Embraced

by Lysa TerKeurst

  Remember, this time doesn’t have to be perfect to be powerful and effective. Jesus just wants a willing soul to come to Him—to verbalize her desire to seek Him and acknowledge her need for Him. Then He’ll show her how to make each moment with Him exactly what she needs.

  Satan would love to keep us separated from the power God gives us during our time with Him.

  Most days before I start my time with the Lord, I pray a very simple prayer that ushers my heart into the right place with God:

  God, I want to see You. God, I want to hear You. God, I want to know You. So that I can follow hard after You.

  This prayer is not a magic formula, just four short sentences that perfectly express my desire to experience God throughout my day. I want to see Him working in me, around me, and through me. I want to hear His voice so clearly that I won’t doubt when He asks for my obedience. I want to know Him—not just facts about Him—but really know Him personally and intimately. And lastly, I want to follow hard after Him, to be the woman He wants me to be in every circumstance of my day.

  It’s amazing that when I verbalize my heart’s desire in this way, something inside me shifts and I’m ready for the Word of God in a fresh way. It reminds me of the psalmist’s request in Psalm 119:18: “Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law.” A request God delights in answering.

  I don’t want to just read and pray to check it off my to-do list. I see this time, instead, as preparation for the great adventure God and I are about to head off on together in the hours ahead. Now what could be more exciting than that?

  Dear Lord, I want to see You. I want to hear You. I want to know You. Please help me recognize Your presence in my day today so that I can follow hard after You. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

  8

  INTERRUPTED BY JESUS

  “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.”

  —MATTHEW 5:8

  When we connect with Jesus and see Him, we will be changed. Changed in the best kind of way. Jesus will be so real that we won’t be able to be anything but completely devoted to Him.

  I can hardly go through anything in life without seeing God’s hand in it. Layer upon layer of these constant experiences with God have built a very secure foundation of faith.

  This raises a few concerns. Am I overspiritualizing my life? What if I don’t have these experiences, or what if an experience I attribute to God isn’t from Him at all? I understand these questions. I remember being skeptical. Part of me wanted something deeper with God, but I was scared.

  A larger part of me wanted God to be explainable and safe. Fitting Him in a box ensured that I ran no risk of being interrupted by Him. I just wanted to do my part (be good) and have Him do His (bless me). It was a comfortable arrangement. But it was also the very perspective that numbed my spirit and rendered my faith ineffective.

  I remember hearing my Bible friends talking freely about hearing from God and seeing Him in remarkable ways. I called them my “Bible friends” while my eyes rolled and my voice mocked their enthusiasm.

  Finally God got a hold of me while I was reading Henry Blackaby’s book Experiencing God, in which he encourages us to look for God’s activity all around us. There was not even a hint of doubt in Blackaby’s statements. He was absolutely certain that if we desired to see God, we would.

  It is possible for God’s Spirit to reveal to us the deep things of God.

  Paul writes to the Corinthian church, “It is written: ‘What no eye has seen, and what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived’—the things God has prepared for those who love him—these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God” (1 Corinthians 2:9–10, emphasis mine).

  If we have accepted Christ as our Savior, we have God’s Spirit in us. Therefore, it is possible for God’s Spirit to reveal to us the deep things of God.

  How does this happen most often? In the midst of everyday life using everyday things. Divine mixed in our mundane. It’s the stuff all Jesus’ parables were made of.

  So what do you do if you aren’t currently experiencing God in this way? The Bible tells us that those with a pure heart will see God (Matthew 5:8). It doesn’t say we have to be perfect or perfectly ready; it just says that we have to get to a place where our hearts purely desire to see Him—and then we will.

  Tell God of your desires. Ask Him to reveal anything that may be blocking your view. And then start looking. Seeing God changes us, grows us, and strengthens us to become more than people with mere knowledge of God. We become changed people who live out the reality of God.

  Dear Lord, I want to see Your hand and hear Your voice in my life. Please show me if there are things that block my view of You, so I can deal with them. I want to see You and be changed by You. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

  9

  IF YOU’RE FEELING OVERLOOKED AND UNAPPRECIATED . . .

  The LORD said to Samuel, “Do not consider his outward appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”

  —1 SAMUEL 16:7

  Sometimes I wake up in the morning feeling a little grumpy. Time to do it all again. I’ll buy food that gets eaten. I’ll wash clothes that get dirty again. I’ll sweep floors that will somehow need to be swept again before the day is even done.

  Is there more to all this than just doing the tasks of everyday life?

  One day before I jumped into the normal routine, I sat with Jesus. And I found some big truths as I read my Bible and took a little glance into David’s life. Despite how others saw him, his own tendency to sin, and lack of position in his own family, David had the sweet reassurance of God. And that was enough.

  Overlooked by everyone else. Handpicked by God.

  To his older brothers, David was young . . . possibly even a pest. To his father, Jesse, he was just another son. To onlookers, he was a mere shepherd boy. But to God, David was the one destined to be king of Israel. And not just any king. He was from the bloodline from which Jesus would come.

  Overlooked by everyone else. Handpicked by God.

  Even the way David was anointed to be the future king is a telling story. In 1 Samuel 16, God reveals to Samuel that He has rejected Saul as king and chosen one of Jesse’s sons to be the replacement.

  Think of the list of qualifications that must have run through Samuel’s mind for such a position: tall, smart, articulate, brave, groomed, well-mannered, a natural-born leader. Samuel saw some of these characteristics in Eliab, David’s brother. “The LORD said to Samuel, ‘Do not consider his outward appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart’ ” (1 Samuel 16:7).

  Samuel had Jesse line up all of his sons before him. All of them were to be considered. Yet, Jesse didn’t call David in from tending sheep. Was this an oversight? An assumption? A judgment call? A deliberate choice?

  Overlooked by everyone else. Handpicked by God.

  Overlooked by everyone else. Handpicked by God.

  Samuel passes on each of Jesse’s sons and then asks, “Are these all the sons you have?” I imagine Jesse with a quizzical expression replying, “There is still the youngest . . . He is tending the sheep” (1 Samuel 16:11). Surely one who spends his time taking care of animals is not the one to take care of a nation.

  Overlooked by everyone else. Handpicked by God.

  As soon as Samuel saw David, he knew he’d found the one. David was anointed to become king. But he was not immediately ushered to the throne. It would be many years before David was recognized by the world. So, where did he go after being anointed as king? To a refining school? A government academy? Military training? Nope.

  He went back out to the fields and continued to shepherd his flock. A king-to-be doing lowly tasks. A future king whos
e character was refined in the fields of everyday life to prepare him for his calling.

  How like us. In the midst of smelly laundry, dirty dishes, snotty noses, misplaced keys, overdue library books, bills, and that birthday gift that still needs to be mailed—there is training. There is character building. There is attitude shaping. There is soul defining. All of which must take place for us to become what God intends.

  Do you ever feel overlooked by the world? Take heart—we are handpicked by God.

  We aren’t just doing tasks. We are building a legacy. We are shaping God’s Kingdom. We are in the process of not only discovering our calling but that of our family as well. And I don’t know about you, but it sure does make me look at my everyday tasks (yes, even the smelly laundry) in a whole different light.

  Dear Lord, I’m grateful that even when I feel overlooked, I can rest in the fact that I am handpicked by You. Help me live my life for an audience of One. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

  10

  I’M SCARED TO PRAY BOLDLY

  The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.

  —JAMES 5:16

  Sometimes I’m scared to pray boldly.

  It’s not at all that I don’t believe God can do anything. I absolutely do. I’m a wild-about-Jesus girl. Wild in my willingness. Wild in my obedience. Wild in my adventures with God.

  So my hesitation isn’t rooted in any kind of doubt about God. It’s more rooted in doubts about myself and my ability to absolutely discern the will of God. The reality is, sometimes God chooses not to do things. And if His will is “No,” while I am boldly praying for a “Yes,” it makes me feel out of step with God.

  Can you relate?

  I so desperately want to stay in the will of God that I find myself praying with clauses like: God, please heal my friend, but if it’s Your will to take her, I will trust You.

  I wonder why I don’t just boldly pray: God, please heal my friend. And then stand confidently knowing my prayers were not in vain—no matter what the outcome.

  Praying boldly boots me out of that stale place of religious habit into authentic connection with God Himself.

  Prayer opens my spiritual eyes to see things I can’t see on my own. And I’m convinced prayer matters. Prayers are powerful and effective if prayed from the position of a righteous heart (James 5:16).

  Prayer opens my spiritual eyes to see things I can’t see on my own.

  So, prayer does make a difference—a life-changing, mind-blowing, earth-rattling difference. We don’t need to know how. We don’t need to know when. We just need to kneel confidently and know the tremors of a simple Jesus girl’s prayers extend far-wide and far-high and far-deep.

  Letting that absolute truth slosh over into my soul snuffs out the flickers of hesitation. It bends my stiff knees. And it ignites a fresh, bold, and even wilder fire within. Not bold as in bossy and demanding. But bold as in, I love my Jesus with all my heart, so why would I offer anything less than an ignited prayer life?

  Jesus speaks specifically about igniting our prayer lives in Matthew 6, verses 6–8: “When you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.”

  So let’s ask. And ask again. Not because we can cause God to move, but so we’ll position our souls to see our sweet Jesus move in any which way He pleases.

  Dear Lord, I’m so grateful for the opportunity to bring all my worries and cares to You. Thank You for providing me with exactly what I need. I trust You have my best interest in mind today. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

  11

  FOLLOW ME

  Trust in the LORD with all your heart

  and lean not on your own understanding;

  in all your ways submit to him,

  and he will make your paths straight.

  —PROVERBS 3:5–6

  Many years ago, I was an attendee at a conference. It was a business conference, but the Christian leadership made it seem more like a revival than a meeting. A number of the speakers challenged us to pursue God like never before.

  After one of the sessions I beelined it to the bathroom where a long line had already formed. When I finally reached an open stall, I realized the woman before me had left her conference notebook behind.

  Not finding the owner in the bathroom, I flipped open the binder to see if a name was written inside, and the first handwriting I saw was the words “ministry to women.” At the risk of being totally nosy, I kept reading. Basically the owner of the notebook had written that this would be the year she would finally get intentional about pursuing the ministry to women God had placed on her heart.

  As I read those words, I felt Jesus’ invitation, “Follow Me,” and didn’t hesitate to say yes. You see, in my journey to live completely with God every day, I have learned the treasure of expectation. As we’ve talked about in previous devotions, I ask God to help me live in expectation of experiencing Him; therefore, I do. It’s not that I go around getting involved in every situation around me. But I do ask God to make me wise and aware of which opportunities are mine. This day, I knew exactly how to follow Jesus completely in this situation.

  The more we follow Jesus, the more we fall in love with Him.

  At the risk of having this woman think I was crazy, I wrote off to the side of her notes, “I might be able to help you with this. Call me if you’d like. Lysa TerKeurst with Proverbs 31 Ministries.” I added my cell phone number and got the notebook to Lost and Found at the information desk.

  Days went by, the conference ended, and almost a week later, I’d forgotten about the whole thing. And then the call came.

  From the start of my conversation with Tracey, I could tell that God Himself had arranged this divine encounter. To make a long story short, my simple note was the confirmation from God for which she’d been fervently praying. Tracey and I were both blown away. Later, she sent me a note that said in part, “Just within the past week, after speaking with you, God has begun to open up doors like you would not believe. (Well, I guess you would!) Thank you for your obedience in writing the note and for being such an inspiration!”

  My encounter with Tracey was yet another reminder that the more we follow Jesus, the more we fall in love with Him, want to obey Him, experience life with Him, and become a beacon of light to others through Him. It was also a reminder to keep on living out the command we find in our key verse: “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight” (Proverbs 3:5–6).

  Do you feel a tug at your heart to live completely with God, but you are still uncertain about pursuing it? Why not ask God to reveal Himself to you in the coming days and confirm exactly what He has for you? The adventure that follows just might blow you away.

  Will it be inconvenient? Maybe.

  Will it cost you in ways that stretch you? Sometimes.

  Does it force you to live life with a less self-centered outlook? Yes.

  Does living to follow Jesus at every turn bring joy that you can’t get any other way? Absolutely.

  It is the very thing your soul was created to do. It is the most daily way to discover your purpose in life.

  Dear Lord, I want to know You, experience You, follow You, and obey You. Please reveal Yourself to me. Please show me how You want me to follow You. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

  12

  HEARING GOD’S INVITATIONS

  Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.”

  —ISAIAH 30:21

  I have to admit, I rush and miss God’s invitations a lot. I walked by a woman at church the other day with pale skin and a bald head. A quick stirring in my heart said, Go
say hi. I brushed it off.

  I saw a discarded cup in the parking lot of the restaurant where I had lunch. I knew I was supposed to pick it up and throw it away. I walked right by it.

  These were simple acts of obedience I missed. But not missed because I was unaware. They were missed because I was busy—caught in the rush of endless demands. And the rush makes us rebellious. I knew what to do and blatantly ignored it.

  Ignoring God’s leading doesn’t seem like such a big deal in these cases. In the grand scheme of the world, how big a thing is it that I didn’t pick up that cup? After all, how can I be sure it was really God?

  I think a better question would be, How can I be sure it wasn’t God?

  As God’s girls, we long for unbroken companionship with Him. The cup was a little deal unless it was me breaking away from obeying His instruction. The one who obeys God’s instruction for today will develop a keen awareness of His direction for tomorrow. I’m always asking God for direction, but I’ll miss it if I constantly ignore His instruction.

  It’s in those little breaks in our companionship with God where confusion sets in about what we’re really supposed to do.

  Have you ever heard that amazing verse from Isaiah that says, “Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, ‘This is the way; walk in it’ ” (30:21)?

  I love this verse! I want it to be true for me! I want my ears to hear God say, “This is the way; walk in it.”

  I want that with every fiber of my being. And when I humbly repented for rushing past the opportunities God had given me, He graciously gave me a do-over.

  The one who obeys God’s instruction for today will develop a keen awareness of His direction for tomorrow.