In HOPE

In HOPE 9.20

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David Timms

Prayer for Today Father, pour out Your Spirit upon me to soften the dried clay of my heart. While I want to be consumed by Your love for me, may my love for You grow deeper and stronger today. Move me beyond the safety of my restraint with You. Guide me away from my hesitation and resistance, into the full abandonment of love for You. Make my heart "fit to break." Amen. New Book Now Available Sacred Waiting: Waiting on God in a World that Waits for Nothing (Bethany House) is now available through www.amazon.com and local Christian bookstores around the country. Radio Interview Yesterday, I did a 30-minute radio interview on the Debbie Chavez Show, discussing Sacred Waiting. If you'd like to hear it, go to www.debbiechavez.com and scroll to Archived Shows - Sept 3.

“Hearts that are ‘fit to break’ with love for the Godhead are those who have been in the Presence and have looked with opened eye upon the majesty of Deity.”  ~ A.W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God, p.40 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fit to Break Aiden Tozer described 19^th century English poet and theologian Frederick Faber’s love for Christ as “so intense that it threatened to consume him.” Would anyone describe us that way? We may revere the Lord, respect Him, appreciate Him, and speak highly of Him. But does our love for Him threaten to consume us? We may teach about Him, evangelize for Him, build churches with Him, and pray to Him. But are our hearts “fit to break” as we think of Him? The general coolness of Christendom, concerned with comfort, consolation, and convenience rather than consumed with Christ, suggests that many Christ-followers—and we may be among them—have followed from too great a distance. Passion is inflamed by proximity. Affection is aroused by nearness. An all-absorbing love arises not from casual observation but intimate contact. Of course, such love springs only from soft hearts; hearts warmed by grace, massaged by mercy, enrapt by redemption. As long as these transforming experiences remain no more than doctrines for discussion or principals for preaching, the coolness continues. Our even-keeled, unexcited, controlled reflections on Him suggest hearts that have yet to melt in His Presence. Our tempered discussion about Him or with Him perhaps points to guarded hearts and restrained spirits. Yet, this tremendous truth remains. Whether or not our hearts have been enlivened by encounter and softened through surrender, His heart is “fit to break” over each of us. All of us. All the time. The longing of the Father, gazing down the road relentlessly and desperately for us, never changes. Overwhelmed by love, He pursues us. Always has; always will. Oh, that we might be known as “the people of the breaking heart”—not broken by misery but bursting with love.  Fit to break. What a wonderful description of a heart overwhelmed by love—both His for us and ours for Him. May it happen more and more to each of us as we look with opened eye upon His majesty today. In HOPE – David

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You can find back issues of "In HOPE" (2005-2009) at http://www.hiu.edu/inhope/ .

David Timms serves in the Graduate Ministry Department at Hope International University in Fullerton, California. "In HOPE", however, is not an official publication of the University and the views expressed are not necessarily those of the Administrators or Board. "In HOPE" has been a regular e-publication since January, 2001.