When the power of God invades your existence.

I used to live a life of defeat. I know what fear and anxiety feel like and what it’s like to see your life through the lens of despair. Though God would often show me the beauty of His power in glorious ways, He has also brought me exceedingly low in order to show me that the life He intended for me to live- in all its power and magnificence was not something that I could live in my own strength but could only live by becoming nothing so that God might become all! God has brought me to a place of such spiritual abundance in my walk with Him during the past few years, as He brought me out of the pit of despair and has placed my feet on the heights. How beautiful is the place from where you can see the breathtaking beauty of God’s working in your life but how high is the price that you need to pay and yet so worth it! God has a character that is so beautiful and perfect and He delights in showing it’s brilliance as He works in our lives and molds our hearts in conformity to His son, Jesus Christ. I used to think that the higher life- a life lived in the presence and power of God on a daily basis was so unattainable, though I often felt the voice of God calling me on this road less taken of dying to self and living a life of humility. Today, as I meditate on the reality of the power of God, I would like to assure you, seeking soul; that this life is for you! It is meant for everyone who chooses to humble himself/herself and to make God the very desire of their existence. It is possible to walk in the power of God and to experience His hand at work in the same ways that you find on the pages of the Bible! It is also possible to be set free from all your fears and to have all your chains broken! Yes, it is possible to live the promises of God in your own life and to live your life not in the shadowy valleys but on the highest mountaintops. It is not possible in our own strength but only through His strength. God wants to invade our lives but in order for that to happen we need to get out of the way and let Him be all. Only the soul that bows to the very dust can experience everything God is. Many people desire to live their lives in the power of God but what they fail to realize is that in order for Him to display His power, He needs to overtake our lives. One thing that I am finding to be the most important when it comes to experiencing the higher life in which you can experience the power of God every moment of your existence is humility. Without it, we are completely hopeless when it comes to breaking away from the chains of mediocre Christianity- a life lived under the power and limitation of self. I have recently read a powerful book by Andrew Murray (one of the writers that really put a lot of emphasis on humility and dedicated His life to living it out) and I would like to share a little portion of it with you. He says, “Humility leads to perfect death. Humility means the giving up of self and the taking of the place of perfect nothingness before God. Jesus humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death. In death He gave the highest, the perfect proof of having given up His will to the will of God. In death He gave up His self, with its natural reluctance to drink the cup. He gave up the life He had in union with our human nature. He died to self, and the sin that tempted Him; so, as man, He entered into the perfect life of God. If it had not been for His boundless humility, counting Himself as nothing except as a servant to do and suffer the will of God, He never would have died. This gives us the answer to the question so often asked and of which the meaning is so seldom clearly apprehended: How can I die to self? The death of self is not your work; it is God’s work. In Christ you are dead to sin. The life there is in you has gone through the process of death and resurrection; you may be sure you are indeed dead to sin. But the full manifestation of the power of this death in your disposition and conduct depends upon the measure in which the Holy Spirit imparts the power of the death of Christ. And here it is that the teaching is needed: if you would enter into full fellowship with Christ in His death and know the full deliverance from self, humble yourself. This is your one duty.” If only we sought the higher life above everything else and lived only to humble ourselves! The power of God rests in the act of surrendering our very self to Him. Trust Him no matter what you are going through and seek His will in everything and you will experience the power of God in all its fullness and glory.