Deep, Fully Restored, Growing in Jesus, Kristin Clouse

Growing Deeper with Jesus

As a passionate, Jesus loving believer, I have prayed the prayer over and over in my life to know Jesus more. As a young twenty-something, when I first came to a personal relationship with Jesus, my greatest heart desire was established to grow in my relationship with Jesus. Spending time in extended worship, lifting my hands and my heart to Jesus, and singing with an abandoned passion for knowing Jesus more were part of my daily routine.

Yes, I romanticized my relationship with God. I imagined this prayer, these moments of abandoned passion were all I needed for me to know God more. With my hands raised high, my face lifted heavenward, and with tears streaming down my face, I could not imagine what those prayers I was praying at that moment would mean in my life. I could not comprehend the magnitude of my vow to Jesus as I surrendered all to Him.

Life takes on many shapes and sizes. There are glorious moments and then our most significant defeats and so much to be found in the middle. What I have found to be true is this, great prayers require great things from us. Prayers of significance demand life shifts to take place within us. Knowing Jesus in a greater measure is only found through deep experiences.

Knowing Jesus in a greater measure is only found through deep experiences.

God saw the young me’s heart, and He heard the prayers of my zealous passion for Him. At that very moment, He began to orchestrate seasons in my life, which would shape me into the woman of God I had asked Him to make me. My life’s symphony began to be played, and I had yet to understand the beauty in the joy and tears God had planned for me. The Great Conductor, God, had and continues to have a beautiful piece of music for us, my life and yours. To be the original piece, unlike any other, this music is created to demonstrate God through each of us. Your story, my friend, is the beautiful symphony of music God created you to be, and mine who He made me to be.

As we venture together on this journey of going deeper, we will grow in a deeper understanding of who Jesus is. There is a path before us that takes us to the depths below, the heights above, and places of wisdom and understanding that only come one way. My friend, I ask you today to not fear this path, this journey. To not be quick to take the stance, life is against you and slip into a victim’s role. Instead, God is calling us to step out upon the water and walk towards Him in faith and total abandonment, regardless of what is taking place around us.

Will you join me today?

Will you step out upon the water with your eyes fixed upon Jesus?

Maybe you, like I have, hear the voice of our Lord and Savior calling you forth, to new places, to new territory.

Do you feel the nudging deep within you by the Holy Spirit to follow Him on this path?

I do, my friend….

The hand of Abba Father is reaching out to you at this moment, in a stance of loving reassurance that you will not be alone in this journey.

Rise up my friend……step forward…..step out…..whatever and where ever God is leading you too, for it is all part of the beautiful symphony of music He created you to be. Let us not fear the sounds He made to come forth from us. Instead, let us embrace the sounds of deep calling to deep. This is the path all must take to knowing God greater.