RIVER DANCE -PART 1

“Now arise, Lord God, and come to your resting place, you and the ark of your might. May your priests, Lord God, be clothed with salvation, may your faithful people rejoice in your goodness. 2 Chronicle 6:41

 

To arise is to find victory or a resting place within our soul to meet God, our Abba & Father.

King Solomon prayed these words in 2 Chronicles (Psalm 132:8-10) when transferring The Ark of the covenant to its resting place in the temple. 

This is our way to victory to rest in our temple. There are no secrets, no pretending, hiding or striving in the kingdom of light, not even a hint of shadows. 

The victory is in knowing that all is known. That is how the war is won. As we behold the Lamb of God, the weight of our sin is lifted. John 1:29

Our journey takes many turns as we spend our lives trying to avoid it, run from it but always being driven from the words within our hearts, “I am not enough”. 

The weight of such a burden is reinforced and bombarded by our enemy to prove we are not worthy, not smart enough, not important until a personal encounter with our Savior. He comes to break-down the accusations that were made into concrete stone within our hearts.

Suddenly an opening is found in our thick forest and we find ourselves standing on a beach with a warm breeze brushing our face. We look and we are staring into a wide ocean filled with wisdom and knowledge extending far beyond our humanness.

This wide ocean begins to reveal a startling truth, “assumption of separation”. This is the battle through great darkness to find our way to God. 

The Greeks offer their way through their minds; the Pharisees offer theirs through external rules. This is our enemies sneaky trick—blind us to how close the Lord is, closer than breath: we’re in him, and He’s in us. 

Satan deceives the nations by one lie—separation. 

Our joy”—just like the rising sun—is to tell the truth, let the light shine—and persevere through every trial and tribulation until we are enlightened.

Wow, it sounds so clear, even simple, but it’s not easy for us to see Jesus. 

There are millions who know and love Him, but there are so many ideas it’s confusing, like we’re dancing with someone whose face we cannot see. 

My dear friends, either Jesus is in us or we are separated from him. 

If we are separated, then we must find a way to him, either through the mind with the Greeks or through the law with the Pharisees or through some sophisticated system that is a combination of the two. 

So take a deep breathe, relax and let this wonderful truth wash over you in peace. After all, you are now standing on the beach in The Kingdom of God where we are promised rest. 

What did Jesus say, “Come unto Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.” 

That’s it. Rest -!

Not one day, not one second will there be rest for the weary in their own strength. We have spent our whole lives trying to get “in” and the whole time our hearts yearned to hear from Him. So why do we read the Bible if Jesus resides in us? 

The simplicity is astonishing. Truly, the gospels are a series of stories that unveil Jesus, leading to the upper room—and to an encounter with Jesus himself in us. 

The Holy Spirit is working from the inside, and the faithful witness to the Word is working from the outside. It is about coming to behold Jesus in us. [Check out my devotional page to read more about abiding in Christ.]

It makes sense, perfect sense, and especially when we think about the celebrated “I Am” declarations in His Gospels.  We can hear Jesus declare, “I am the light of the world; the one who follows me shall not walk in the darkness, but shall have the light of life.” 

So now I bet you are wondering what happens when you actually discover Jesus inside your own heart? 

You experience His life: His hope, His freedom, His joy in the midst of the darkness no matter the circumstances. 

A exciting dance begins as we answer His knock on the door of our hearts. We open the door to enter a fellowship with Christ allowing The Lord himself to abide in us and We in Him. 

Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him, and eat with him, and he with me. (Jesus seeks fellowship with the church as the best way of restoring her. Fellowship with Jesus makes the heart burn with love and successfully chases away the lukewarm spirit.) 21The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne. 22He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’Revelation 3:20-22

To get a glimpse of the truth about God and to kindle this sort of freedom and joy that we only dreamed about is like stepping onto the dance floor.

We are all familiar with dance as a form of expression that has been an integral part of human culture for centuries. It can convey joy, celebration, worship, sorrow and even healing. In the Bible, dance is mentioned as a powerful way to honor God and rejoice in His goodness. 

And David danced before the Lord with all his might, wearing a priestly garment. Samuel 6:14

When we join His Dance, it’s as vast as the ocean of His Rivers of living waters pour into our life by His Spirit.

For He says, "The two will become one flesh." 17 But the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him. (1 Corinthians 6:15-17).

His Spirit flows to expose our darkness and unbelief to give new eyes and ears which behold Jesus.” ‘And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it”, but “Conquer,’” or master it [the darkness]. 

You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; you have loosed my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness, Psalm 30:11

We are given a knowing in the deepest recesses of our being and in the midst of penetrating awareness of our own bankruptcy. The quiet place is where our ego [desires & agenda] dies and a new humility can be born. I am excited to share this with you.

 

If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God… and it will be give to him. James 1:5

 The Pharisees [the religious ones] believe that life resides in the Scriptures. They even eat pieces of the scroll. But Jesus told them, The scriptures point to Me. Here I Am, come to me for life.

When this “News’ sinks into our broken souls; when that Word “acceptance” gets poured into the place of our pain, where we see and smell our failure and taste it, we then begin to know the Word’s healing glory because we have set our eyes on Jesus. 

Just hearing the Word of our acceptance in Jesus produces a celebration in our broken hearts, doesn’t it?

When we discover the news, we began to live in a state of amazement of God. We are able to marvel at Him, and begin to enjoy Him and know Him and love Him.  

The is salsa dancing 💃 so much life in each step.

The famous author and theologian C. S. Lewis, once an atheist shared his encounter as something like a dance; “there is as a mix of the moment, something extraordinary happened. A feeling that had never known swept through his heart. It was a sensation of the profoundest sort, more of an encounter, and it left him breathless and longing.”  - C.S. Lewis

We glory in Him. We want to be near Him. We cannot help but want to get to know this God. This is what begins to happen in us when the truth about God gets loose in our saddened souls. 

We begin to sing… unconsciously and dance. 

Singers and dancers alike say, All my springs are in you.Psalm 87:7 

Then, once we truly discover ourselves as accepted in Christ, we are set free to be ourselves. 

It’s begins with fleeting encounters of His river dancing over our hearts with a warmth that takes our breath away, yet always leaving us wanting more. 

This feeling begins to eats away at the root cause of our hiding—to exposure our deepest fear. Battling to overcome these fears in prayer, we begin to be free, to be real, to drop our guards and take off our masks - - to accept not only ourselves with all of our imperfections, but others too. 

This new Grace of God grows and becomes contagious! Hallelujah! Thank you Jesus!

This is a new place for many of us, but hey, it’s a big dance floor and there is plenty of room to learn new steps.

We can expect this to be a place we can see, know and feel the lavish embrace and acceptance of The Father. 

It’s freedom and joy to the core of our beings, and a place we can live life everyday.

I will make rivers flow on barren heights, and springs within the valleys. I will turn the desert into pools of water, and the parched ground into springs. Isaiah 41:18

Dancing with God results in lives drawn to follow Jesus, and His kingdom extended—the grand themes of God. 

To learn the steps and cues we can look to Jesus’ ministry. We should make ourselves familiar and comfortable with all the possibilities, ready to dance our part. 

Jesus frequently did miracles to signal God’s power and His care for the needy. That opened hearts to His message. Mark 16:20 and adds a twist in the case of the disciples; God confirmed their message with signs that followed. 

Could that be the beginning of the next new dance —signs as a cue to the next dancers? 

God’s dance becomes a Conga, sweeping the dance floor, swirling to the ends of the Gentile earth. 

Jesus declaring, “I am the light of the world; the one who follows me shall not walk in the darkness, but shall have the light of life.”

Blessing to you!

Shalom,

🦋Angela 

Scriptures:

Here are 10 verses to help us see why seeking God must always be our first priority.

Matthew 6:33

“But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”

Matthew 10:38-39

“And anyone who does not take up his cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.”

Matthew 13:44-46

“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it."

Matthew 22:37-40

"And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”

Ephesians 1:22-23

"And God put all things under [Jesus’] feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all."

Colossians 3:17

"And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him."

Exodus 20:3

“You shall have no other gods before me.”

Proverbs 3:5-6

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him and he will make straight your paths."

Proverbs 3:9-10

"Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the firstfruits of all your produce; then your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will be bursting with wine."

Psalm 27:4    

"One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple."