I am so grateful that God loves us the way He does. If I can be honest, there were a lot of ugly things in me. I experienced deep anger regarding race, I had the mouth of a sailor, lust and selfishness tried to choke out love in my heart, and pride drove a wedge between me truly getting to experience a real relationship with Jesus Christ. The scary thing about it? If I do not allow God to train me in isolation, and I mean really put me under pressure to rip muscles in me, build new ones, trim fat, and build endurance, I would still be filled with a lot of ugly things. If I am not careful to fuel the love in me that I learned in isolation, I could easily drift back to the place of bondage to the ugly that was inside of me.

God is so deeply concerned with the inside of you. You can fool everyone else to think that you are this or that on the outside, but God knows who you are on the inside. He knows the inner turmoil and pull that the enemy of your soul has and he wants to end that pull today.

The one thing I was afraid of more than intimacy was isolation. “So God, you want me to be all alone?” I used to fight intimacy and isolation to the death! I was a runner. I would always be on the go to avoid my thoughts, the quiet, and it was exhausting me. I know I am not alone in those behaviors. Maybe you too felt like you wanted to be alone with God and really hear from Him, but because you knew the things in your mind in heart you were afraid of doing that. Well let me encourage you as God encourages us in the previous post (https://refreshhercourse.blog/2019/11/08/from-god-to-the-one-im-training-in-isolation/):

“I am training you in secret to be an articulate and effective communicator with me because in due season, you will be communicating my truths to many publicly. I am training you to hear my voice in isolation because out in the open, you will say what I said. I am training you to study and get understanding of my Word in private, because you will teach my principles in public to many. I am training you to forgive in secret, because I will make your enemies your footstool openly, and there is no space in my miracles for pride, arrogance, and believing you earned anything. Love covers a multitude of sin and forgiveness training will reveal that.”

If God really straightened out the rough edges in you OPENLY, girl, you and I would both be embarrassed and disappointed in you. The beauty of allowing God to correct you privately is that openly you can bear the testimony instead of the rebuke. You then have the opportunity to share the beautiful process of how He freed you, rather than everyone see your fall from grace. One thing about me that I thank God for, is that when I publicly saw ugly rising in me, there were loving Jesus followers that pulled me aside and strongly encouraged me to get alone with God and let Him confirm the behaviors they were seeing in me and then SUBMIT to the process of letting Him correct them. So I did, and it hurt, but now, I am free. So what I cannot hang around the people who were dragging me down… God wants me strong enough to pull them up!

Sis, lets take responsibility for cleaning the inside of the cup. Let’s allow God to train us in isolation no matter how uncomfortable it is. Let’s be thankful for the private correction rather than the open rebuke or fall from grace. Let’s cooperate with God rather than fight Him on this. Do you really want to grow? Then take the gloves off with God.

#intimacyinisolation #respond #refreshher