Simple Delight

Simple Delight
November 2011
by John Paul Jackson
http://www.streamsministries.com

God has never stopped being God, and He has never stopped wanting to manifest who He is to His people.

Have you ever known someone who is a true gift giver? People who express their love by giving gifts do not give out of obligation or burden; they give out of delight because it is in their hearts to give. It is how God made them.

Part of being a gift giver is paying attention to the details. It is being aware of the little things so that you can craft a gift that will be perfect for the recipient. God takes great delight in surprising His people with His goodness. He delights in being there for us, in coming through for us. He loves to give us the good gifts of His provision and grace that reveal to us His nature and His character. He will always turn out to be more than we expect.

However, we can get so wrapped up in the “big” things of God that we forget about the “small” things of God. Yes, He rejoices in the sacrifices we make for Him and the risks we take on His behalf. But He also rejoices in the whispers of His name and in the glances sent His direction. Every time His children reach for His hand, it is important to Him. These things matter to Him, more than we realize.

I think that as we rediscover God’s simplicity, we will rediscover our hope.

Eye Has Not Seen

Where hope and expectation collide, faith is birthed. Many of us in the Church have used up our hope, and our expectation in Him has become almost non-existent. Why? Because we have been lulled to sleep. Even in the most intense times of God’s presence, many of us do not expect Him to do what He has never done before — to touch what has never been touched or to heal what has never been healed.

We are not ready for 1 Corinthians 2:9, which states, “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”

We know that verse is true, but it is as if we know it from a distance; we have a hard time believing it is always true, all the time, in every life.

Yet God is a giver of gifts. And many gift givers do not want to give you something you have received before. Where is the delight in that? They want to give you something new — something that will bring you a new level of delight.

Ear Has Not Heard

Our belief system has taken us to a place where we “believe” God will do something, but we do not really expect Him to do it. We need to undo that mental process and begin to approach Him again like little children. They don’t know what to expect, but they know it is going to be good.

We try to make things so complicated, and in the process, we lose the simplicity of His existence. We forget the delight of the Father’s heart. We overlook the extravagant story offered by the “small” things.

I think that as we rediscover His simplicity, we will rediscover our hope. If we knew how easy it was for His children to delight Him, we would make delighting Him a daily goal, and as a result, we would fall that much more in love with Him.

http://www.streamsministries.com/index.php?page=eletter&article_id=179#.Ts8bxRckKSo

© 2011 Streams Ministries International
http://www.streamsministries.com