Beyond Reason

I found these words from Joyce Meyer in her bible, and I wanted to share them because I think they tie directly into what I had shared in my previous post about always trying to seek understanding of things.  Check it out:

"In Mark 8:14-17, as in other Bible passages, we see that Jesus was able to discern the reasoning in the hearts of His disciples, who frequently did not act wisely.  They needed revelation, not reasoning.

In verse 17 Jesus said "Why are you reasoning...Do you not yet discern or understand?" That is what I used to do. I used to have a lot of problems with reasoning.  I was always trying to figure things out. Then one day the Lord said something interesting to me: "As long as you continue to reason, you will never have discernment."

Discernment starts in the heart and enlightens the mind. As long as my mind was so busy reasoning, God could not get through to me.

Reasoning is such a huge problem because reasoning is not faith.  Reasoning belongs to the mind of the flesh and does not produce good fruit.  When we reason to a point of being confused we need to recognize that we have gone too far.  At that point we need to pray for discernment and wait on God to reveal to us what we need to know.

You cannot have peace of mind and heart if you reason without God's truth to enlighten you.  If you lack peace in your life, it may be that you are trying to figure out too many things.  Stop asking, "Why, God, why?"  Just say, "Lord, You know, and I need to be satisfied with that.  When YOu are ready to show me, do so. Until then, with Your help, I am going to enjoy my life, trusting that You are in charge and that You will take care of everything that concerns me."

Peace Beyond Understanding

Many times  situations arise in our lives that we struggle to understand; I know I've battled with this of late.  As I prayed for understanding, the Lord began to speak to my heart.  The first thing that He began to show me was that I need to begin to pray for peace in the situation instead of understanding.  I'd been hoping that if I could somehow make sense out of what happened that I could find peace.  But I've realized that I need to seek God's peace that will go beyond my understanding.

Then, a couple of weeks ago, He spoke very clearly to me through a couple of books that I'd been reading about having idols in my life.  One book described it as having "excessive adoration or reverence of any person or thing."  I knew that God was putting His finger on an area I had not considered before.  It was amazing, but when I acknowledged and confessed it, I felt a release come over me that I haven't felt for a long time.  Gifts that had lain dormant were brought to life again.  I felt free somehow, and the barriers that hindered me were gone.

Shortly after that I was watching Joyce Meyer, and she had Phil Pringle on her program talking about wounded spirits.  One thing that Joyce said really stuck with me; she said that she finally came to the place in her life where she knew she had to stop asking "why?" and just let it go and accept the fact that she may never know the "why" for the things that had happened to her.  Again, our quest for understanding, that can be so fruitless in the end.  We have no idea what can be released when we open our hearts and obey without the full understanding of why.

God's work within, and the power of repentance and forgiveness fills me with reverence.  I feel that I've been given another chance at something that I thought was dead and I want to handle it with care.  Things might not turn out exactly the way that I want it to, but what can I say, I'm a prisoner of hope!  Like Lazarus, God can bring to life what seems dead and gone.  As long as I live He will never cease to amaze me...