Come Away - Out from the Entanglements of this World
“out from among them and be separate, says the Lord: 2 Corinthians 6:17.
“Those who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength… Isaiah 40:31
My sketch holds the two perspectives portrayed in two colour schemes: it resembles both the entanglements of this world that we are to come away from, and the circular twisting of binding ourselves, our walk and ministry to the Lord.
The following is an extract from the devotional book Come Away My Beloved by Frances J Roberts, pp. 190-191.
“I will teach you as I taught Moses on the back side of the desert, and as I taught Paul in Arabia. In the same way, I will teach you, and it will be a constructive period, not in any sense wasted time… It is vital to you in order to become fully qualified for your ministry.
There is no virtue in activity in and of itself – nor in inactivity. I minister to you in solitude that you may minister Me to others as a spontaneous overflow of our communion. Never labour to serve, nor force opportunities. Set your heart to be at peace and to sit at My feet. Learn to be ready but not to be anxious. Learn to say ‘no’ to human demands and to say ‘yes’ to the call of the Spirit… They too must learn this same important lesson, and you can help them by setting the example, but if you try to please them by answering every demand, you will both fall into the same snare…
I am always at peace with Myself. I would have you also to be at peace with My Spirit within you. As you give Me My rightful place and do not allow others to intrude, you will be at peace with Me. Be very serious in this. I am not speaking to you lightly… I have brought this message at various times in the past.
I must speak through My prophets, and if they are not set apart for Me, how can I instruct them? Yes I will nourish you by the brook as I nourished Elijah; and I will speak to you out of the bush as I spoke to Moses and reveal My glory on the hillside as I did to the shepherds.”
Come away with Me…
Wait upon the Lord…
In the Strong’s Concordance, wait upon means “to bind together (perhaps by twisting), that is, collect; (figuratively) to expect: gather (together, look, patiently, tarry, wait (for, on, upon)”.
Often we can feel that we are waiting ‘for’ Him to show up. He is with us already and we are to ‘wait upon’ Him. It means binding ourselves to Christ the Anointed One and disentangling ourselves from the distractions of this world. It means collecting something from Him and waiting patiently for it to manifest. In this way we can know His peace, spiritually and physically.
I feel that not only I but many need a fresh revelation of what it truly means to have our ‘feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace (Ephesians 6:15), to wait upon Him and to walk in the Spirit. “If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit” (Galatians 5:25). To walk in the Spirit is to keep step with Him. It is to walk in His love and light and to walk ‘circumspectly’, that is ‘carefully’ not as fools but as wise (Ephesians 5:2, 5:8, 5:15).
I can relate to Roberts’ devotion. I tend to want to push on ahead at the expense of my own health, in particular, tendinitis in my feet and ankles. I can have His wisdom on a matter, but it also means to apply it carefully.
As we learn and apply what the Spirit is saying to us and walk carefully in His wisdom, we can come out from the entanglements of the world into fresh peace and hope.
My sketch holds two perspectives portrayed in two colour schemes: it resembles both the entanglements of this world, and the circular twisting of binding ourselves, our walk and ministry to the Lord. Often we see only the entanglements, they seem more pronounced. But if you look closely you can also see the circular drawing marks around the feet. These circular marks represent ‘waiting upon and binding ourselves to the Lord, to Christ the Anointed One’. Know that within the struggle He makes a way and delivers us as we choose to wait upon Him, to stand in His presence, truth and anointing.