Posts tagged ‘amy carmichael’

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March 14, 2012

If-his blame depresses me

If the praise of man elates me and his

blame depresses me;

if I cannot rest under misunderstanding without

defending myself;

if I love to be loved more than to love,

to be served more than to serve,

then I know nothing of Calvary love

-Amy Carmichael, IF.

The ability to be unmoved by the praise or accusation of man, for the sake or cause of Christ is a place I am consciously pursing. I desire to be seated In HIM in heavenly places and unmoved by the fleeting accolades, and the far too numerous accusations of man.  To be secure in my identity as the beloved of God, called according to His purposes, and not the appointments of man, to live steady under His gaze is a desire, and goal of my heart.

I do not know yet what it is like to live “at rest” under misunderstanding.  The desire to justify the intents and purposes of my actions pushes me to voice my concerns and clarify my point when misunderstanding arises.  I am searching for the  balance between ” if you know your brother has something against you, go to him”  and “being silent before your accusers”.  I am looking to find the shelter in his embrace that though the world wag their head and “say all manner of evil” against me, it doesn’t change who I am in The Beloved. That place that keeps me in love, though I am moved against in hate. I have the knowledge in my mind, but I need it to be a reality in my heart. For out of the heart we live.  Search my heart oh Lord…where is this reality?

Father, help me to not rise to my own defense when others think wrongly of me. Let me learn that place in the fellowship of your sufferings where abiding in you is my natural, not second or third response.  I ask you to show me the rest that is available to me in the knowledge of your love, a place that is my refuge, and my strong tower of defense.  Show me the servants towel, and the gentle way your hands wash the feet of your enemy.  Show me how to love.  How to give of myself unreservedly and how to receive unashamedly.

 

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March 12, 2012

If-interupptions annoy me

“If interruptions annoy me, and private

cares make me impatient;

If I shadow the souls around me

because I myself am shadowed,

then I know nothing of Calvary love.”

–Amy Carmichael-IF

Interruptions as credentials of indispensability?

“When you are exasperated by interruptions, try to remember that their very frequency may indicate the value of your life. Only people who are full of help and strength are burdened by other persons’ needs. The interruptions which we chafe at are the credentials of our indispensability. The greatest condemnation that anybody could incur – and it is a danger to guard against – is to be so independent, so unhelpful, that nobody ever interrupts us, and we are left comfortably alone.”

-Anonymous

What an honor that people know your desk, office, home is a place where gracious attention to their lives could be found.  So often  souls pass in anonymity with each other, and themselves. To be an open door in a world closed to intimate knowing of ourselves, and the God who gave himself for us, is a privilege not to be taken lightly.

The phrase “shadow the souls around me”  is echoing this morning.  How sad it would be if those around me crave the warmth of the Son, and are denied basking in the brightness because a consistent cloud of my own impatient irritation moves in front of their communion.  To be one who blocked the life-giving rays of the love of God from my brothers or sisters and left them, after their time with me,  more anemic than they came, would be a tragedy of the deepest sort.

Oh God, teach me to cast my cares upon you, and learn of your perfect care for me, that my vessel will be translucent and open, reflecting the awesome light of the Christ who dwells within me, bright and radiant and rich in glory.  That no cloud of selfish ambition, or impatience with tasks uncompleted would keep me from tending the souls  you place in my care, and always pointing them to the Son. The source of life and love.

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March 8, 2012

If- The care of a soul

If the care of a soul (or a community) be entrusted to me,

and I consent to subject it to weakening influences,

because the voice of the world-

my immediate Christian world-

fills my ears,

then I know nothing of Calvary love.

Amy-Carmichael, IF

Proverbs 2:2  Incline your ear to wisdom and your heart to understanding

It is a privilege to be entrusted with a soul. To care for and nurture the inner man with weighty substance of things eternal.  The phrase:  “voice of the world” echoes deep. What are the sounds I have trained my ear to listen for?  Earthly pleasures? Pleasing promises? Accolades? Most worthy causes? Does my ear know how to pick out the phrases of a soul’s heart cry when the face before me is all smiles and “no worries?”  Do I discern the voice behind the words?  Do I listen for heart phrases, and silent sighs? Have I turned from the still and small to embrace the clamor and clang of man’s cymbal-lic honors, and tinkling praise? Oh Lord, let me not consent to weaken the message of hope, or bend under the pressure of the praise of men.  Let me fear The King, and know wisdom.  Let me love the silence between the words and know Calvary love.

Pro 9:10  The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.

Posted in Notable Sayings, Sister Sages, Uncategorized, Women's Voices | 2 Comments »

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March 4, 2012

If-I can not forget

If I say, “Yes, I forgive, but I cannot forget,”

as though the God, who twice a day washes all the

 

sands on all the shores of all the world,

could not wash such memories from my mind,

then I know nothing of Calvary love.

Unforgiven.  The ancient pain.  The sages tell us that after the fall, Adam took a 120 year walk-a-bout from Eve.  God had to bring him back to her.  If that is true, how well that speaks to relationships today.  Can we say we have truly “forgiven”, when we refuse to forget the trespass?  As we replay over and over the hurtful scenarios we find that we never leave the place of offense and this more often than not is what causes us to  break community and suffer the first great pain, that of being alone.  Isolated and hurting the God of all compassion comes to us and desires to wash us, with the water of his Word, as he washes the sands of the shore.  There is no memory, no pain, no fear so great that He can not deliver us from the sting of it.  Like the memory of childbirth is faded in the heart of the mother with the joy of the child in her arms, so the labor to stay in community and relationship is forgotten when the sweet one accord of fellowship reigns in our midst.  How sweet it is when the brethren dwell together  in unity. Psalm 133:1.

Gal 6:1-2  Brethren, even if a man be overtaken in any trespass, ye who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; looking to thyself, lest thou also be tempted. Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.

It is the mark of one who has become “spiritual” when the fruit of their life is restoration, and not destruction.

Oh Lord, make me a spirit-filled one. Cause my heart to run to you when the pain of wounding words, and hurtful deeds threaten to keep me from possessing my birthright. Wash my mind, and my heart with your Word. Remind me who I am in you, and who I am in this world.  Help me to forgive, as I have been forgiven and know again the power of Calvary Love.

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February 29, 2012

If-I lose affection

If I am afraid to speak the truth, lest I lose affection,

or lest the one concerned should say  ” You do not understand,”

or because I fear to lose my reputation for kindness;

if I put my own good name before the other’s highest

good,

then I know nothing of Calvary Love.

Amy Carmicahel-IF

This is a mirror for me today.  I place my soul before the glass of this devotion and turn this way and that way.  Am I wearing the beautiful variegated coat of love well?  Is it fitting tight in the area of the praise and affirmation of man?   Why do I do what I do?  For whom do I live?   For a good name and honor among the bretheren?  For accolades, titles and place?   For identity in myself? Or do I live for another?  Do I speak words from the cross for the sake of the Christ, and the highest good of others? I find myself turning from this mirror to gaze into the clear pools of the Word of God.

Isa 50:4  The Lord Jehovah hath given me the tongue of them that are taught, that I may know how to sustain with words him that is weary: he wakeneth morning by morning, he wakeneth mine ear to hear as they that are taught.
Isa 50:5  The Lord Jehovah hath opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away backward.

It is fascinating to me the past tense:  are taught.  Discipled.  A disciple has the “words” of sustaining strength.  Words  awakened by grace, bathed in mercy, strong in justice, rich in love.  Words born from a place.  A place of experience  in the presence of  Messiah.

Act 4:13  Now when they beheld the boldness of Peter and John, and had perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.

Why?  I believe it is because they spoke with an accent.  A speech pattern that gave them away as being an alien and a foreigner in a land they should have called home.  They didn’t talk of death and despair. Their words were life, and hope and peace and joy and expectant anticipation.

Col 4:6  Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer each one.

Do my words make people thirsty?  Isn’t this the  reason they are to be seasoned with salt?   Salt makes you thirsty. After our conversations is there a cry in the heart of the hearer to plead with the Savior,as the Samaritan woman did:  “Lord, give me to drink of this water, that I might never thirst again? “

If I long for the affections of the Bride at the expense of the Bridegroom, I have ceased to be a Friend, and have become a competitor for the affections of the Bride.  If I long to secure my reputation and give to those who ask a compromised truth pleasing and tickling to their ear, I know nothing of Grace.  If I seek my place in this world and cause another to stumble at the truth,  I know nothing of Calvary Love.

Oh Lord, keep me open to your voice, and steady to your cause, willing in your service, and honest before all men.

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February 28, 2012

If-The noise of rain…

If I cannot catch “the sound of noise of rain” ( 1Kings 18:41)

long before the rain falls,

and, going to some hilltop of the spirit,

as near to my God as I can,

have not faith to wait there with my face between my knees,

though six times or sixty times I am told “there is nothing,”

till at last “there arises a little cloud out of the sea”

then I know nothing of Calvary love

–Amy Carmichael IF.

I come to this devotion trembling.  Here is the heart of the matter. I may have faith to hold steady for six but sixty? The long hours of hands extended to the Father, believing for the promise and the answers come back…no change.  There is nothing.

The seeds of accusation that lie dormant in my heart in those seasons of well watered presence, come bursting to life at the first sign of drought to choke out beauty and faith with their thorns. The slanderous lies against the knowledge of the love of God that hurls against my soul with gail force winds, revealing that my anchor has lost it hold on the cross beam of Christ, and I am adrift in the sea of forgetfulness.

The warrior king and  psalmist of Israel must have rowed  many a dark night’s journey in these soulish waters.  His tongue the pen of a ready writer recording for posterity the words of Psalm 103.  I imagine the trumpet call of battle as he commands his soul to bless the Lord, and forget not all his benefits.  His words take shape in the form of  the war trained hands of a weathered captain who has ridden many storms without loss of life or cargo.  Who knows how to crest each wave with a firm grasp upon the wheel.  With each thunderous crash I can feel the voice of the psalmist raging against the relentless, assaulting waves:

“The Lord is gracious and compassionate!” The wheel threatens to rip from his hands as he steadies for another crest.

“Slow-w-w to anger, and RICH in LOVE!” With a creak and a groan the ship lifts from the depths of the swell and is thrust forward with vengence.

“He knows our frame…” The ship pitches and rolls, “we are but Dust”.  There in the knowledge of our creator, and the uniqueness of our frame,he throws out the  anchor as the penetrating rays of the light house warn of the rocks of despair and once again hope is set on the one who is the everlasting God, and Father, who rewards us not according to our trangressions .

I know our Savior rowed a long Gethsemane night, sweating drops of blood at the stern of his soul, until he could say with perfect peace. “Not my will but yours be done” and he showed us Calvary Love.

Oh Lord. Keep me ‘steady as she goes’. Lord I believe, help my unbelief.

Posted in Notable Sayings, Poetry, Sister Sages, Uncategorized | 2 Comments »

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February 26, 2012

If- What Do I Know of Calvary Love, by Amy Carmichael

A devotional book from Amy Carmichael was given to me some time ago by a dear pastor friend. Amy Carmichael is one of my sister sages who departed before we had a chance to meet in person, but whom I have cherished getting to know through her volumes of poetry and inspirational writings.  You can read more about her work and life here.  I have felt the desire to work through these in my quiet time, and allow the statements of this great Indian Missionary to lead me to a deeper revelation of my heart, and the nobility of obedience I am called to.  Over the next few days I would like to share my thoughts with you.

The book IF came into being after a long sleepless night of soul searching,  Amy Carmichael writes in the forward how one evening in the mission a worker came to Amy and shared with her that one of the younger ones had missed the way of love and was going astray.  Amy began to question the Lord. “Is it I?  Did I fail her?  What do I know of Calvary Love?” Sentence by sentence the “If’s” came almost as if spoken into her ear. They were copied and used for the Fellowship, eventually becoming a book.

“That ye may be able to comprehend what is the breadth, and length, and depth,and height, and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge”

If I belittle those whom I am called to serve,

talk of their weak points  in contrast perhaps with what I think of  as my strong points;

if I adopt a superior  attitude, forgetting “who made thee to differ? and what hast thou that thou hast not received?”

then I know nothing of Calvary Love.

I am coming to a greater understanding that I have nothing which has not been given me by the Father.  In Genesis we see before man was created, before there was anyone to till the earth, the world is in a state of pregnancy, paused in its desire to burst forth in to life, because there was as yet no man to till the ground, and God had not sent rain upon the earth.

Gen 2:5  And no plant of the field was yet in the earth, and no herb of the field had yet sprung up; for Jehovah God had not caused it to rain upon the earth: and there was not a man to till the ground;

The divine precedent of God is all life comes from, is sustained by and returns to Him.  If He doesn’t send the rain, we have no bread.  This causes me to be a thankful petitioner of daily grace.  If I have come to embrace this reality, and recognize my meek, and helpless position before the mercy of the Father I have no right, or authority to look downward or sideways at those I am called to serve.   I have no strength but His, I have no love but His, and when I see failings, and short comings in my fellows, I realize:  “but for the grace of God there go I”.

Oh Lord, keep me in the shadow of Calvary, that my eyes be not wayward and only see others through you.

Posted in Notable Sayings, Poetry, Sister Sages, Women's Voices | 2 Comments »

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February 18, 2012

Blind Sunflowers

In reading a poem from one of my favorite authors Amy Carmichael, a line rang from the page with imagery for our time in the Son. 

“Flood me with hope today for souls perverse, undone, for sinful souls that turn away, blind sunflowers from their sun”.

Blind Sunflowers. In nature this is impossible. The root being and core design of the sunflower is to follow the gaze of the sun across the hours of the day, bending it’s head in prayer at the drawing in of the day.  Yet is it possible for the image bearers to so deny the essence of our creation, the knowledge of the Holy in our souls that like the sunflower in Carmichael’s poem, we turn away from the warmth and light of life by whom we have been granted motion, bios, breathe, and being.   Can we force ourselves to be blind to the movements of The Spirit and stand rigid in our days darkened, and dance-less, and unaware of the festival of the living rhythm of The Son?  Oh Maker, open the eyes of our heart, that those who want, may see. That those who thirst may drink. That those who hear may know.

Hope Through Me

by:  Amy Carmichael

“Hope through me, God of Hope,

Or never can I know

Deep wells and living streams of hope,

And pools of overflow.

Flood me with hope today

Four souls perverse, undone,

For sinful souls that turn away,

Blind sunflowers, from their Sun.

O blessed Hope of God,

Flow through me patiently,

Until I hope for everyone

As Thou hast hoped for me. “

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