I am truly floored, in awe, shocked, grateful and moved by the love and the grace of God's relentless, furious and incessant pursuit of our hearts, our souls, our attention. He is truly calling out to any and all who will listen to His voice, inviting us to please, please, please, give Him a chance to share His heart with us, His plan, His will, His ways and His purposes. I cannot tell you enough how intense this season of my life is, a season in which I feel Him hard-pressing upon me the urge, the urgency, the importance of abiding in Him, of begging to be aware of His voice, His Spirit, His guidance, as my wife and I have been called to serve the people of the Hayward community, both young and older.
I cannot tell you enough of the many ways I feel He's sharing His truth with me. Of the many ways He's guiding my soul to more and more want to abide in His word, to read it, to research it, to meditate, to contemplate, to pause, to "Selah", to dwell upon His truth and to "Let the word of the Anointed One richly inhabit your lives. With all wisdom teach, counsel, and instruct one another. Sing the psalms, compose hymns and songs inspired by the Spirit, and keep on singing—sing to God from hearts full and spilling over with thankfulness." Colossians 3:16 (THE VOICE version).
What does it mean to pause? To Selah? And why should we do it?
Here's an attempt to define what this word means, and after you read it, then let me explain what I believe God is nudging us, encouraging us and exhorting us to do in these latter days.
Perhaps the best way to think of selah is a combination of all these meanings. The Amplified Bible adds “pause and calmly think about that” to each verse where selah appears. When we see the word selah in a psalm or in Habakkuk 3, we should pause to carefully weigh the meaning of what we have just read or heard, lifting up our hearts in praise to God for His great truths. “All the earth bows down to you; they sing praise to you, they sing the praises of your name. Selah!” (Psalm 66:4).
I feel His calling to "return to His word" is stronger today than ever before. We need to STOP, and I mean truly STOP deceiving ourselves thinking that our political and religious thoughts, and our own "bias" and "individual" views on hot topics will make any difference in the lives of those around us. Brothers and sisters, remember what His word says when it says "For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men." 1 Corinthians 1:25. We think our opinion, our wisdom and our point of view if full of wisdom, yet Paul teaches us that "For I decided that while I was with you I would forget everything except Jesus Christ, the one who was crucified." 1 Corinthians 2:2
What we need to do is to return to the practice, the habit, the discipline, if we ever have experienced it, and if not, then ask God to draw our hearts, (cause in and of ourselves we can't even muster up the strength to do it) to stop, to pause, to think about, to weigh all aspects of life, every circumstance, every trial, challenge, emotion, situation, sickness, and to allow His word, His truth, His spirit, His voice and His wisdom to cover our hearts and ears and allow us to respond, to make decisions, to face anything and everything that comes our way with the tools He offers us.
That's THE ONLY way to overcome. That's the ONLY WAY to have victory, to triumph, to live out His abundance and peace, and the ONLY WAY to see change, transformation, healing and freedom. Really friends, there's NO OTHER WAY!!!
The only way to see marriages restored, to see lives healed, man leading their homes, women rising up to love their families and guide them, youth committing their lives to Jesus in a real, deep and genuine way, depression being overcome, suicide rates going down, racism fading away, broken lives restored regardless of what sin they're in and what kind of medicating they're into, their addictions, and their hangups.
The only way to see churches becoming who they're supposed to be. The only way to see truth being brought back to schools. Prayer. Bible reading. Abortion stopped. Safe sex practicing turning into "no sex before marriage" commitment.
The only way to see our society's moral compass coming back to where it needs to be. The only way for our country to return to God. It will have to be as every single one of us as individuals make a conscientious commitment to RETURN TO HIS WORD!!!
Like the story of King Josiah. Read it for yourself. And BE AMAZED! See what letting God's word have its full effect on us can result in. Here's the link to the passage. GO ahead. Read it. Pause. Think. Meditate. Contemplate. Let it sink. Let is dwell richly in you. Let God speak.
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