the Lord is working...

God is bombarding me lately.

Everything I am studying and hearing is dovetailing into a big MESSAGE FROM THE LORD (as Jonah would say), and it's overwhelming and awesome at the same time.

I am taking a class in spiritual formation that is purposed to teach us practical ways to grow closer to God, and the lectures have been rich with wisdom and vivid word pictures that are helping me to grasp in a more concrete way what it means to "die to my flesh".

I'm also working through two Bible studies - Henry Blackaby's "Experiencing God" and Beth Moore's "Jesus the One and Only" - and they are undergirding what God is showing me through the class, chapel sermons and my quiet times.

I'm still working through "The Purpose-Driven Life" with my Korean wives group, and our latest reading (Day 13) is about "Worship that Pleases God"...real, authentic worship.

Last week in chapel Dr. Robinson preached about "love" and what it means and what it involves. He talked about agape love being a "purposeful" love that is not a love of "feelings" but of "mindful, determined" love for one another.

This spoke to me in a way that broadened my understanding of what Jesus means when He commands us to "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength." (Mark 12:30) Many times I feel frustrated and excluded when I read/see/hear people talk about their relationship with God and how much they are "in love with Christ" because I don't often experience deep "in love" feelings toward God. I think I have been trying to impose "romanticized" emotions into my relationship with Christ in an effort to show Him (and convince myself) that I "love" Him. But I've been leaving my mind out of the equation! And I think it's a huge part of how we are to love God.

Anyway, lots of "God work" going on in this mortal!