Monday, August 31, 2009

Reciprocal Delight

  • 516 Churches
  • in 8 Countries
  • from 45 States
  • including Multiple Armed Service Locations
  • = more than 95,000 People with open hearts, listening for a word from God, directly to their hearts.

What a blessing to attend the Living Proof Simulcast, 2009 from one of the 516 locations around the world. Travis Cottrell and the worship team were incredible. Beth Moore was a vessel doing nothing more than speaking Jesus to us and over us. As she taught us from Psalm 37, these two verses truly stirred my heart:

4 Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart.

23 If the LORD delights in a man's way, he makes his steps firm;
24 though he stumble, he will not fall, for the LORD upholds him with his hand.

This just blows me away! I was created to delight in a God, who delights in me!
It's a reciprocal relationship. the more I delight in Him, the more He delights in me.

In the Christian life we often talk about joy. It is a fruit of the Holy Spirit that lives within the heart of a believer. But delight is like taking that joy to a whole another level. Beth said that man's delight is a feeling of extreme pleasure or satisfaction coupled with a sense of wonder. "Delight is us laughing over the sheer wonder of Him". Does that describe your heart?

God's delight is what we were created for. We bring delight to God when we do some of the simplest of things like:

  • a little boy at the flag pole, praying for his school.
  • a mother singing Jesus loves me to her sweet little baby.
  • a woman who stops what she's doing to help a sweet saint put her groceries in the car.
  • a little girl telling her friend how much Jesus loves her.
  • a man who clears the snow from his neighbor's drive, expecting nothing in return.
  • any time we open up His Word, asking Him to speak to our hearts.

Can't you just see God inclining Himself, bending down and taking notice, and a sense of delight just filling the throne room of Heaven. Imagine Him saying, "That's my girl". "She's doing it!" "Look at the family resemblance!"

In a world so full of negativity, it's so much easier to think of maybe disappointing God or even frustrating God at times. I'm certain I have done both of those many times over.

But as God has changed my heart and my focus, my goal today is to bring Him delight. I want to bask in His delight like a puppy dog laying in the sun. I just want to just drink in His radiance.

How about you? Did you delight in Him today? Did you cause Him to delight in you?

Lord, Grant me a heart to delight in You! Be my greatest joy. Bring out the person in my who can't hold back any longer. I want to sense your delight in me every day. I LOVE You so much more today than even yesterday - and it was a record breaker in itself. Draw me into the deep places, far from shallow living. I want to be a true reflection of You.

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4 comments:

Brook said...

It sounds like you had a wonderful time and that God taught you so much through the conference. I am so thankful for your example and your passion for the Lord. I pray that you will continue to delight in Him as He delights in you for all the rest of your days.

Nana Jul said...

Delight is us laughing over the sheer wonder of Him". That is such an incredible statement!! And that is exactly what I did all weekend! In TOTAL amazement with our God! I am just swept away! Jesus Laughing...His saints laughing...oh the picture it paints in my mind!
Bask in His radiance!! He is WONDERFUL!!

Crown of Beauty said...

Delight is what heaven is all about... and so this word is really beyond description. It describes what our God feels for us His beloved creation! And you are indeed right to say that we were created to reciprocate what God feels for us!

Lisa, you have been such a blessing to me through your blog. Please go over to my Aug 31 post to receive an encouragement from me!

Love
Lidj

Anonymous said...

Oh Lisa, an exceptional post and one for pondering. I am blown away too that God, the God of all creation delights in me. Oh, how I delight in Him and want to focus on Him, delighting when it is so easy not to. God made us for Himself. Why should we NOT delight? !

And you are right regarding my Wed. photo of my sister's labrador on the surfboard...I do believe God smiled and delights in Loke, too.

love you, ~ linda