Joanne Lowe's Meditations

DID YOU EVER WONDER

“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.”

Genesis 1:1 (King James Version)

There are only ten words in our Scripture verse for today but these ten words are the most powerful words in the world because they describe the heart of our Heavenly Father. Did you ever wonder why God, our loving compassionate Heavenly Father, created us when He knew that His beloved Son would have to be crucified on a cross of horror and excruciating pain for our sins?

That didn’t make any sense to me at all because not only does God give unconditional love, His very nature is love! I wondered about that many times so one day I asked Him. I said “God, You are a loving compassionate Heavenly Father. Please tell me why You created us when You knew that Your precious and beloved Son would be crucified, tortured and beaten beyond recognition for us?”

He spoke to my heart and said “I am God. I don’t need anybody or anything. However, I desired fellowship and that is why I created you”. When He told me that I cried, because none of us, including myself, fellowship with Him like we should. If we will listen with our hearts, we will hear the heart of our Heavenly Father saying to us “I miss you. It’s been a long time since we fellowshipped together. Do you have time for Me today”?

We read in the Bible “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul” (Genesis 2:7). When God formed man, it was the start of His dream, the beginning of His desire that we would fellowship with Him. How we must hurt Him and break His heart when we don’t fellowship with Him!

How important is fellowship? It is the most important thing in the world to God. He desires us to fellowship with Him and with one another. What a sad commentary it is on those of us who claim to be Christians that we don’t take the time to fellowship with Him and with one another. Why don’t we fellowship with Him and with each other more than we do? I believe it is because there are times when we sit and watch television hour after hour instead of fellowshipping with our Heavenly Father and with one another.

Will you respond to the cry from our Heavenly Father’s heart and fellowship with Him? Spending time with Him does not mean just our quiet times with Him or the prayers we say for others. It means an ongoing fellowship with Him that never ends even in the midst of our daily activities. I started a prayer to Him on January 24, 2005, the day that He entrusted me with and gave me the ministries of encouraging pastors and writing devotions. I have never said Amen to that prayer.

I don’t do a lot of talking to Him. I listen so He can talk to me and tell me what He wants me to do. Many times when I want to pray for someone, I just say the person’s name. God knows a lot better than I do what the person needs. There are times when we hinder God working in the hearts of people by what we say in our prayers. I heard a man say one time when he was praying “Father, my son has to go to this college I want him to attend. Make him go there”.

How dare you and I pray to a Holy God and demand anything from Him? He knows what we need and what is best for us. We need to stop praying so selfishly, get out of His way and stop telling Him what to do. I think sometimes we forget that we are the clay and He is our potter. “But now, O Lord, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand” (Isaiah 64:8).

“Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way! Thou art the Potter, I am the clay. Mold me and make me after Thy will, While I am waiting, yielded and still.” If these words of this beautiful inspiring song are not the cry of your heart, ask God to give you a heart checkup because something is very wrong! It is a lot more important that you allow God to check your spiritual heart than it is to go to the doctor so he or she can check your physical heart.

Heavenly Father, we have heard the cry from the depths of Your heart for us to fellowship with You. Please have mercy on us and forgive us for hurting You by not spending more time with You than we do. May we always remember that You created us to fellowship with You and that fellowship is very important. You have told us that not only do You desire us to spend time with You, but we also need to spend time with each other.

Please forgive us for being selfish at times and help us to realize the importance and urgency of turning off the television set and reaching out to one another and loving each other with Your unconditional love. Please plant a desire deep in the heart of every one of us to get out of our comfort zones and spend time with You and with one another as You desire us to do. Amen.

Joanne Lowe

joannelowe8@cox.net

www.joanne-ourprecioussaviour.blogspot.com