Sometimes God does allow us to walk through a very dark night.

Sometimes He allows us to see the “dry bones” of our own lives,…that we might know and understand it is only through His Breath of Life and thru HIMSELF as LIFE GIVER and AUTHOR AND FINISHER of our FAITH that we are still here, that we are not consumed. When He allows us to look into those places within our own hearts and shows us those dead dry places…the dry bones of love, the dry bones of compassion and the dry bones of mercy within our own hearts we are humbled by the fact that we did not even realize our hearts were actually that dried up! We see our need staring us in the face like a hungry dog.

As I was teaching a six year old guitar student, we were discussing the possibility of playing his music and singing for the old people in the nursing homes. I told him some of someone I knew there whose age was about 95. He promptly asked, “Is he all dried up?” I had to laugh, but later I thought about the fact that we can actually be “all dried up” WAY before we reach 95, even way before we reach 65, if we don’t allow God to water us, to breath His breath of life on those dead and dry places! If we don’t hand over our dried up, dried out and hardened hearts over to Jesus Christ we can become old way before our time.

It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed because His Mercies are New Every Morning. (Lam. 3:23)….He shows us these things that we might see how needy we really are for Him.. When we see our own shortcomings and weaknesses, it is not to cause us to despair or to fill us with self hatred. It is to bring us closer to the One who is able to fill up the empty and hollow places and to revive us again! It is because of His Great Mercy toward the children of men that He would allow us to see our own Hearts in their depraved condition, that we might see His willingness to lead us closer to Him and to restore within us what we need. He has revealed us to ourselves not to condemn us but that we might not grow too heady in loving ourselves or trying to become independent of His Fatherhood, thinking we have need of nothing.

What a contrast to our human nature! What a reality check. What love He has for us! He would desire to take us by the hand and lead us out of the danger zone HIMSELF.

It is because He loves us enough to have died for us and enough to give Us His very Life not once, not twice, but Every day of our lives. This is what it means to say “His Mercies are New Everyday.”

Last weekend we were driving home from a visit with our family in another state and a terrible storm blew up. There was a downpour of rain which turned to hail but the worst thing was the fog. It was so difficult to see where the curves in the road were. Rain beat against the windshield so hard that it was difficult to see if you were in the right lane. I began to think how like our lives that dark night was! There is only so much we can see! Sometimes we can’t see beyond the very moment we are living! At times like that when I’ve cried out to God in distress I have noticed that He does not remove the darkness, nor does He allow me to see in my mind’s eye that “everything will be okay” . No. He simply seems to bring His Presence closer to me. He seems to lead me to His Word, to even special portions of His Word and to point out to me through His Holy Spirit that He is with me and I do not need to be afraid.

There have been times in my life when I felt I was a burden for God!! I would apologize for needing him so much!! It took me a while to realize that my crying out to Him, my need for Him was part of my intimacy in relationship with Him and that it was okay. He would always, always be there…even to help me with the seemingly smallest issues.

We who walk with Jesus on a daily basis, we who consider ourselves Christians must be careful. We must come out of the “Laodician” mindset. The church of Laodicea was neither “hot nor cold,”Jesus said, and because of that He would finally “spew thee out of my mouth”!

Jesus said the reason was because the Laodiceans had a smug mindset. They said “I am rich, increased in my (worldly) goods and have need of nothing. This is a very dangerous place to be!! We cannot afford to allow that mindset to control our actions!!

I believe this is the very reason Jesus is today intervening in so many lives with shakings, with new direction, with shiftings and perplexities: He is causing us to realize WE ARE IN NEED OF HIM!!!”

Jesus responded to the Laodicean church with these words, “Know ye not that ye are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked?” (Rev. 3:17)

Later in that 3rd chapter Jesus speaks of “overcoming” this problem by allowing Him to “come in” and “fellowship / dine with us”. There are great rewards, Jesus says, for “overcoming this deception!” To those who overcome this spirit of deception that had invaded the Laodicean Church, Jesus said, He would grant to “sit down with Me in my throne even as I overcame and am set down with my Father in His Throne.”

That is an awesome statement!

We will either reign with Jesus in His Throne or be “spewed out” from Him depending on whether or not we can overcome the deception of the world and realize our neediness and our poverty! He is calling us to lay down our old hearts with all its lusts and desires that are self centered, with its desire to keep Jesus Christ at arm’s length, of course, not denying that He exists or that we believe in Him, but staying self centered just enough and lukewarm just enough to keep ourselves deceived into believing we are okay and have nothing to be ashamed of at all!!!

Jesus was addressing a spiritual condition here that reminded him of lukewarm water.

Most drinks are made with either very hot water (tea, coffee etc.) or very cold water. (Iced Tea, Lemonade, etc.)

Have you ever tried to drink something with lukewarm water in it? No doubt, if you were at a restaurant you would send back lukewarm coffee or tea.

Nobody wants lukewarm.
Neither does Jesus.

On a few occasions when I’ve sipped some lukewarm water, it made me nauseous. Perhaps this is what Jesus feels when he says “I will spew you out of my mouth”…..the lukewarmness of a heart nauseates Him!

Because of God’s great mercy, He gives us time and seasons to ASK Him to show us our own hearts. He gives us time and season to repent, to make things right, to humble ourselves and ask Him to help us. We must not miss these opportunities to invite Jesus in with His Holy Light, to search our hearts . We must begin to see our own need, and our own lack so that we might ask God for grace to become heirs of the eternal gift of Heaven. The door is open. The Grace is there. The opportunity is standing before us.

If we judge ourselves, we will not be judged.

God’s kingdom is not about the “survival of the fittest” as the kingdom of the world is!

God loves and desires to help and heal even those who are weak and feeble….but those who are weak and feeble in their faith must begin to ask God to come in and to open the door to Him.

We need to be carriers of the Holy Fire!

I believe the very first letter in the word “Hot”, the H stands for “Humility”….we can only come before a Holy God in this manner, with hearts bowed and with a deep realization that we are the ones in need.

I believe the second letter in “Hot” , the O, is for “Obedience”….God’s word says “Obedience is better than sacrifice”….I Samuel 15:22. Obedience is everything to God because He is our Father and He is Holy.

I believe the third letter in “Hot”, the T stands for “Turning away from the world and its mindset and Turning our eyes upon Jesus.” There is no other way but to cut the umbilical cord with the world and to begin to dwell on the things of God such as His Word and His Spirit.

He will meet our every need. He will take up the slack. He will bind up the wounds. He will fill us with understanding and give the tongue of the learned. He will pour out again and again. He will forgive. He will bring light…..He will do all for us that we have need of…..when we realize He is the Source and not we ourselves.

Prayer: God our Father, please guide us out of the dark nights of our souls into the light of your countenance, into the light of your Word and away from the deception of the World we know. Please Lord, help us to know how to receive you more and more! Help us to come to you, to seek you and to pray to you with not just a portion of our hearts, but with our Whole Hearts! And Lord, for those of us who truly need “new hearts”, I ask that at this time, and in this season , you would begin to give these new hearts. Let our eyes be opened to your true plan. Help us to become on fire for you, Jesus…that is, to be neither cold nor lukewarm, but HOT, with humility, obedience and a turning away from the world and a turning towards You, that we might bring a true witness of your life giving light in the earth today. In Jesus name, Amen.

Article is copyrighted by Sondra Stallman.
May not reprint without permission from author.