One thing I have learned about relationships is that they take work to thrive. You have to work to get into a relationship and you have to put in work to keep a fresh, vibrant relationship. I touched on this in previous posts, but remembering plays a big role in that. Think about it, if the one you love makes you mad, you (in your unforgiven state) will roll the thought in your head over and over again. It will place a wedge between you and the one you love, and your relationship will be like a bird with clipped wings. The same goes in reverse. If the one you love makes you happy, you roll it over and over in your mind, and fall in love with them deeper and deeper. You are able to name qualities in them that you love. Those thoughts make you smile on a random Wednesday. Remembering and rehearsing the right thing is a powerful tool.

As powerful as remembering the right is, responding to requests and truth is just as powerful. If honesty is foundation in any of the relationships you hold, then response is vital for the relationships health. If the one you love expresses that they want to spend more time with you, and you ignore their request, wrong response will equate to distance in your relationship and leaving your loved one longing. It’s like making a less fortunate person go to the grocery store, asking them what they want, telling them to pick it out, and sending them to the register with no money. They are abandoned in their need. In the reverse, if the one you love expresses that they want to put the phones down, cook the favorite meal, and retire to read the book together that you both said you would, so you sit aside the business for the blessing of time with them, your relationship grows deeper. The latter is what Jesus is after in our hearts.

Jesus didn’t give me anything new today. Instead, He instructed me to respond to what He already said.

“You are to “welcome and expect.” When I visited the house of Mary and Martha, they welcomed me in. The difference however was that Mary assumed a posture of expectation of sitting at my feet and listening to what I had to say, and Martha continued to work (Luke 10:38-42). When Martha spoke of her need, for her sister to help her, I told her “No,” that her sister had chosen the better thing and I was not going to take it from her. The world can wait Beloved. Time with me is always worth the sacrifice. Welcoming me is good. Expecting me to speak is better. Posturing yourself for when I come to listen to Me is best. Have an expectation that if You ask me to come, I will.

Graduate from duty to delight. Yes, until your will breaks, and you come to me because you want to, come to Me because you have to. Force-feed yourself my word day and night. Get extra with it and set it into your mealtime. I am so confident in the power of My Word that I know if you come into it with a heart ready to change, you will break open, fall in love with me, and your faithful coming from duty will soon become your delight. When you stack the peace of My presence against the “peace” this world claims to give, you will fully forsake the world and live changed in My Light. In my Light you will see Light.”

https://refreshhercourse.blog/2019/10/17/from-god-to-the-one-who-is-ready-for-their-life-to-change/

There are a couple of things I want us to think about as we reflect on what God has said:

1. I have welcomed him into my heart. Am I assuming the role of Mary with making the world and the routine wait so that I can hear what Jesus is saying? Or am I taking the Martha role of letting Jesus, the most important guest, into my home, but allowing business to rob my opportunity to focus on what He wants to say to me?
   1. If I am the latter, today, I will choose to welcome and expect Him to speak to me. I will not discount any “small” thing He says, but I will magnify it in my heart.
2. Am I in a stage of duty or delight?
   1. If duty, I choose to keep showing up, keep welcoming Him, keep reading—until my soul hungers and thirsts for righteousness because I believe He will fill me.
   1. If delight, I will protect my time because in duty I recognized the enemy trying to distract me from coming to Jesus and coming back each day. I will protect my delight in Him from becoming dry by praising Him for everything, being sensitive to how He responded to my requests and my love and making it big in my heart.

Sisters, let’s stop always looking for the “fresh” Word, and refresh what He has already spoken. We will find opportunities to obey better than the first time we receive the instructions, and to worship deeper from a place of understanding of His love.

#respond #refreshher #dutytodelight #MarthaMartha #Maryheart