dying to self (updated)

dying to self...

...when you are forgotten,neglected, or deliberately ignored and you don't sting and hurt with the insult, but your heart is happy being counted worthy to suffer for Christ

...when people speak evil of your good, cross your desires, disregard your advice, ridicule your opinions and you refuse to let anger rise in your heart or even defend yourself, but take it all in patient, loving silence

...when you lovingly and patiently bear any disorder, any irregularity, any annoyance, and when you stand face to face with waste, folly, extravagance, spiritual insensitivity, and you endure it as Jesus endured

...when you are content with any food, any offering, any climate, any society, any clothing, any interruption by the will of God

...when you never care to refer to yourself in conversation or to record your own good words, or to have people take notice of what you say, or to itch after commendations, it is when you can truly love to be unknown

...when you receive correction and reproof from one of less stature than yourself and can humbly submit inwardly as well as outwardly, finding no rebellion or resentment rising up within your heart.

Are you a dead person?

In these last days, the Spirit would bring us to the cross, that we might utter with Paul, "I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death."

- author unknown

i found this poem on someones's blog recently and saved it in a draft. i thought it really was a great asset as to what the Lord has been showing me lately. God has really been revealing some things to me in the last year.  He has birthed some things in my heart that He has been maturing there since then. and i feel like a woman past due for delivering her baby who is so uncomfortable and doesn't feel like she can make it one more day with this baby inside of her. But just like the natural process, as a mother, there is no way that you can make a baby come until that baby is ready. the only hope a mother has is that she knows that she will not carry that baby around inside of her forever, knowing death would eventually come to her baby if she did.

this God planted stirring in me is kicking and squirming and making itself known inside of me and i want to show it to the world that i live in but it feels as if my world isn't ready to receive it and i am having a hard time with that. there is little recognition that i am even carrying a God-birthed revelation in me and i can see from this poem that obviously i have not mastered the "dying to self" process. i want to shout, "there is a Life-giving revelation in me that is dying to come out and shine light in our lives! i have been showing signs of its Life in me for some time now and know one seems to even notice." but, i know that all the screaming and hollering a woman does will not cause her baby to come any more quickly. so, i sit. sad, lonely, uncomfortable, and wondering if this Life in me will be birthed or will just die inside of me.

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it was just a few short minutes after i published this that i headed over to facebook to check up on my friends and i found this "note of confirmation from the Lord" on one of my friend's status posts. i cried as i read it as i felt so loved by Him at that moment, i knew i needed to come back and add this to my post today.



Your Appointed Time - Tim Hutton

"For the vision is yet for an appointed time…though it tarries, wait for it"
(Habakkuk 2:3, KJV))

God has an appointed time to fulfill the visions, dreams, and desires in your heart. Just because it has taken a long time or because you've tried and failed doesn't mean it's not going to happen. Don't give up on those dreams! Don't be complacent about pursuing what God has placed in your heart. Our God is a faithful God. No matter how long it's been, no matter how impossible things look, if you'll stay in faith, your set time is coming.

Remember, every dream that's in your heart, every promise that has taken root, God put it there. Not only that, but He has every intention of bringing it to pass. Hold on to that vision today. Declare by faith, "My time is coming. God is working behind the scenes on my behalf. I will fulfill my destiny!" As you continue to hold on to that vision and speak life over your dreams, it won't be long before you see them begin to take shape. You'll see your faith grow, you'll see your hope strengthen, and you'll see yourself step into the destiny God has prepared for you!

Father in heaven, I receive Your Word which is life and health to me today. I ask that You ignite my heart with Your holy fire so that I can pursue Your perfect plan for my life. Make my thoughts and words agreeable to Your will. In Jesus' Name, Amen.