“Small daily practices accrue over time and become transformative.”

Our Father wants to move us beyond what we know about Him to actually being transformed by what we know. In accomplishing this goal, He sometimes allows us to experience a sense of emptiness.

This is what He did with me. (Last week’s entry.) In this case, He wanted the truth that He is the God of heaven and earth to sink into my character. He knows that where He is taking me, my prayer life would have to reflect this truth both in waiting for to Him act and in insights into how to pray against the forces who want to block His purposes.

The LORD did this with the Israelites. Abraham knew his God was the God of heaven and earth (Gen. 14:22). Maybe his descendants knew the story behind his belief (he defeated a four king coalition with only 318 men to rescue his nephew) in their head.

If they didn’t, they had front row seats to see this truth in action. They saw the God of heaven and earth defeat Egypt, the earthly superpower at that time, without one Israelite lifting a sword.

They may have had the story in their head, but they surely saw it with their eyes. Would this truth now make the transition from their head to their heart through faith steps in their personal choices?

So, the Lord tested them: without water and bread in the middle of the desert, would they ask the God of heaven and earth to provide both? Or, would they stay stuck in their head knowledge about Him (Deut. 8:2)?

Water comes from heaven in the form of rain clouds. Bread starts from seeds planted in the earth. If the LORD is the God of heaven and earth, He could supply both, even in unorthodox ways, correct? All they had to do, then, was ask, “LORD, we are out of water and bread. How do You want to supply it?”

Again and again they chose not to believe He could fill their emptiness, their hunger. And so, they missed where He was taking them. In this case, it was the Promised Land.

What about Him is He asking to develop into your character to prepare you for what He has for you? Take steps, even small ones, each day to let it change you. Eventually, your life will be transformed by it. I am and am.

Nothing is going to change until something changes you.

Revelation 11:16 shows 24 elders sitting on 24 thrones before God, who then got off them to worship God. Thrones denote power, which these elders had. Yet, they fell on their faces before God, which shows where that power came from, God.

This got me to thinking about how the Spirit has challenged me to talk with God more. Transparency? Okay, here it goes. This has been an extremely difficult step of obedience.

My time talking with Him leaves me empty. Lacking. Truthfully, there are times that I fall asleep. Ugh. I read an encouraging quote, though, which says it’s okay because you fell asleep on His lap. Cool, right? For a while, maybe. I’m still lacking, however.

Here is what the Spirit showed me. Am I sitting on my throne before God or on my face in humble acknowledgement and adoration with whom I’m talking?

John 12:49 records that Jesus only said what the Father told Him, even how to say it. This meant that Jesus talked (not asked) with His Father all the time. He was aligning His human will with the Divine.

Am I approaching the Father in the same manner? Even when praying for workers for the harvest, which Jesus said to do, am I open to how the Father might want me to approach Him on that subject?

He is God, not me. He has the power, not me. Therefore, how am I approaching Him?

Currently, my lack is revealing that I need to know something about my Father that I don’t currently know. This means I must get off my high horse/throne and approach Him with humble acknowledgment that my current experiential knowledge of Him is lacking.

My lack, though, will not change until I ask the Spirit to again change me to be more like Jesus, who lacks nothing. When I do, then, my conversations with my Father will not leave me lacking or sleeping!

Emptiness is not wrong…if it leads you to want more of Jesus. So, talk with your Father about your lack so He can fill it! It’s all in the approach. Your lack is His to fill.

A hope that anchors the soul.

In the book of Numbers, whenever the people faced adversity, they looked in the rear-view mirror to their past rather than the windshield to their future – the Promised Land.

Parched lips? Let’s head back slavery. Growling stomach? Old life wasn’t so bad. They glorified their yesterday and wished to return to the hands of harsh slave masters.

Instead of looking back, they should have remembered what God did, He took care of their past, and looked forward to what He gave them – hope for a bright tomorrow in the Promised Land. Change, a better life, was possible. 

The Father gave us a new life through the living hope brought in Jesus’ resurrection (1 Peter 1:3). Think about it. I know it’s a simple concept, but sometimes we stumble on the simple truths of Scripture: Resurrection can only happen after something died!

Yesterday is gone – ours and others mistakes and failures. The only place it can stay alive is in our minds…if we choose to look back. Resurrection is a new birth, which implies the old is gone. So, why do we want to go back to the slavery/our old habits that brought us nothing but harsh treatment (sin-guilt/shame-confession cycle)?

Jesus is alive, right?! Then why focus on your past that He already died for? You might say, “You don’t know what I did?” Or, here is one better, “You don’t know what others did to me?”

Gotcha. Question, who do you want to be in control of your today? If you have not received Jesus’ forgiveness at the cross, or have not forgiven yourself or others since the cross, you are allowing the past to control your present. Why? It keeps you looking in the rear-view mirror to yesterday.

You can’t change yesterday, only right now. Blunt, but true. Therefore change, the life the Father has for you, is possible when you focus on the hope He has already given you because of Jesus. Since He is alive right now, so are you! So why not focus on the life that is ahead of you?

We have a resurrection hope that allows us to look through the windshield to a better life, regardless of life’s adversities. Therefore, when you focus on life ahead, rather than a dead past, you are glorifying and worshiping Jesus, a living hope.

You will never want more of Jesus until you experience emptiness.

Here’s something to think about. Is who you are right now worth leaving behind to experience who you can become?

Before answering, let me share an illustration of being full that you might already have seen. Take an empty cup and place rocks in it all the way to the top. Is it full? Yes, so do you want more? No, because the cup can’t contain any more rocks.

Add fine sand, which fills in the cup’s crevices. Now is it full? Yes, so do you want more sand? No, because it is full.

Finally add water, which fills in all the spaces you couldn’t see. Is it finally full? You’re probably beginning to doubt what “full” means, right?

Jesus came to give us abundant life (John 10:10) – a full container. Yet, the only way we can understand abundant is when we allow Jesus to let us experience the lack of fullness.

We have to stop settling for who are at the moment – good or bad. We have to want and believe we can have more of Him. This is why we feel empty at various times in our lives. And maybe, even wonder why are we still here.

Emptiness is good! It allows you to know that you are empty and to ask for more of Him, more of the abundant life He promised.

Hopefully now we are ready to answer the above proposed question in order to ask Him to change us even more into His image so we can experience more of Him in our lives.

You go where you focus.

“You are so good.” This statement can be both true and false at the same time. The difference is your focus: before or after the cross.

Jesus was called good. He responded by saying that no one is good except God alone (Matt. 10:18). Jesus stated two truths here. One, humans in and of themselves are not good. And two, He is good as He is God.

Thus, the statement is false if one is looking to the cross; however, it is true if they are looking from the cross.

The Spirit had penned what appears to be a contradictory statement in Hebrews 10:14, “By one sacrifice he (Jesus) has made perfect those we are being made holy.”

Notice the cross is the starting point of making the believer in His death both perfect while at the same time putting them into the process of becoming perfect (holy).

Huh? You have to shake your head at wonder of this truth: We are perfect-imperfect children of God based on what Jesus did at the cross.

Our incompetence was before the cross. After the cross, we are now competent. We are now good enough (i.e. righteous) to make healthy choices (i.e. righteous) right now.

Where is your focus: before or after the cross? If you have already put your faith in what Jesus did on the cross then stop looking back to the cross by focusing on the shame and guilt of who you were, with its corresponding unhealthy choices (i.e. sin) in the present.

Instead, focus on who you are in Christ, someone who is good enough to have a relationship with a loving Father and to make healthy choices at this very moment.

Your focus will determine the reality of your choices today. Choose to focus on who you are in Christ right now because of what He did on the cross.