Son-kissed

i am willing to recognize that this could be borderline cheesy, but it was what the Lord gave me this morning in my time with Him, and i just had to share. i was sitting on my porch with my coffee. the birds were chirping, the sun was shining. you get the idea. beautiful morning. as i looked out across the fields and pond across from my apartment, the Lord was stirring in my heart the great things He's doing here in Auburn. and randomly, He put the alma mater on my heart. He had me write it down, and this was how it ended up (He made a few minor changes as we went through it):
on the rolling plains of dixie,
'neath the Son-kissed sky
proudly stands our alma mater
banners high
to Thy Name, we'll sing Thy praise,
from hearts that love so true
and pledge to Thee our loyalty
the ages through
We hail Thee Jesus, and we vow
to work for Thy just fame
and hold in memory as we do now
Thy cherished Name.
Obviously, a few minor changes. let me hit on some of the key points i felt like He touched on. first of all, the Son-kissed sky. what a beautiful picture. it reminds me of a vision a friend had of light breaking through the clouds over the sky in auburn as truth penetrates the hearts of His people and more people come into this sweet intimacy with Him. also note, banners high. if you'll recall, one of the names of the Lord is the Lord my Banner. and in song of solomon, His banner over me is love. please note: the banner is high in the song, that all may see. all the rest of the changes referred to changing it from glory to Auburn to glory to Jesus' name. it was like He told me that auburn really was made for this. what a joy to be in this place!

pride and prejudice

after multiple times watching the movie (i won't say how many) i thought i should share the sweet revelation the Lord gave me through pride and prejudice.
He really used a mix of the book and the movie to show me this profound truth: true love will always be expressed through humility. let me take a moment to explain how He showed me this... if you haven't seen the movie, this might be confusing. you should go watch it.
when mr. darcy first confessed his love for miss elizabeth, she was absolutely shocked. ever since she had met him, she had perceived as a proud and pompous jerk. and when he shared his feelings, he even brought up the whole issue of his status and the inferiority of her birth. pretty bold... pretty prideful. and then he was surprised when she rejected him. meanwhile, she's completely shocked that he even had such feelings for her, since all she had seen of him was his proud attitude.
after this, mr. darcy goes to extreme measures to amend the wrongs miss elizabeth held against him. the most powerful expression was when he paid for the wedding and a considerable dowry to one of his greatest enemies for the sake of preserving the bennett family's integrity.
moving on to love confession number two (which was just such a great scene in the movie). here is when the book was so revealing to me. mr. darcy says to her that her rejection had indeed been humbling for him, and that was just what he had needed. he tells her that all he had done, especially the humbling act of giving money to his enemy, had all been for her. all he wanted was her love in return.
now to us... God spoke to me and showed me that if love is genuine, it must be given in complete humility, or it will not be received. just like mr. darcy, He could have come in all His greatness, reminding us of how advantageous it would be for us to accept Him. but... He knew we would never understand how real His love was if He had done that. He came in the humblest of circumstances, in a lowly stable surrounded by lowly people. He died a humiliating death, paying a huge ransom to His most hated enemy, all for our redemption. He did that so we wouldn't accept Him just for the advantage He offers. instead, we see His love is real and we are free to simply love Him back.
"you had to know... it was all for you."

promised land

so it's good reading in the book of numbers. you might not think it, but there's some quality stuff in there. as i read numbers 13-14, the Lord gave me some insight into how it applies to where we are right now in auburn. and not just here, but the Body of Christ as a whole.
quick summary: these two chapters cover the story of the israelite spies who went in to scout out the Promised Land before the israelites would take it. they got back and told all the people that basically there was no way they could possibly capture the land... all the people were giants. so here's where it gets interesting. after the spies' reports, all the israelites were ready to head on back to egypt (back into slavery).
hmmmm... parallel to us? God told me to read the passage with the mindset of revival as the Promised Land (because it has been promised to us). first thing to note: the influence of the spies. all but two believed that defeat was certain. their attitudes (this is only 10 men) influenced a whole nation to believe that it was impossible to take the land. but notice caleb and joshua's response of confidence: "we should by all means to up and take possession of it, for we will surely overcome it." now that's the kind of man i want to follow... confident in the Lord's power to overcome.
but here's the real interesting stuff. even when we're on the brink of the Promised Land (revival!), many will want to turn back. it's because they want the easy route. and the road really won't be easy. we will have to fight. later in the chapter, the israelites realize their mistake and try to move on by their own initiative. but the Lord had not directed them so, and thus they were struck down by their enemies. to move ahead without the Lord's direction is an assured loss.
He also pointed out to me that the israelites had never been ready to acutally pack up and go back to egypt, they had just always talked about how life was better in egypt. it was when they were literally on the brink of entering the Promised Land. key here: the worst attack from the enemy came right before an amazing display of God's power in overcoming their enemies and giving them the Promised Land. so with us, the worst attack from the enemy (in which he did not try to actually take out the israelites, only turn their hearts away from God and His promises) is right before the Promised Land (revival). the battle is real...