HIS ALL FOR MY ALL

Ephesians 3:17b-19    "And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long, and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge...that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God."

I was reading a devotional today that was talking about having all of God.  Everything that God offers, taking full advantage of all His blessings, every bit of what He wants to give His children.  But there was a catch.....you had to exchange your all for His all.  The only way to receive "all" of God was to give Him "all" of me.  I reread that, it was a short devotional, but what a powerful word.  

When we truly come to acknowledge the depth of the love that Jesus has for us, of the immensity of His sacrifice for us; this cannot come about in a real way without your heart just opening wide and fully knowing Jesus and loving with all your heart.  There is no way you can come to the realization of His love, how endless His love is for us and not love Him with all your being.  This is how I feel.  I could hardly get by Easter as I was so torn every time I thought of my Savior being beaten, ridiculed and mocked....and when I think of how He took my sin, all our sins, became sin for our sake, causing His Beloved Father to turn His back on this precious Son, the pain and sorrow that fell to both of them for that time, there is no way my love for Jesus does not grow to such depths inside of me.  It is almost like a bursting feeling in my soul, in my heart, loving Him so much.  Jesus did all this, died, descended into hell and rose again giving us victory with Him over all hell held, all hell meant for sinners as He had made the way for our forgiveness from the Father, making possible a relationship with our Father.

Jesus wanted to make certain that there was no limit to what we could gain through a real relationship with the Lord God.  He gave us the power, the strength; He gave us the Holy Spirit to guide, to help us, to show us the way to the Father, to pray for us, to convict us, making us acceptable to the Lord.  My God has so much He wants to give me, He has such plans for us all, wanting to bless us abundantly with all the riches He has stored up for us.  There is no end to what He wants to do for us, His children.  But don't you know some folks that are real hesitant about what they want to receive.  I know folks on disability for injuries or illnesses that have people praying for their healing, only to be thinking, if I am healed, I will lose my disability.  Never a thought that if the Lord heals you, He will provide for you as well.  The Lord knows what is involved with every aspect of our lives.  He leaves nothing unturned.  But this happens all the time.

There are those that want to draw near to the Lord only to think about what they will have to give up if they do, so they stay in that shallow water, receiving just the crumbs from His table.  So sad, isn't it.  I want all of what my Lord has for me.  I don't want to be left out of any blessing He has planned for my life.  There is nothing as important to me as my relationship with God, with my Jesus, the precious Holy Spirit.  It doesn't matter what it means giving up, for those things are not important.  So much I have put aside, as it took from my time spent with the Lord.  I find the time I spend in the Word so refreshing to me, to my day.  I can come home from such a busy, hectic day at work, to find a peace, a joy in the Word of my Lord.  Everything I need to soothe away the strain of the day comes to me from His Word.  As I just release myself to Him, giving Him all the glory of what He has done through me that day, I can feel His arms go around me, drawing me close and giving me that quiet peace, and here I find what really matters to me, His love, His presence enveloping me, giving me such joy.

His all for my all.  The Lord wants me committed to Him.  He wants to know that I am completely His, that I am not in it for a short time, or just in only to receive a partial piece of Him.  No, that is not my way at all.  I have never been one that was satisfied for just a part of something that was for me.  I want every bit of what is mine.  And I know the Lord is my God, He is mine and I want all that He has for me.  So I give Him, yesterday, today and tomorrow all that I am, all that is within me and all that He is making me to be.  I have always been His, since the day He breathed life into me.  Always.....I got lost for a while. But He drew me back to Him, loved me back.  You see, we were His at the beginning, He created us to be what we are in Him, not what we are in the world, but what we are in Him.  Begin to see yourself as He does.  Don't listen to what the enemy says you are.....defeated, sinful, ugly, not worth it, poor, wretched; why would you listen to someone who has the reputation for lying, and is in such disgrace himself.  Close your ears to such discouraging words.  Those are not the words from our Lord, and you will not hear words like that from real Godly people.  The people that truly love the Lord will encourage you, love you.  So see yourself as God made you to be, as He sees you, as He loves you.  If you do not know what the Lord thinks about you, get into the Word and you will see the Lord's love, His intentions towards you, His plans for you.

My all, Lord, my all.  I give myself to You for eternity, to guide, to use for Your glory and as I worship You, my God, see in my heart my total love for You.  I am sold out, Lord, to You.  I want my life to reflect the Savior whose love is boundless without end.  I want to love as Jesus loves, I want to give as Jesus gives and Father, this 27th day of May, 2011, I want to love You as Jesus does.  I give You my everything, my all for Your all.  I am so blessed by You, my God, so blessed.