Every so often, the Lord may prompt our hearts to take a step back and look at review the places that He has lead us, the lessons that He has taught us. These moments are uniquely sweet. They offer not only a time to reflect on the goodness of the Lord, but also to refresh our hearts through remembrance. Like a cup of cool water, those moments  of remembrance are invaluable in the way that they edify our hearts to remain authentically connected to our First Love, in Spirit and in Truth.

Reflection may look like reviewing old journal entries or asking the Lord to highlight memories of your journey with Him through a time of extended prayer. Taking look at devotional guides and materials from seasons past can be helpful, too.

From the Archives

As this blog celebrates two years of devotional exhortation, edification, and encouragement, we’ll take these next four weeks and revisit some posts from the archives.

Each devotion will contain a link to the post from the blog’s archives. Keeping with the underlying heartbeat of the original post, the titles and theme will remain the same. The devotion itself, though, will provide a “deeper cut:” additional scripture references, suggestions for additional prayer, and space for contemplative reflection.

It’s our hope that this look back through the blog’s archives will serve as an opportunity for you to reflect on your journey with the Lord. We pray that your heart would be strengthened and encouraged as you journey through these four reworked devotions and that you would go from depth to depth in intimacy with Him.

With that, let’s begin by taking a look back at one of the blog’s first posts: Dry Coastlands, Heavy Rain.

 – August 30, 2017 – 

He is good. And yet I say again, He is good.

These three words have become the underlying heart beat of the past two weeks for me and I am confident that they will continue to define the remainder of the season that my heart is in and extend through the rest of my days.

My confidence is founded in the simplicity and power of this truth. It stipulates that every action, every word, and every plan of the Lord’s is good (Ps 119:68). In fact, His goodness knows no bounds or ends. Infallible, unending, and unchanging, His goodness is a defining characteristic (Ps 107). And what a blessing it is to have a good Father, a good King, and a good Protector (James 1:17). We know that His leadership will always only ever lead us to greater levels of knowing His heart and receiving His love because he is good (Ps 23). Our hearts can be confident that because He is good, He will never leave or forsake us (Ps 73:1). Rather, He is always with us. He is always for us. He is always mindful of us.

The goodness of our God is often underestimated though. While some of us might believe that all of His ways are perfect, most of us don’t stand in the fullness of the truth about the good nature of our Father and King. His goodness is all encompassing. No area of our hearts is outside the reach of His goodness. Furthermore, His goodness is filling. It fills our hearts to the brim, indeed, even to overflowing. The good words and actions of the Lord fill not only our hearts by the situations around us (2 Peter 1:3). By this, there will come a day when every coastland, every shore, every boarder is made glad before the Lord because of His goodness (Ps 97). The good and perfect nature of the Lord will be made known and complete to the fullest measure. It is for this reason that every heart, tongue and tribe will sing His praises (Philip 2:11).

He is good and in His goodness, every work that He has started will be made full and complete (Rom 8:28). It is with a great and heavy rain of his goodness that our dreams and prayers will surely be answered, bringing the refreshing of His peace and beauty (1 King 18:45).

Understanding His goodness places our hearts in an environment where they are free to dream. If His goodness knows no end, and if His love is like a sea without a shore, then surely, we can dream expansively. Even the wildest of dreams are not irreconcilable in His goodness.

This is relevant for both small and big dreams. Yes, the Lord certainly wants us to dream big, exciting dreams with Him, like seeing revival breakthrough in your city or nation. He also wants us to dream small, little dreams with Him. Having a rose garden one day, hiking through the Amazon, or being able to cook a gourmet French meal are sweet, little dreams that the Lord delights in dreaming with us. This is because the Lord delights in giving us the desires of our hearts when we set our hearts to delight in Him (Ps 84:11). For this reason, I would challenge you to spend time in prayer, asking the Lord for both small and big dreams. Be intentional in writing out your dreams, without fear of detail or content. As long as we keep our eyes fixed on His beauty and glory, choosing to dream according to His love, then, Dear Saints, the Lord will gladly meet our hearts there.