it’s their own writing and then there are those who complains about things or people and makes it sound so awesome because they actually putting their feelings on paper. Well, that person is Leslene(ME), at least when I start writing it’s about complaining, but then Holy Spirit comes and changes my mind and I really hate it at times because my permission was not given.

I want to complain about people. I want to write about friends who just dropped me. I want to write about people disrespecting me. I want to write about my husband doing this and doing that and not to mention my kids. The list just goes on an on.

Then God says “Leslene, I have delivered you from all the complaints. Why do you want to circle that mountain again?”

Leslene: “yes but God……” we would then have this whole dispute, until I give up and decide I don’t like being a Christian anymore because God takes too long to send new people into my life. Or, God takes too long to answer my complaints. Well, COMPLAINTS is what they are.

Have you ever been there?

Then God would even throw in a scripture or two. He just never stops because He knows what is best for me.

Philippians 2:14-15

Good News Translation (GNT)

14 Do everything without complaining or arguing, 15 so that you may be innocent and pure as God's perfect children, who live in a world of corrupt and sinful people. You must shine among them like stars lighting up the sky,

I have learned to deal with certain issues in my life which obviously come and go, but what I can tell you….when they do come, I don’t meditate on the issues. I move on…I pray…I keep myself busy with things that add value to my life and especially to others.

I want to leave a powerful truth today. It worked for me and it will surely work for you. God has given us the tongue of the learned that we should KNOW how to speak a Word in season to those who are weary (Isaiah 50:4) and definitely not complain all the time.

Deuteronomy 1:6-8

New International Version (NIV)

6 The Lord our God said to us…, “You have stayed long enough at this mountain. Break camp and advance….to the land … See, I have given you this land. Go in and take possession of the land the Lord swore he would give to your fathers—to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob—and to their descendants after them.”

STOP COMPLAINING, MOVE, TAKE POSSESSION and ENCOURAGE!!!!!

In His love

Leslene

Uncomfortable Feelings

“Hope is the feeling that the feeling you have isn’t permanent.” ~Jean Kerr

For most of my life, I was a fugitive from my feelings. I was driven by two connected motivations: to feel pleasure and avoid pain. Instead of being proactive and making choices for our happiness, we react to things that happen in our lives, and fight or flee to minimize our pain.

Instead of deciding to end an unhealthy relationship and open up to a better one, we may stay and either avoid confrontation or initiate one to feel a sense of control. Instead of leaving a horrible job to find one we love, we may stay and complain about it all the time, trying to minimize the pain of accepting the situation as real—and enduring until we change it.

From a very young age, I felt overwhelmed by pain. As a pre-teen, I ate my feelings. As a teen, I starved them away. And in my twenties and even thirties, I felt and cried my eyes red and raw.

And I wished I’d never chosen to feel them, but rather kept pushing them down, pretending everything was fine.

Except when I did that, they didn’t just go away—they compounded on top of each other and built up until eventually I exploded, with no idea why I felt so bad. One time when I was 17, I couldn’t open a jar. After ten minutes of twisting, banging, and fighting, I finally threw it at a wall and broke down.

You may think that was a sure sign I had emotional problems, and assume there was some pill to help take away that sadness.

That’s what a lot of people thought. But the reality was a lot simpler: I simply never dealt with my feelings from events large and small, and eventually they dealt with me.

As unpleasant as it may sound, I needed to learn how to feel bad—but first I needed to understand why I felt bad so often. It’s a whole lot easier to deal with pain when it’s not the default feeling.

Then I met Jesus who taught me to take an honest look at reactions.

·         Do I frequently jump to conclusions without knowing all the facts? Do I need other people’s approval to feel comfortable in your own skin? Do I assume you know what other people feel and take responsibility for that? Do I freak out over stressful situations, blaming other people, getting hard on yourself, and panicking over possible consequences?

·         Simply find the cause and effect.

When I make a decision to change, I do it. My power comes from realizing we don’t need to act on pain; and if I need to diffuse it, I can channel it into something healthy and productive, like writing, baking, or doing something physical.

Pain is sometimes an indication we need to set boundaries, learn to say no more often, or take better care of ourselves; but sometimes it just means that it’s human to hurt, and we need to let ourselves go through it, but we cannot go through it alone. That is where Jesus comes in. He wants us to relate to have, to have a relationship with Him and to allow Him to teach us how to turn the negative into a positive.

I choose to be a source of pleasure, for myself and the people around me.

In His love

Leslene