Philippians 3:12 “Not that I have already obtained all this, or I am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own because Christ Jesus has made me His own.”
These past couple weeks, I have taken a break from my laptop and have sat before the Lord with a pen in my hand and have started journaling again. I used to write in a journal every morning, but when I began to write the devotionals, I switched to a computer because it is faster and I could get my thoughts on paper much quicker than I was able to the conventional way. The reason why I took the break is that I have been struggling with my identity in Christ; I felt like I had lost my purpose and my meaning. As a result, I have a head knowledge with all this wisdom that the Lord has given me, but it is not reaching my heart. I wasn’t feeling His love for me; I was not feeling intimate with Him. Even though I knew His truths, they were not resonating with me and I was unable to apply His truths to my life and my situation. I had become anxious and weary and even though I knew it was true that God loved me and cared about me, there was a lack of belief that it was really so; I had doubts that I really belonged to Him, that Christ Jesus had made me His own and that His promises were really mine. I was filled with anxiety and fear and I knew that was not from Him, so He called me to be still before Him and abide in Him. He gave me scriptures that said to dwell in Him, and become the shadow of the Most High.
I thought about what it means to be a shadow. Everyone has a shadow and it is the exact imitation of you. Webster’s dictionary defines it as “an image cast on the ground of some surface by a body intercepting light; shelter, protection.” The Lord wants me to make His scripture very personal to me; He wants me to dwell in Him; He wants me to live in His shadow; He wants me stop “doing” and just “be.” He said to me, “When I dwell in the shelter of the Most High, I will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.” (Psalm 91:1.)
One of the first scriptures He gave me as I began my journaling was in Isaiah 43:1-3, and He had me write it out with my name on it. He said to me, "Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are Mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, I am your Savior, Melody.” He continued to tell me, “I have never changed, I am the same yesterday, today and forever; I hold you in the palm of my hand; I have outstretched my hand of protection upon you and your family. I have blessed you more abundantly than you could have ever hoped or imagined; I have been your refuge and your strength all of these years; I have always been there for you; I have never left you, nor have I forsaken you. I have healed Elisha and he is made whole and he is here with Me, and you will see him again. I have set you apart for such a time as this. I have longed for intimacy with you, for you to stop and just be with Me, for you to abide in Me, for you to trust in Me, for you to completely abandon yourself to Me and to become utterly dependent upon Me, moment by moment, day by day. Do not take your eyes from Me, do not look to the left or to the right, focus on Me moment by moment. I see you, I know you, I am found by you each and every morning. I am delighted by you and your obedience to Me. You are my beautiful daughter and all that I have belongs to you. You have nothing to fear; no one can snatch you out of my hand. Continue to glean and grow from my Word and listen to what I have to say to you. My Word is powerful and a tool I have given you. Hide it in your heart and speak it to yourself in the corners of your mind.” Amen.
– Melody
