The Ball in the Bowl

During my devotional time with the Lord this morning I told God that if I could have one prayer it would be that every heart would be softened, every eye opened and every ear loosed. That every soul would be able to experience the love of God. That deep intimate love, where we are able to sit with him so comfortably. Then, a vision entered my mind. It was a simple vision of a bowl with a marble in it. It reminded me of those little handheld games that we would get at the five and dime when we were little. You would try to tip the game to get these little balls to go into indentations. No matter how hard you tried to hold it still the little balls would just keep rolling around. It was the same in my vision with the ball in the bowl. The marble never got any rest, it never achieved anything, it had no purpose and it was just driven by the slightest movement. That's how most people live their lives. The bowl is like their everyday life and whatever comes along is where they roll and what they react to.

Like the child's game I mentioned above, accomplishing tasks throughout the day would be like trying to get the little ball into the indentation so that there was some feeling of accomplishment. There's more to life than flailing around though. Being so busy, doing so much, but never feeling deep fulfillment. I just made a lot of very big changes in my life recently. During this vision it became very clear to me that the only reason these changes happened is because I asked the Lord to be my strength and my guide (every day). If we ask God to lift us up out of the bowl of our emotions and natural desires, we can see them from a higher perspective. We will see how much more he wants us to have. His desire is to incorporate joy and purpose into our existence. He wants us to truly and deeply understand that he is working ALL things out and we can rest knowing that.

Slow down a little bit and ask God to show you how much he loves you. Spend time with him by reading your Bible and sitting with him and talking to him. You'll begin to see him as your daddy and not someone that you have to be afraid to approach. He created us to have a relationship with us. He is a relational God. That is shown by the fact that he is a triune God. Father, Son and Holy Spirit. He wants to spend time with us. He wants a deep and intimate relationship with us. His son Jesus died to make us clean before him so that we can come boldly before the throne of God and sit with him and talk about anything. Begin to see yourself as his beloved. He loved you so much that he sent his only son, Jesus, to die on the cross as he carried the sins of all mankind upon himself. That is a love that we should all want to know. 

1 John 3:1-2, See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God.

Matthew 6:33, Seek ye first the kingdom of God and all these things will be added unto you.

Isaiah 43:1, I have called you by name, you are mine.

Hebrews 4:16, Let us therefore come boldly before the throne of grace, that we may find Mercy and Grace in times of need.

The other day I was thinking about this handful of people in my life that no matter what I've ever said or done they have remained true and loyal friends. That is a rare and precious gift. That is our God.