Fires of Love & Purity

Of course, Heidi Baker's relationship with God isn't all hot baths and chocolate chip cookies (see last week's posting) - mostly it's about a woman so in Love with Jesus that she listens to God and desires to yield to whatever He tells her, no matter what it is... It's about eagerly taking the cup of suffering and joy from His hand and saying "Yes!" to it all, no matter what the cost. After all, He paid the ultimate price for us on the Cross, didn't He?

I was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis in December 2001, and spent the next two years struggling to find healing in doctors' offices and prayer lines. At church altar calls, people on either side of me would be instantly healed of serious conditions, but for me - nothing, it seemed. Medicine wasn't working either; I knew I was called to visit the poor overseas, and immune-suppressing drugs seemed like the wrong way to go, not to mention the fact that they were long on side effects and short on results.

Sitting in my recliner in tears - a former dance student and avid jogger who could barely walk and only with great pain - I cried, "God, even if I never get out of this chair again, I will love You and serve You and worship You with all of my heart." From that day, it seems, I began to get better. Something about giving our all to Him, even when we're not seeing what we think we need... something very powerful and liberating happened in that moment.

Holiness involves giving ourselves completely to God. When I think about "holiness," I think of absolute purity - I think of the beauty of God Himself. Holiness is God's attribute - we cannot attain it apart from Him. If "all our righteous acts are like filthy rags" [Isaiah 64:6 NIV], then the best thing I can do to be "holy" is yield myself fully to the work of His Holy Spirit living in and through me.

Last week I wrote about being so in Love with God that we don't mind being consumed with His passion for us and for the lost and dying world all around us. We don't care any more what it costs because we lose ourselves in His Love. When I see even a glimpse of Who He really is, I am so thrilled by His beauty, I give my heart, my all... humbled in His Presence, all I can do is lay my life down, letting Him have everything, letting Him have His way and do whatever He wants with me.

The apostle Paul wrote about this kind of abandoned love. In Philippians 3, after an impressive list of his "faultless" religious credentials and accomplishments, he puts it all in perspective: "I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my LORD, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ… I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.” [v. 8, 10-11 NIV]

One of my new favorite songs is "Beauty Is What Remains," the title track on Andrew Ehrenzeller's latest CD, which illustrates how God brings forth His beauty in our lives, even through struggles and pain. The same spiritual "fire" that "keeps us alive" also purifies our hearts to contain and express still more of His Love. I think you'll understand even better if you download the song and listen - it's worth way more than 99 cents! - lyrics & link below:

Beauty Is What Remains
by Andrew Ehrenzeller

God, I feel like we are sometimes separate
And it leaves me with a sense of regret
But Yours is a face I can never forget
Even if I were to try

You don't always give me what I want in life
'Cause what I need the most is to be purified
So I come and rest here for a while
Because You keep the fire alive - You keep me alive

There is beauty (yeah) - beauty in the struggle
There is beauty (yeah) - beauty in the pain, O Lord
For today will bring tomorrow
And the once-familiar sorrow
Will turn and testify to yesterday:
Only Your beauty, Jesus, Your beauty is what remains.

Will You teach me how to love deeper still?
And sometimes it is against my will
But the more that we dig, the more room that we have to fill -
Fill it with Your Love, O God!

You don't always give me what I want in life
'Cause what I need the most is to be purified
So I come and rest here for a while
Because You keep the fire alive

There is beauty (yeah) - beauty in the struggle
There is beauty (yeah) - beauty in the pain, O Lord
For today will bring tomorrow
And the once-familiar sorrow
Will turn and testify to yesterday:
Only Your beauty, Jesus, Your beauty is what remains.

(Because) You are the strength of my heart, You are the strength of my heart,
And my portion forever and ever
You are the strength of my heart, You are the strength of my heart,
And my portion forever and ever
You are the strength of my heart, You are the strength of my heart,
And my portion forever and ever
And only Your beauty, Jesus, Your beauty is what remains

http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/beauty-is-what-remains/id379386911?i=379387091

That song reminds me of a print that hangs in my home, one of five pictures in the "Kingdom Courtship Series" by a young Christian artist named Amy Montgomery. In each of these pictures, there is a girl or a young woman representing the Bride of Christ, a dove representing the Holy Spirit, and a building or structure representing the Kingdom of God. I use these prints when I teach "Sanctification" to illustrate that our walk with God is both a journey and a relationship, which take us through different phases and experiences in life. The picture below is #4 in this series, and it's called "Purification."

I think the image speaks for itself, but what I usually say when I come to this picture is, "Don't be afraid of God’s fire, remember that it's the fire of His Love." His Love surrounds us, even in trials and testing. Isaiah 43:2 says, "When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze" (notice that the Bride's dress is not even burning). The purifying fire of God's Love will not destroy "the real you," your spirit, which is made of the same substance as His Holy Spirit. Only our flesh and all that hinders His Love is in danger of destruction, and our flesh is only getting us into trouble, anyway...

As we yield to the Holy Spirit's purifying work in our lives, let's look beyond any temporary suffering to the joyful rewards of God's glorious beauty being released. "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." [Hebrews 12:2 NIV]

I pray that we would learn to trust God so completely that we are willing to RUN into the Fire of His Love! "Purification" by Amy Montgomery - email amysjoyfulart@gmail.com

"This image portrays the youthful bride's purification journey through the Holy Dwelling of her Heavenly Bridegroom. His Love is a consuming fire that cleanses her to make her holy, pure, and spotless for Him." -- Amy Montgomery

“Love…burns like blazing fire, like a mighty flame.” Song of Solomon 8:6b