This is not my flower, but it gives you a clear picture of the ‘star’ that holds the seeds

Yesterday the Lord sent a paga that literally fell right before my eyes. Sunday morning I had picked two stems from my borage, and put them in a vase on my table. Each had a flower. Yesterday morning the two flowers were still perky. When I sat down to eat my lunch I noticed one had begun to shrivel. It was hanging and sort of shaking. I watched and it fell onto the table. By the time I finished eating it had begun to shrivel and a seed popped out. As you can see in the picture, the ‘star’ holds the seeds.

Borage is a self seeder. I brought the flowers in so I could see how they drop their seed. I watched God’s incredible creation go through its cycle of birth, growth, death, and rebirth. What is the spiritual lesson in this paga? John 1:14 says, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the flory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”

Translate all of this above into this thought: we become the embodiment of God’s word when we hide it in our heart. His word is a self seeder. When His seed-word falls into good ground, Mark 4:20 says that it will, “…bear fruit: some thirty-fold, some sixty, and some a hundred.” Maybe you understood this before, but it is a new revelation for me through His paga.

The Lord is always speaking to us. Do we live in that awareness? He always speaks through His word when we have ears to hear. He often uses people, places, things, or circumstances. It is all through His creative orchestrations. Watch today to see what He is doing. Open your ears to hear His words. Look, and may He open your eyes to see beyond the visual, obvious, and the obstacles in your path. He is actively intervening moment by moment.

Tomorrow I will take this paga in another direction.

I’ve been thinking about Elijah on the mountain. God displayed His mighty power through the wind, earthquake, and fire. 1 Kings 19:11 says of the wind that it, “…tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces…” Elijah just stood there watching a GodShow. However it was God’s still small voice that caused Elijah to wrap his mantle around his face. It was then that the Lord spoke to Elijah’s despondent heart and gave him a new commission. 

The power in silence is the dynamic impact His still small voice has on our heart. Job 26 revealed some of God’s power through very picturesque words. Verse 14 says, “Indeed these are the mere edges of His ways, and how small a whisper we hear of Him!” Our whole being is awakened when the Lord whispers His wisdom. We are never the same. 

The Lord gave me a new song in 2002. The words still impact me. Here are three more verses: Your words like oil penetrate the places in my heart that were hardened through fear. You say My child don’t be afraid. I’ve been there all along to shield and protect. Let go of that which you clutch so tight. That I might fulfill the deepest longings of your heart.

Don’t let the cares of this life choke out My words. Open your heart to hear the beat of My own heart. I desire oneness with you but I won’t compete with that to which you give yourself. I will but wait until you tire of your own pursuits. And nestle down in My love.

Be still now and quiet your heart before Me. I have so much to share to reveal the depths of My counsel. For in Me is hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. I have all and hold all.​ ​Through the power of My Word.

​Part of my prayer for myself each morning is that I will have ears to hear His still small voice. Why? It sets me up to have the ears of a learner inclining to receive. It is my heart posturing. I want to grasp and comprehend​ His wisdom so that I can put it into practice. It is in our still time that our heart is most receptive. 

However, the Lord will speak at any time and in any situation. We just need to be ready. If we have the attitude of a learner, we will hear Him. The other day I was about to do a good work that I do every morning. Just before I did, I sighed. Immediately the Lord dropped these words into my heart: do not be weary in well doing, for you will reap if you don’t lose heart. It comes from Galatians 6:9

When the Lord speaks to us in the midst of what we are doing, it is called a paga. It is a Hebrew word that means to meet, light upon, join, or encounter. It is like when a butterfly flits upon a flower to drink nectar. The Lord’s word intercepts our thought process to bring us His nectar. It may be an insight, a name of someone that He wants you to pray for, or to contact in some way. It may be an illumination as you are reading His word. It may be a phrase from a verse that slips right into your prayer or conversation. A learner is attentive at all times, and ready to receive.

An essential part of learning is to be attentive. A learner is a student. Their attitude is one of intent. They come with a humble heart to learn about something they don’t know, or enhance what they do know. Proverbs 9:9 says, “Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be still wiser; teach a just man, and he will increase in learning.” Proverbs 1:5 says, “A wise man will hear and increase learning…”

Learning something new requires our full attention. We have to stay focused which will heighten our awareness. Proverbs 16:23 says, “The heart of the wise teaches his mouth, and adds learning to his lips.” Our heart is our belief center. We have to wholeheartedly listen in order to hear what is being taught.

The neuroscientists have coined a phrase. The neurons that fire together wire together. When we give our full attention to what is being taught, our brain and body work together. If we are not paying attention, what we hear will not remain. Isaiah 50:4 was written about the Lord. It says, “The Lord God has given Me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him who is weary. He awakens My ear to hear as the learned.”

I want to use Mary and Martha as an example of a learner. Luke 10:38 said that Martha welcomed Jesus and His men into her house. Verse 39 says, “And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His word.” Verse 40 says that Martha was distracted with much serving. Remember that worry means divided in thought. In verse 41-42 Jesus said, “…you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.”

In order to learn to be still as we sit at the feet of Jesus, we need to lay aside our serving. Calming our mind will calm our body. Just thinking about being still will affect our body. It isn’t trying, which will cause us to be tense and jammed up, but being. 

Recognize and acknowledge that you are a learner. Don’t set yourself up in your mind that this will be a pass or fail situation. Any perceived past failures have passed. Acknowledge that this is a new opportunity. There is much grace. Begin by setting aside a little time to practice being still. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you relax and be attentive.

Last night I was reading about Esau and Jacob. The Holy Spirit connected the narrative to being still. Esau’s self-absorption led to his momentary self-gratification. He gave up his birthright. He forfeited his right, power, authority, and privileges as Jacob’s firstborn.

When it comes to your quiet time, what activity distracts you and causes you to forfeit that time to sit at Jesus’ feet? The enemy of our soul knows that our quiet time gives us inner strength. His intent is to distract us and pull us away from that time. We have to contend all distractions! Being still restores because we cease from our labors and enter His rest.

When I was younger I kept noise going all the time. I even had my front door light switch connected to my radio. The moment I walked in, I flipped the switch and instant noise. I know now what I didn’t know then. I was blocking the buried emotional pain that was crying out for release. Can you relate? The pain that we bury is very alive. It seeps into our thought process no matter how much we deny it exists.

Having an agenda is the background noise of pride. Another block to silence is a negative dialogue. Anything, that is from your past, that you continue to rehearse is noise. 2 Corinthians 5:17 is a great verse to memorize that will help overthrow that prideful noise. It says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” The past has passed. It is over. Your noisy negative dialogue does not change one thing.

Anxiety and worry are very noisy. They are always pushing forward in your thoughts. They are also pride, and reveal our ‘self’ grappling for control. Anything that has to do with ‘self’ is noisy. Philippians 4:6 says, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.” Years ago I heard a father say to his rebellious son, “I said no. What part of no don’t you understand, the N or the O?” I’ve never forgotten that! 

Sitting quiet before the Lord takes practice. It is applying the instruction of 2 Corinthians 10:5 which says to bring every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. It is like learning anything new. It is trial and error, but always moving forward. You may try to be still, but a thought jumps in. Then you take that thought captive through refocusing back on the Lord. 

 Unforgiveness is a huge barrier to stillness. It is sin, and hidden sin is very noisy. Matthew 18:34 is about the torturers that come with unforgiveness. Verse 35 says, “So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses.” One being tortured is not usually silent.

It is true that our minds are a battlefield. Isaiah 28:6 says that the Lord gives, “….strength to those who turn back the battle at the gate.” I like to think of the gate being my mind. Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal the things in your life that block you from being still. Mark 4:22 says, “For there is nothing hidden which will not be revealed, nor has anything been kept secret but that it should come to light.”

Proverbs 8:34 was written about wisdom. It says, “Blessed is the man who listens to me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors. For whoever finds me finds life, and obtains favor from the Lord.”

C. S. Lewis, in The Problem Of Pain said, “We can ignore even pleasure. But pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.” Right now in our world, chaos is loud, boisterous, and like a clanging cymbal. 

Our world is noisy. Jesus went apart from the crowd to be alone with the Father. He bids us to come apart to be with Him. It is One on one. We need to be still before Him so that we can clearly hear what He is speaking to our heart. Do you have a set quiet time? Susanna Wesley had 19 children. Her children quieted when they saw her kneel on the floor and put her apron over her head. They all knew that she was meeting with God.

When I was high school age I learned a definition for an excuse: a skin or reason wrapped around a lie. Song of Solomon 5:3 is a great example for us. Let’s look at this through the eyes of the Lord calling His child to Himself. Her Beloved had come. He called out for her to open the door for Him. Verse 3 were her excuses. It says, “I have taken off my robe; how can I put it on again? I have washed my feet; how can I defile them?”

Revelational insight is like an essence. Like a sweet oil dripped into our hearts, its fragrance fills our senses. It enlivens our whole being, as it illuminates our heart through its light. Every insight is given as an invitation to change. It is His strategic wisdom that gives us clear direction. When we receive it, apply it to our lives by putting it into practice, it brings inner transformation. 

Intimate communion is sans our own agenda. Picture your own agenda as noise. Being still is silence. We cannot hear the Lord’s whispered words with that background noise. The Lord always hears us, but do we always hear Him? Selective hearing is listening for what you want to hear, but disregarding things that call us to obedience.

God gives us instruction through His commandments. Our obedience is a demonstration of our love. John 14:21 says, “He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me…” 1 John 2:3 takes it deeper. It says, “Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments.” We increase in our knowledge of the Lord as we read His word and put it into practice. 1 John 1:6 says, “If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.” 

1 John 2:6 is our standard. It says, “He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.” John was not talking about perfection, but transformation. John 14:21 continues, “…And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.” Manifest in the Strong’s means: to appear, come to view, reveal, exhibit, make visible, present oneself in the sight of another, and be conspicuous.

He makes Himself known through a revelation of Himself that He wants us to understand in our present situation of life. He is Always Present. He is not constrained by time. He works with our heart in our present. This is something about neuroplasticity. Every thought leads to a change in muscles. Intimate communion is filled with love, peace, joy, and rest. We are relaxed and still inside. Psalm 16:11 says, “You will show me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”

I think the essential ingredient of being a good listener is to have no agenda. This carries into our relationship with the Lord. It helps define ‘apart from Me you can do nothing’ more clearly. Nothing. When we come to dine in His Presence, we come with nothing. His banquet is complete. There is nothing we can add to it.

Our total involvement is with our heart only. Our sole purpose in being quiet is to enjoy being with Him. If we come with an agenda, we will not be able to hear every whispered word. Let’s consider our agenda an obstacle, or a block in our heart to Heart communication. Isaiah 55:2-3 says, “…Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, and let your soul delight in its abundance. Incline your ear and come to Me. Hear, and your soul shall live.” Living is predicated on hearing.

Part of our being still before the Lord involves rest. If I have an agenda, I feel a need to fulfill my ‘list’ before I can rest. Hebrews 4:10 needs to be our stance as we come to the Lord. He, as always, is our example. It says, “For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His.” The Lord was busy creating for six days. On the seventh day He rested, or ceased from creating.

Releasing

Everything

Simply

Trusting

We cannot trust when our heart is full of our list of anxieties. An anxiety is an agenda. Anything that involves self has an agenda. Have you ever thought about that before? I didn’t until just now as I was typing. In Matthew 6:25 Jesus said to not worry. Strong’s definition for worry is: a distraction, a preoccupation with things causing anxiety, stress, and pressure. In truth, we have nothing to worry about because He cares for us.

Psalm 23:2-3 says of our Good Shepherd, “He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul…” Spending time in the Presence of the Lord feeds, strengthens, and restores our spirit. Song Of Solomon 5:1 is a lover speaking to the one he loves. I like to read it in the Amplified, and capitalize it as though the Lord is speaking to me. “…Drink, yes, drink abundantly of love, O precious one (for now I know you are Mine, irrevocably mine!…”

David loved the Lord. He wrote such heart reaching words. Psalm 63:8 in the Amplified is one of my favorites. It says, “My whole being follows hard after You and clings closely to You; Your right hand upholds me.” Here is a new song. Drink Deep. It expresses a heart set on the Lord. O take down the barriers of my heart so your love can fully enter in. I desire to desire You as You desire me. Let nothing block. Let nothing hinder as I gaze into Your eyes of love. I want Your love to penetrate every aspect of my life. O heal my heart with Your love.

We are chosen, adopted, and accepted. Ephesians 1:6 says, “To the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.” When I think of being accepted, it takes me to the opposite word of rejected. Isaiah 53:3 says, “He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.”

Jesus was rejected so that we might be accepted. He was despised, to make the way for us to be cherished. He gave His life that we might live in His abundance. Let’s take a moment to consider His abounding, unconditional, and everlasting love for us. Nothing we do or don’t do alters the fullness of His love for us. His mercy is great and unending. His grace is amazing. We are wrapped and secured in His love, mercy, and grace.

We are brought into intimate communion with the Lord because we are accepted. Our relationship is based on being and not doing. His love requires nothing from us. He is the Initiator and we are the receptors. The word ‘accepted’ is a warm word that draws us close. Think of being embraced in His arms of love, cherished, nurtured, comforted, secured, and serene. He is tender, gentle, loving, and nourishing. 

How do we just be and not do? Psalm 46:10 says to be still and know that He is God. Psalm 131:2 says, “Surely I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with his mother; like a weaned child is my soul within me.” Our quiet time is just being still in His Presence. We behold Him as He beholds us. Our hearts are unveiled. There is nothing that separates us from His gaze because we know that we are known. We don’t have to hide or pretend because we know that we are accepted as we are.

2 Corinthians 3:18 says, “But we all, with unveiled face, behold as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.” Being still before the Lord and drinking in His Presence, brings inner change that comes in no other way. He washes out the emotional debris with His whispered words of love. My deepest emotional healings have come through my intimate communion with the Lord. The rich insights that He gives me are the basis of my writings.

This is part of a new song: Womb Of The Morning. Be still now and quiet your heart before Me. I have so much to share to reveal the depths of My counsel. For in Me is hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. I have all and hold all. Through the power of My Word. In Me you will lack nothing. Your very sustenance comes through sweet communion. Through intimacy that cannot be broken. Nothing in this earth can compare with My beauty of holiness. In the womb of the morning.

One essential element of being adopted is being chosen. Ephesians 1:4 says that we were chosen before God ever created the world we live in. Verse 5 says, “Having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will.”

I want to go back to Abram. There are some amazing words used to describe his descendants. Genesis 13:6 says that the land could not hold Abram and Lot because they had so many possessions. Two men. When I have read this account before, it seemed that Lot was looking out only for himself to get the best. This time as I read, I saw Lot’s decision orchestrated by God. They separated. In verses 14-15 the Lord told Abram to look northward, southward, eastward, and westward. He said that all the land Abram could see He would give to his descendants. 

Verse 16 says, “And I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth; so that if a man could number the dust of the earth, then your descendants also could be numbered.” We know from many passages that they could not be numbered. They were uncountable, innumerable, and countless. In Genesis 15:5 the Lord took Abram out to look at the stars. It says, “…count the stars if you are able to number them. And He said to him, So shall your descendants be.”

We are chosen and adopted because we are loved by our Creator. That love cannot be accounted for in human terms. In Psalm 139:17-18, David tried to associate God’s love with something natural. It says, “How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand; when I awake, I am still with You.”

John 1:12 says that when we receive Jesus as our Savior, we become children of God. Verse 13 succinctly emphasizes that it is by God’s will. It says, “who are born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor the will of man, but of God.” 1 John 3:1 says, “Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!…” Romans 8:15 says, “For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, Abba Father.”

When God told Abram that He would give him descendants that would be more in number than the stars, Genesis 15:6 says, “And he believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.” We believers are the fruit of Abram’s trust in the Lord. I can imagine when we are all with the Lord at the end of all time. Countless, innumerable, and uncountable multitudes are standing together. The Lord says to Abram: look (and He sweeps His arm out over the crowd) because you believed these are your fruit that has glorified Me.

We still have time to add to this number. We are called to be evangelists. We have a wonderful, marvelous, inexhaustible heritage as adopted children of God. Yet He has room for countless more. His love is ready to reach out and embrace everyone who comes to Him. There is no limit or boundary to His love. Romans 10:14 says, “How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?”

I love John 15:16 which says, “You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.” Here is part of a new song:

Love Sonnet 

Precious life. I chose you before the foundation of the world. You are Mine, irrevocably Mine. Don’t seek any other. You are Mine for eternity. I called you from the womb. Your name is always on My lips. You are My fragrance sweet. Like a flower bud opening. Enter in come enter into My love.

Ephesians 1:4 says, “Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love.”

God chose Noah. He saved Noah, his family, and some animals, but destroyed every living thing. Out of Noah’s three son’s He chose Shem. Out of Shem’s sons He chose Terah. Out of Terah’s three sons He chose Abram. Out of all mankind, He chose you. Not only that, but He has placed you in this time of history, in the country of His choice, and with the family He placed you in. Stop and think about it.

Acts 17:26 says, “And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings.”

God called Abram out of where he was, to go to where he had never been before. He took him out of his comfort zone. Genesis 12:1 says, “…Get out of your country, from your family and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you. Verse 2 says, “…and you shall be a blessing.” Abram obeyed and we are part of his fruit. You and I are part of Abram’s blessing. 

Romans 4:1 says, “When then shall we say that Abraham our father has found according to the flesh?” Verse 3 says that when Abram believed God, it was accounted to him for righteousness. Where do we get our righteousness? When we believe. 2 Corinthians 5:21 says, “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

Let’s go back to John 15:16. God chose you to bear fruit for His glory. What does that look like? Verse 5 in the Amplified says, “I am the Vine; you are the branches. Whoever lives in Me and I in him bears much (abundant) fruit. However, apart from Me (cut off from vital union with Me) you can do nothing.”

What is the Lord asking you to leave behind that is hindering your fruit? What is usurping your quiet time of abiding in Him? Our strength comes from being not doing.