HE DELIGHTS IN YOU

Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him, and he will bring justice to the nations.

Isaiah 42:1 NIV

I messed up so many times, I knew the things I did and the people I may have hurt in the past, how can God want to use me? Someone may ask. Do you remember the story of the lady at the well? She ran through town telling people she found a man who told her everything. A man that in His right should have spoken to her, who turned off His journey to meet her. God delights in us, seeking us even in our mess. He left the ninety-nine to go after the one.

A few years ago I had decided that this walk-in Christ was too hard and I was on the verge of giving up but God had other plans. I got a call and the person on the other end of the phone said they needed to speak to me. Well I am on the phone I thought, as they continued a few things were shared and in the conversation, the person said God had said, "my daughter, my daughter why are you running away from". The tap turned on and I could not stop crying, the person couldn't know how the Father and I spoke. When I got off the call I went into my secret place for prayer to commune with this Man I loved and I had run away from.

God delights in communing with us!

For some reason He loved me. The young girl from Nassau was drenched in fear. Running from everything that looked like a commitment, that did know how to love nor wanted to even receive love. The girl that loved people but disliked people at the same time. A girl is uncertain of what she wanted for her future and was willing to go with the flow. A girl who became a mother at 19, had decided that I did not need education, who disliked reading, church, pastors and people of religion. He chose me. Not because I am so much more special than someone else but because He loves us all the same and will go to lengths to save you from yourself. How can a God so magnificent love us?

If you have children this question can seem rhetorical. Children usually never have to do anything for their parents to love them, after the pain of birth you see the little face that is going to depend on you for the next few years and you just love them anyway. No matter how much poo, slips and falls. Broken glasses, bad grades, not doing what you want them to do. Somehow love keeps flowing. Who are we in comparison to the Almighty? If we have evil in our hearts and can give good gifts to our children how much more is the Father (Matthew 7:11). There are certain places the Queen or dignitary will not be seen (unless it is for publicity), the same goes for the Spirit of God. The Lord takes pleasure in His people (Psalm 149:4)-hence the promises that He has made and the length He has gone to allow us to be a part of His kingdom. Think about the prerequisites for a school, program or even a job. Some jobs check out your social media presence before they connect themselves to you. God wants to delight in you as you continue to love Him (trusting and obeying) Him. Even in our private time He wants us to obey Him when He says to call someone, to share a scripture and disobeying Him shows Him you are not someone He can use and He is unable to take delight in a disobedient child (no treats for you). One too many times I've had to scold, correct and speak strongly to my daughter and never did that stop me from loving her. Delight means to amuse, excite, take joy or have pleasure. How can someone you love bring you joy? Maybe a cup of coffee or hot cocoa? Flowers or dinner?

On the other hand, the Lord says He despises liars and people who are irrational. But God sees in us what we cannot see in ourselves. Like Paul because of his upbringing and exposure he would have never known he was called to share God's word. When God can use your gifts and talents He then takes you to heights you cannot imagine. Well if we continue talking about Paul look at all of his accomplishments (it depends on what you as a person call accomplishments). He became a leader, he travelled sharing the word, through the Holy Spirit he performed miracles and he was also an author. But that is not where we are going. I wanted to talk about Abraham. This guy moved away from everything comfortable and normal to obey God. God told him he would be the father of many nations when he had yet to have this promised child. God said look as far as your eyes can see the land will all be yours, God said to count the stars in the sky because this will be the amount descendants that you will have. Imagine how much Abraham marvelled at the thought of these promises but God was saying I have to first delight in you. God delighted in Abraham so much that even Abraham's mistakes looked good. He took someone behind him who probably did not desire the land he received in comparison to Abraham, Abraham slept with the help and got her pregnant rather than continuing to wait on God and to top it off he obeyed his wife over God in that matter because they could no longer wait.

God delights in the truth, even in prayer tells God the truth of what you are feeling without making it a complaining session. He delights in our worship, making a joyful noise. Joyful means to be happy, joyful or merry. Serve the Lord with gladness, obey Him in joy. Reading these scriptures makes me think of what the world knows as Christmas and Santa cheer. How is it possible that money can be spent on an array of gifts fitted under a tree and say that a man named Santa delivered them and that brings you joy? That is robbery, someone else is taking the credit for the hundreds of dollars spent to put a smile on another person's face and God is saying count it all joy. Coming into His gates with thanksgiving and into His courts with praise and blessing His name. God does not like sour faces or attitudes. He knows coming before Him with the right attitude can bring a reward for both the giver and receiver.

Let's be real for those of us that are waiting. It can almost seem impossible to have joy when you have yet to receive that thing we are waiting on. I found joy and peace in knowing that if He wants me to be the happy-filled joy that is a good thing and it is even better to know I can trust Him to fix my gift up with the extra bows and assortments. My biological father before he passed away knew how much I liked cheesecake and guava duff (if you don't know what it is, remind me to tell you all about it later). Any chance my daddy had he would bring it home for me (not thinking of the carbs, sugar and calories), but he brought it because he loved to see me happy (to see me smiling). If I measure God to my dad with the small things my dad tried to do on my behalf and God is so much greater you can be certain that what you are waiting on depends on you more than you can imagine.

I said a lot.

God desires to commune and spends time with us; that makes Him pleased and in turn, He wants to see us filled with joy but there is a state our heart and attitude need to be in to dine with this King. God delights in us worshiping Him-some dancing, come singing, come reverently. He delights in us living holy and righteous. This is to be right in His sight; no lying, profanity, no smoking, or drinking alcohol, no sexual sins (to your body or anyone else, nor watching it). Our bodies are temples that need to remain clean. It has to be a place that can dwell the Spirit so the Spirit can then direct you to make decisions (blessings). It is not all about blessing but I see every good and perfect gift is from God; the nudge to speak to someone, the job interview, the person that paid for your coffee were all good and perfect gifts-blessings. The person that let you out the corner, the person that held the elevator, even the person that served you with a smile. They are all blessings that affected the subsequent things that happened in your life.

Remember God brought you into a 'kingdom' not a shantytown. He allowed you to be joined as heirs to what ordinarily would not and should not have been yours and receiving your inheritance depends on your level of submission to the same Bible that has always been there. Praying in tongues all day and all night after God gave an instruction ain't gon' help you, you have to follow through with the instruction. He will supply what you need to get it done but you will have to do it. His delight is for us to prosper, to have a good future and hope.

#mychosenone #inthekingdomofgod #wearejoinedheirs #Hedelightsinus