Quiet Time: Day Three

I made a terrible mistake last night.  At 7:30 I found myself sitting at Starbucks preparing for the weekend with a Latte in my hand.  About halfway through my fully caffeinated beverage, I realized this may be a bad idea, and indeed it was.  So my usual early to bed self didn’t get to sleep until well after 11:30. Don’t laugh at me, I am usually in bed by 9! So needless to say I snoozed my alarm about 5 times this morning.  

I am very thankful that Matt sleeps through my snoozing now after nearly 19 years of marriage.  It was actually the cause of our biggest fight to date the Monday after we returned from our honeymoon!  You can hear that full story here. 

I actually thought this is a great situation for Day 3 because I had much less time for my QT than I normally would like to have, but I didn’t forgo it altogether instead I had a really great 20 minutes with Jesus to set me on a great course for the rest of my day! 

Starting with coffee (obviously) and a blanket this morning I took my seat in front of the Christmas tree, enjoying its beauty for a few more days. 

Worship

I have found a fantastic worship collective on youtube recently and I am loving everything they come out with! Maverick Worship has some really great stuff but this song Refiner went so well with what God was speaking to me this morning. 

Word

I picked up where I had left off in Luke 3 today.  What a great chapter. This is the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry with His baptism and the Holy Spirit descending on Him like a dove, but there were a couple of other verses that really stood out to me today.  

S: Scripture: 

V9: “And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”

V17-18: His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather the wheat into His barn, but the chaff He will burn with unquenchable fire.”

18 And with many other exhortations, he preached to the people. 

O: Observation: This passage doesn’t seem like an exhortation to me.  It actually seems really harsh. John the Baptist is talking about separating, burning away and judgment.  The first thing I initially observe is that this doesn’t seem like the good news of Jesus. John’s message had an edge to it, was it judgment or holiness? 

A: Application: Even in good news → forgiveness and mercy there is still a place of change.  Change is a part of receiving good news. Even Jesus when he came wasn’t all sunshine and daisies.  He preached hard against religion. Gentle with sinners but hard with religion and those whose hearts were hard.  

P: Prayer: Lord let my heart be soft before you.  Let my life be clean and holy before you, let your good news be seen throughout my life.  

There is a purification we walk through when we are in a relationship with Jesus.  A Refiner’s fire to burn away anything that is not like Him. I want to have a heart like Christ, to love what he loves and hate what he hates. Hardheartedness is so dangerous in the life of a believer, but living with a soft heart is vulnerable.  Soft-hearted people live with the opportunity to be hurt, in fact they will be hurt. When that hurt comes, however, it is so important not to harden because of it but to bring it back to God in these morning moments.  

Day Three was fire...literally.  The burning away of those things that do not reflect the image of God.  Today, think on those things.