Stirred

My mama makes the most glorious chicken and dumplings.  It is a creamy buttery mixture of goodness that melts in your mouth and makes you want to go lay down somewhere after you have inhaled way more than your share.

In recent years I stepped out and boldly attempted to make her recipe myself. 

I learned a valuable lesson.

Once all of the ingredients are added in this step by step process, one is tempted to walk away and let the stove top do the rest of the work. 

*BIG MISTAKE*

My nose knew it almost immediately.

Those dumplings that I took the time to roll out and cut up were now burnt and stuck to the bottom of my boiler.

Why?

I took a break.  I was supposed to stand there and stir.  Stirring was essential to the recipe.  Stirring ensured that the ingredients properly blended and did not settle to the bottle of the pot to stick and burn.

I recently have seen this same principle in my spiritual life.

If left to myself, without the stirring of a holy God, I become stagnant and settle to the bottom of the pot so to speak....AND I allow myself to be burned pretty easily.

Upon returning from my mission trip I sensed God drop "Haggai" into my heart.

God is so funny.  He whispers hope, grace, peace and conviction into my heart on a regular basis.  But Haggai?

What in the world?!?

So I began to dig around in this little 2 chapter book toward the end of the old testament.

God is still using it to speak to me but one verse jumped out at me almost immediately.

"So the LORD stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of the whole remnant of the people." Haggai 1:14

 These people had been called to go back to a work.  They had allowed fear, opposition and hardships to lure them away from this work.  God was not only telling them to go back to it and that HE would be with them.  He stirred their spirits to go back.

That so moves me.

My spirit needs some stirring. 

Settling to the bottom of our circumstances means we have given up on our work.  We have let fear, opposition and hardships lure us away too.

The good news is we don't have to whip ourselves up when we haven't the strength to even lift our heads. 

The LORD will do it....if we will let him.

He stirs.

He stirs the hopeless heart to hope again.
He stirs the weary feet to keep walking.
He stirs the wayward child back toward the path of home.
He stirs a cold unforgiving heart to love again.
He stirs faith into a seemingly impossible situation.
He stirs perseverance into one enduring more of the same.
He stirs trust in the one who has been burned time and time again.

He does it.  He stirs. 

Thank you Jesus for stirring our stale and stagnant and singed souls.  We are so desperate for a God that can stir us again and again.

Here are a few other scriptural examples of God's stirring in the Word....

~"In the first year of King Cyrus of Persia, the Lord fulfilled Jeremiah's prophecy by stirring the heart of Cyrus to put this proclamation into writing and to send it throughout his kingdom."  Ezra 1:1 NLT

(God can stir a pagan king to do His purposes.)

~"Then God stirred the hearts of the priests and Levites and the leaders of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the Temple of the LORD." Ezra 1:5 NLT

~"And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works...." Hebrews 10:24 ESV

(I especially love this one.  God stirs us and the cycle keeps on doing its thing....as we are stirred up...we naturally stir up others.)


Oh God I desire Your divine motion in my life.  STIR ME. Give me Kingdom eyes.  Help me to really see the hurting and the broken people that I pass everyday.  Give me words of encouragement to build them up and speak boldly for the cause of my beloved Christ.  You have set me free Jesus to not be bound again even by stale and stagnant living.  I love you and I repent for the wickedness that tries to defy Your ways in my life.  Help me love you more than anything else.  STIR ME.  May my life stir others to love and good works.  Be glorified Jesus!