Camping out in His holy palace.

God in Zion, we praise You
    and give You what we promised.
Anyone can come to You,
    and You will listen to their prayers.
When our sins become too heavy for us,
    You wipe them away.
Oh, how wonderful it is to be the people you chose
    to come and stay in Your Presence.
And we are so happy to have the wonderful things
    that are in Your Presence, Your holy palace.
God, You answer our prayers and do what is right.
    You do amazing things to save us.
People all over the world know they can trust in You,
    even those who live across the sea. Psalm 65:1-5

O Lamb of God, that takes away the sins of the world, have mercy upon me. O Lamb of God, that takes away the sins of the world, have mercy upon me. O Lamb of God, that takes away the sins of the world, grant me your peace.

 And sometimes we can feel stuck. Like my friend who thinks that she will never ever be able to get up at five in the morning to exercise. So she is having all of her Facebook friends text her. But yesterday she didn’t get out of bed. And she, like the rest of us, feels stuck.

But He promises otherwise, and when our sins become too heavy for us, when at last we confess our brokenness, He will wipe them all away.

A fresh start. An unwrinkled page.

Anyone can come to Him. And He will listen.

And really my god is too small. Oh me of little faith.

May I have the faith of a small child, uncomplicated by prideful self.

May I have the faith of a Samaritan leper, kneeling in gratitude.

May I have the faith of those who live across the seas, uncomplicated by statistical analysis and historical precedence.

May I rest in His presence today. His promises, His wonderfulness, His blessed happiness.

O Lamb of God, that takes away the sins of the world, grant me Your peace.

One, two, three, thee and a half, three and three quarters, jump.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Matthew 5:8

Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord?

And who shall stand in His holy place?

He who has clean hands and a pure heart,

Who does not lift up his soul to what is false.

Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things;

And give me life in Your ways. Psalm 24, 119

So last night Fred and I went to Victory Worship Center Elevate.  The same darkened room with pulsing lights and smashing drum throbs and a couple hundred kids waving their arms in the air. 

There is nothing worth more

That will ever come close

Nothing can compare

You're our Living Hope

Your Presence

I've tasted and I've seen

Of the sweetest of loves

Where my heart becomes free

And my shame is undone

There was only one song last night.  Over and over. 

It has been a long year for Fred.  For me too. The tangible in-this-very-room-presence-of-God that we had so come to know wasn’t to be found. The memories of that sweet taste are illusive.  The Psalmist tells us why.  Our souls have been pierced with flaming darts of the Enemy.  We have believed falsehoods, worthless things that have blinded us to His presence. Doubt. Fear, Discouragement. Loneliness. Stubborn pride of going it alone.  

Purity of heart is not about actions, but The Teacher listed actions, disciplines, that can help keep the momentum spinning, like one of those old metal merry-go-rounds tilting crazily in school yards and parks.  At least they used to; now life is too tame and too worried about lawsuits so anything fast and spinning and a little out of control has been replaced by plastic. Plastic that fades and cracks over time.

And he explained inertia, The vis insita, or innate force of matter, is a power of resisting by which every body, as much as in it lies, endeavours to preserve its present state, whether it be of rest or of moving uniformly forward in a straight line. It takes an outside force to effect change.  Something unexpected.  Out of the norm and status quo. 

Your presence LORD

Your glory God is what our hearts long for

To be overcome by Your Presence LORD

The disciplines can help, but they are not enough, speaks one who knows, me, Mz. 4:15 In The Morning.  And maybe the Shield of Faith with which we stave off these attacks in the day of evil which will come is more like a Leap of Faith.

We watched the Indiana Jones clip in church Sunday.  The one where clever, courageous, stalwart Indie reached the end of the trail and stood at a gaping chasm.  Nothing else to do but leap into the apparent nothingness.  

The cool thing Jon pointed out is that the sturdy bridge was always there.  Indiana just couldn’t see it. Doubt. Fear, Discouragement. Loneliness. Stubborn pride of going it alone.  But, at the end of himself with no where else to turn and not the tiniest inkling of what would come of it, he leapt. Into the Wild.

Where my heart becomes free.