Your heart: God's roadtrip

So Josh,

I've driven many places, visited 45 countries, seen lots of things. And I know (as I'm sure you do) the difference between speeding through the countryside, windows down, sun shining, birds singing, your favourite song playing on the radio and being caught in rush-hour traffic in London, or Toronto, Ottawa or Cardiff. Inching. Along. Ever. So. Slowly. Oh, and it's raining, so you can hardly see anything between the window wipers swipe. Swoosh. Blindness. Swoosh. Blindness. Swoosh. Blindness. The car is getting humid. You're getting annoyed. Your head is starting to pound.

I've been read Psalm 84 all this week - every day in a different translation of the Bible. Today's turn was "The Message" (a paraphrase by this guy called Eugene Peterson). As I was reading, a verse literally stopped me in my tracks. My heart-rate actually increased as I was reading it (I love it when that happens!). The culprit for my near heart-attack was verse 5. The Psalmist is talking to God:

"And how blessed all those in whom You live, whose lives become roads You travel"

Boom! I know about us traveling life's roads. I know about God being our guide, our light, the one who never leaves us. But my life being a road God travels!?!? God taking a road trip in my life? That blows me away!
So my question to me and to you is this:

What kind of road trip is God having in your life at the moment?

Is He having the ride of His life, enjoying the freedom of the open road, speeding down your wholly clear roads? Holy clear roads? Is He loving the scenery, feeling the wind on His face, looking at the sheep running in the fields, the birds singing in the trees, the sun shining?

Or is He stuck in rush-hour traffic, in Youtown? The rain is pouring, there are pile-ups and garbage everywhere? Horns are honking and as He inches along the road of Your life, is He having to turn away from the billboards advertising those thoughts that are littering your landscape, even now?

Things such as "repetitive, loveless, cheap sex; a stinking accumulation of mental and emotional garbage; frenzied and joyless grabs for happiness; trinket gods; magic-show religion; paranoid loneliness; cutthroat competition; all-consuming-yet-never-satisfied wants; a brutal temper; an impotence to love or be loved; divided homes and divided lives; small-minded and lopsided pursuits; the vicious habit of depersonalizing everyone into a rival; uncontrolled and uncontrollable addictions; ugly parodies of community. I could go on " (Galatians 5:19-21, MSG)

You see, God wants to set you free - He wants Your landscape to be green and clear, the road smooth and straight. He says Himself:

"It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery" (Galatians 5:1 NIV)

He also promises that as we repent (which means we turn around, walk away from our sin and towards God):

"I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws" (Ezekiel 36:25-27)

As God drives through this new, fresh, clean landscape he, passes through towns such as:
Love-ville, Joy-town, Peace Springs. He sees signs for Patience Village, Kindnessborough, and makes a mental note that He really wants to visit the Township of Goodness , Faithfulness-ville
Gentleness-town and the District of Self-control (Galatians 5:22-23).

God is traveling your roads.
What kind of a journey is He having?
If there is junk or sin that is stopping Him from traveling to every part of your life, confess it to Him and invite Him to come in and clean everything up. Remember - you can't clean yourself up...you can only invite Him in with His all-powerful, Holy Spirit clean-up service to do what is needed. The price has already been paid - Jesus paid for your freedom when He died, thinking of you. He has paid the price to set us free! He has paid the price to set you free!

Remember:
"It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery" (Galatians 5:1 NIV)

Love you mate,

Dan

"And how blessed all those in whom You live, whose lives become roads You travel"