One of my favorite authors is Brennan Manning. His books are filled with deep understanding of God’s love—and I don’t just read his books once—I return to them over and over again. He knows how to take the words of Scripture and make them apply to my life in ways that reach down deep inside me.
Something I read today in his small, but powerful book,The Rabbi’s Heartbeat, went hand in hand with a Scripture verse I also read today. Here are the two quotations:
John 10:10
“I have come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.”
When Jesus uttered these particular words, I can imagine the angels of heaven standing in awe as they listened—because they knew what it cost Him in order to personally say them:
Brennan writes:
“The sorrow of God lies in our fear of Him, our fear of life, and our fear of ourselves. As a father gathers his children into his arms at the end of a long and tiring day, so God longs to draw us into His embrace. No matter what your past or present, come; lean back in the shelter of His love and listen to the Rabbi’s heartbeat. Let Him teach you about life, death, and eternity as Abba’s beloved child. Take an unflinching look at yourself as you really are. Then look at who you are meant to become as you travel this earth as a child of God on the journey called life.”
This is a little conversation, as recorded in my prayer journal tonight, that I think illustrates these things.
The Lord: “What does it mean to live for Me? I am asking what it means to you. “
My reply: “It means that everything I do is for You—that I belong to You and want to please You—because I love You. And now that I am saying these words, I realize I don’t live for You in realty, do I?“
The Lord: “This is what it means to Me. If you want to live for Me, then do this: Be yourself fully and let Me love you. Then, when you begin to grasp what I love about you, and when you discover how much I love you, and when you can see that I would do anything for you, perhaps then you will know that you are living for Me so that I can enjoy you.”
“Lord, this is astounding. I can hardly take in what You just said. I need to think about the fact that You desire me to be more attentive to your Presence … to share my life with You as though we walk side by side. I am not mindful enough of You.”
“If you realized my Presence moment by moment, our relationship would be beyond what you can imagine. And, it is possible, it is so possible.”
After this, I read the next few pages of Brennan’s book, and amazing enough, it is an excerpt from his prayer journal:
“To feel safe is to stop living in my head and sink down into my heart and feel liked and accepted … not having to hide anymore and distract myself with books, television, movies, ice cream, shallow conversation … staying in the present moment and not escaping into the past or projecting into the future, alert and attentive to the now … feeling relaxed and not nervous or jittery … no need to impress or dazzle others or draw attention to myself… Unselfconscious, a new way of being with myself, a new way of being in the world … calm, unafraid, no anxiety about what’s going to happen next … loved and valued … just being together as an end in itself.”
If we could just focus on being with God and not let so much in our lives distract us FROM Him, perhaps we’d grasp what it really means to live for God. Imagine how different our lives would be.
Wow! So much to absorb—It’s simply amazing. God is here! Now. Always. What He wants most is to enjoy me being me with Him. He wants us all to realize His love, His particular love.
I have a new website about my books – you can download samples, listen to the audio book GOD IN SANDALS, read 100 pages of HIS KINGDOM COME…http://www.wix.com/mmontreuil/author-site