Chutzpah!

Sometimes, I just sit and wonder at the awesome power of God. It is overwhelming to think about actually. I knew that in coming here to Magdalena I would forever be changed. The Lord never ceases to amaze me with His methods of molding and shaping my heart. I would never have guessed that the Lord would bring me to this dry and thirsty place to show me how much that He loves me.

I was spending some time a few days ago just sitting in the presence of God and a thought occurred to me. I had been reading a book called Toward a Deeper Walk by Marcus Warner. In his book, Warner touches on the concept of "seeking the Lord." I don't know about you, but the idea of seeking the Lord has always been something kind of difficult to grasp. I have always very adamantly believed that I needed to seek the Lord but had no idea what that actually meant and how exactly I was supposed to put that into practice as a believer. Anyway, Warner very simply defined seeking as "asking the Lord questions."

Since discovering this, I have begun to seriously restructure the way that I pray. The results have been incredible! It had never occured to me that God actually wants to answer our prayers! He's not going to ignore us. He will always speak if we are willing to be in tune with the Spirit and wait on His perfect timing.

A few days ago, was reading the story in Genesis 32 when Jacob wrestles the angel and refuses to give up until the angel blesses him. I was reminded of a word that I just recently learned, "Chutzpah." I think it's Yiddish. :) It basically means don't let up, press on, keep fighting! I have never in my life felt like I needed more Chutzpah than right now! For those of you who don't know, I am a missionary serving at an orphanage in Mexico. We deal with a lot of deeply hurting children. Satan, unfortunately, still has an unrelenting grip on some of their lives and he is desperate to keep his legal right to keep them in chains of darkness. As believers in Christ Jesus, our battle is fierce and it is easy to become discouraged. But I have also realized that as Children of God we are seated in the heavenly places with our Lord and by His strength (and His strength alone) evil doesn't stand a chance.

So, I suppose that my point is that "we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places" Ephesians 6:12 "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your bretheren that are in the world. But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you. To him be glory and dominion forever and ever!" 1Peter 5: 8-11