The Pleasure of Boundaries

Over the past while the Lord has been drawing me into what I would call "the pleasure of the center". The enjoyment of having sustained periods of communion with Him as a result of setting my heart to obey His words.

It has been truly enjoyable, and today in my prayer time He brought a new level of understanding in this pursuit; it was the revelation that God's love was founded and manifested in "boundary".

Out of the divine creativity of the Godhead, they chose to use their immeasurable strength, goodness and beauty to create a gift for themselves. It says in Hosea 2 "I will betroth you to Myself.".

God created for Himself a bride! He gave the Bride to Himself as a gift. (Oh how I wish I could have had that ability when I was in my 20's!). Out of His great pleasure, God created the universe and chose to give a physical dimension to His invisible Spirit nature.

Not only that, the Godhead then agreed that it would be the best thing ever for Them to become a part of this new measurable reality. They were going to become limited just like the creation. Why? So that we, the bearers of His image could have intimate fellowship with Him! He would become a man, so that He could marry us!

For God does not unite unlike things together. (He calls that an abomination). He unites them male and female together - animals to animals, fish to fish and man to man. This is the perfect reflection of His holiness!

At the end of the age, God, living under His own laws and heart, will take great pleasure in uniting His flesh to our flesh at the wedding supper of the Lamb. It will be the ultimate pleasure of holiness as the two become united together as one in union of holy marriage forever.

So what does this have to do with "boundary"?

In order for God to unite Himself to us in righteousness, He had to put a boundary on Himself!

Jesus emptied Himself of the ability to be in all places at the same time. He became, and remains to this day, limited to being in one place at one time.

God humbled Himself and took on the body of a man, and it gave Him eternal pleasure to do it! It was not a sacrifice, it was for the purpose of pleasure, for the sake of experiencing love.

Not only did God limit His Son to a human body, He has established walls around the eternal city, with houses to enclose His children. He set the boundaries of the sea, the sky, the stars and planets at creation and then pronounced that it was "good".

Out of God's love, and unsearchable wisdom, have come one of our greatest pleasures - the pleasure of boundaries. God LOVES boundaries!!

In a time when the spirit of this age is proclaiming that true pleasure can only be found in the throwing off of all restraints, the Lord is revealing to me the pleasure of holiness. The extreme joy of living in the center of His will.

The Lord gave me a picture the other day of how I have treated holiness.

It was a picture of a rural homestead that inhabited a large area of grassy meadow and was surrounded by a fence. Inside the fence was His will for me in the form of holiness and on the other side of the fence was the world of selfish unrighteousness.

I was standing within that great meadow, but it was as though I was leaning up against the fence looking out over the surrounding country side. I was living within His will, but my eyes were set gazing upon the old country - I was a border dweller.

Every time the Lord invited me deeper into intimacy (holiness) I would have this wrestle with the fence...How close can I get to the fence before I begin missing out on the pleasure of holiness? Can I get this close? (and I would inch forward)...Can I get this close? (and inch a bit closer).

The Lord has challenged me to no longer live as a border dweller, but has invited me to live within the heartland. He is calling me into the deep place of God's country, the place where He lives. You see, He doesn't live along the border (although He visits there daily looking for people like me!), He dwells in the very middle of this great land known as the "pleasures of His holiness".

Jesus loves boundaries! He demonstrated His delight in dwelling in the center of His Father's will by submitting to the point of death. Not only that but it gave Him such pleasure to dwell in humility that He chose to remain in human flesh even after He rose from the dead!

Beloved, I am discovering great pleasure in the boundaries of God's word!! It's is delighting my heart, bringing me greater joy than I have ever experienced before. Not only that, the deeper I journey into the boundaries of God's heartland, the more freedom I am experiencing.

Once again God is confounding the wisdom of this foolish mind and revealing to me that His kingdom is truly upside-down - that the greatest pleasures are not found near the boundary line but deep within the center of His will.

Jesus, would You come and be the center! Amen

Jon