As the Deer Pants is a song on repetition in my heart in this season, one I look back on fondly as I learned as I played to centre my early understanding worship and relationship with Him. That longing to be by His still waters and know His presence intimately. I learned His waters are not stagnant pools left to fester but they are streams of living water providing refreshment and life. There are currents underneath what appears on the surface of a still lake, there’s activity and movement, often we can’t see above the water. But if we choose to go deep we can embrace the washing and begin to tap into the current of His whispers.
This year our word was Magnify and Multiply which I’ve seen bear fruit time and time again. The by line the Lord spoke to me was “this will be a year of establishing deep roots”. So I let Him speak and He said the deep roots come out to find the water beds. So how does one grow deep roots? I think it comes back to planting and positioning yourself where water is a life-source and in soil that not only is healthy, but fertile. To establish yourself in such ground there is no other option than to bear fruit: in His presence.
Psalm 1:1-3 reads,
Blessed is the one
who does not walk in step with the wicked
or stand in the way that sinners take
or sit in the company of mockers,
but whose delight is in the law of the Lord,
and who meditates on his law day and night.
That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither—
whatever they do prospers.
This perfectly placed beginning to the Psalms (His worshippers manual) echos making room for Him, positioning yourself and the life of promise that follows.
Blessed is the one who…
- …Does not walk in the way of the wicked
- …Delight is in the law of the Lord
- …meditates on his law day and night
Some of feels stock standard right… but as I sat there I got stuck on the “delight” part. When you’ve hit a burnout season delight can be a chasm of contradiction, because joy is often stolen in that desert place. So as I sat I wondered how we get to the delight part… My thought process went like this:
DISCIPLINE: Habit Forming
Forming habits can often be mechanical, can be awkward, but its starting the conversation with intention that builds a desire to want to go back again…
DESIRE: Relationship Forming
The want to do something forms an emotional connection, when you receive something nourishing you want more. You crave what you feed yourself, and we all crave relationship, so the conversation doesn’t feel so one sided as you begin to hear His voice… that’s when our hearts are transformed and renewed we begin to worship Him and our delight arrives…
DELIGHT: Worship Forming
Here in His presence we find ourselves looking forward to it, we find joy here, we overflow and tell others about it. Our delight in Him becomes fully formed and the fruit begins to flourish.
This process to a place of delight can only come from a place of DWELLING.
Its in our regular habits we build relationship and as we grow in our love and the understanding of His reciprocal love we make being in His presence a priority. That’s where delight comes in… It’s in the making pockets in your schedule to get away with Him, getting into the Word and beginning to read it daily. Maybe it’s being intentional in prayer by having a prayer book to give you focus and committing to it each morning on waking up. Meditating on a word or a passage prove to be very helpful in those early months of new motherhood and in times of burnout. It helped me to begin to see I was building foundations in my faith. Whilst I couldn’t sit and write for hours in my journal or escape in the narrative of His Word I could take a passage, a verse or simply a word and explore it, mull it over. Repetition brought me the focus I needed and I soon began to fall in love with the Word again.
Being intentional forms habits. Like running it takes time to build endurance and strength, and to see the rewards of setting that alarm early and just showing up. Soon enough it comes with ease and the blessing is present.
The promise of Psalm 1 is that person: the one who decides to make room is…
- like a tree planted by streams of water, – rooted, established, strengthened, has nourishment and is fed well.
- yields fruit in season – waits patiently for the appointed time, allows growth under ground,
- whose leaf does not wither – despite its environment
- whatever they do prospers – bearing ultimate fruit.
I want this promise active in my life… don’t you? If the answer is yes, then my challenge today is: are we a people who thirst for the rivers of life? Are we willing to make room by being intentional to get in His Word, in His presence and with His people? Are we tapping into and deeply established by refreshment and movement of His rivers? What can you do to begin that next step to growing deeper desire in your love for the Lord?
until next time… xox