Friday, April 19, 2013

The Closet

The closet...
There was a man who sought the Lord in a mad and rushing world.  He longed for a quiet place to call his own where he could spend more time with the Lord and feel the deep and satisfying fellowship with Him.  In the place where he lived, there just was no room, no quiet place, and very little time.  Life was
demanding payment to survive.
Then one day, he saw that he had a closet, but because of the cramped quarters where he lived, the closet was full.  But still, the man longed for those quiets times where he could grow and do for the Lord those things the Lord had put upon his heart.  He pleaded for the Lord to grant him that small simple closet.
Then a wonderful thing happened.  The closet was vacated and offered to him for his use.  With great excitement, he began to clean out the closet, throwing old things away and moving others things around to create the most wonderful and peaceful place for Him and the Lord to spend lots and lots of time with.  Now he knew he could minister to the Lord properly and the passions of his heart would be fulfilled.
It was not long before the enemy caught on and began a plan to stop the power that could disrupt his plans that could come from that small private closet.  The enemy sent the spirit of obligation, and the spirit of do good, then he sent the spirit of sleep, of appetite, and the spirit of disruption.  And in charge of all these spirits, he put the spirit of 'gotta.'  The first command from gotta was to be discrete, subtle, and not obvious at all.  And on top of that, cloak themselves in the garment of 'good.' 
We can understand this 'good' as being what many have heard before that there is a good, and then there is a best.  Do not substitute doing good for God's best.
Soon, then man with the closet began to be influenced by the elements around him, he spent less time in the closet and filled his time with doing good.  People began to ask him if they could store things in his closet, and he felt obligated to oblige them.  More and more good stuff began to fill the closet, and it was not long before the space in the closet was filled with 'good,' but not the best.
The man began to feel empty and unsatisfied again. 
He asked the Lord what was wrong with him and the Lord began to whisper into his heart.  The Lord took him over to the closet and stood him in front of the closet door, then He said to the man, "Open our door."  The man opened the closet door, and when he did, all the voices of the people inside began to chatter at him.  One said one thing, another said some thing else, and it seemed the whole world had moved into his closet.  He quickly slammed the door shut. 
Bending down upon his knees, he ask the Lord to forgive him and help him to take possession of that closet again.
The Lord smiled, gave him a hug, and said to him, "Let's clean it together."
With great effort, the man began to clean the closet again.  His soul lacked at the 'good' that had to come out, but the man was determined that only the best would reside inside.  Soon... the closet was clean and the man entered in again.  
I can't tell you what was inside that closet, because I was not allowed to see.  But I can tell you that when the man entered the closet again and shut the door behind him, a bright light burst through the cracks of the door.  
That is when I left.  It was good to see another one return to our Lord and enter again into sweet fellowship. 

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