INTO THE DEEP

Imagine that you are a leaf that has fallen from a tree.

The wind picks you up and blows you into a briskly flowing river - your life.

You tumble through the rush of life's demands at an alarming pace - along with others who are doing the same.

Week after week you bump up against the world's system - and sometimes it gets pretty nasty.

Although you dip into deeper waters for an hour or two on Sunday morning, seeking a touch from God, the river is unrelenting. On Monday morning you once again get caught up in the twigs and debris of the material world.

At times you get sidetracked in a tributary. Here the water is stale and stagnant, and you get stuck in the mud. The dark night of the soul begins to fall and you suppose that God has forgotten you. Eventually the rains return and the torrents dislodge you from the mire. Back into the river you go, bumping against the riverbank - tumbling and tossing through life.

Eventually the river empties into the vast ocean. Get ready! Your life is about to be changed forever.
For awhile you ride the rhythm of the sea - rising and falling with its swells - soaking in new found truths of the immensity of a Sovereign God.
As you earnestly seek the Lord, a large wave crests above you. You cry out to God to know Him and the wave crashes and washes you with His love. Yet the pull of the current is strong along the ocean floor. To submit to the current would prove deadly. Yet, this, beloved, is exactly where God wants you. He is pulling you into the deep in order to bring you to death to self. You must not resist His work.

As the waves continue to break, you are pulled to the ocean's floor where you are helpless. Self-sufficiency is gone and death to self begins. The ocean floor is dark and undisturbed. The only hope you have is divine illumination - God-directed living. From the darkness, the Lord is able to reveal His light on the situation. The pressure at this depth is great. After all, you are now under the weight of almighty God, who wants you to be still and know that He is God. He wants you to resign yourself and to submit to the process. This is no time to fight, struggle or strive with God. For it is here that you learn His ways, which are utterly different from yours.

This process may take months or even years. Death to self creates desperation, and desperation creates hunger. Hunger provokes a pursuit of God. It is in this pursuit of God that you are led to purity of character and a purging of your behavior.

It is well worth the journey to move from the busy river into the deep waters with God for this is where you will receive a huge impartation of faith - not just any faith, but God faith. This faith is instilled by the Spirit of the Lord and cannot be self-generated. Others cannot go with you into the deep; you must experience it alone.

Do you trust the Father with your life? Are you willing to journey into the deep with God? Don't wait until you understand the process, because you never fully will. It is beyond the mind's ability to comprehend. Just be willing to say, "I'm ready, Lord, let's go." Do you want to know God's ways? Then launch into the deep with Him today.

- written by Alice Smith, 40 Days Beyond the Veil, Regal Books, 2003, pp.13-15 -