“If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be.  Now put foundations under them.”        –Henry David Thoreau

“Any god who promises to fulfill all of our desires is the devil in disguise.”           –Donald W. McCullough

I heard not too long ago that in the pews (oops, seats) of the church sit “future billionaires” along with future professional athletes, musicians, businessmen, etc.  each vocation mentioned had something to do with money or glamour.  I never heard it once mentioned:  future missionaries, future cooks, future farmers.  Everyone wants to look for the pie in the sky or the garden variety type of life.  Few will pick up their cross and carry it.
There is the thought today that “God will make me great.”  Now ponder that for a minute.  Before going further, let me say that the above professions are not necessarily wrong in themselves.  However, the attitude and the heart behind why they want that profession might be something to reevaluate.  It is important to remember that the Holy Spirit primarily seeks servants.
The questions need to be reaffirmed, “Who is the greatest?”  “Who is the richest?”  If a person has been given wealth by the Lord, what then is his responsibility?  Is it to hoard, to gloat, or to lord it over others?  It seems as if we get too caught up in our special little dreams, or in some cases, grandiose dreams, that we don’t really bring the Lord into the picture and ask Him what He wants with our lives.
What would be wrong if a person wanted to be a hog-farmer?  After all, how many people do you know that don’t like bacon?  But to think that God may want me to slop the hogs for a living, well, that just ain’t kosher.  Hmmm, it’s better to be a doorkeeper in the house of the Lord….
On the other hand if you are made great, then the Lord has allowed it for a reason.  The problem is that so many are not good stewards of the blessings that God has bestowed upon them.  They waste it on themselves or they seek more blessings, more blessings, and for what?

“He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?”         –Micah 6:8 (NKJV)

Is there a deep cry out there in the Church?  I would surely hope so, but there seems to be more entertainment rather than tarrying for the power of the Holy Spirit.  How much do we really want from God?  This is not talking about blessings, but about a daily walk with the Lord.  There is a cry for “relationship” but do they strive to develop that relationship?  I think that C.P Jones had the answer, or at least the cry of the heart.

          “Deeper, deeper in the love of Jesus
           Daily let me go;
           Higher, higher in the school of wisdom,
           More of grace to know.”

The school of the Holy Spirit; do we dare to enter those sacred halls?  Walking down those corridors may mean suffering and hard work; there may be obstacles that we do not know how to handle only with the help of the Spirit.  We are to worship; to love God with our total being and that means to do it with our wills.  To be lost in the will of Christ, oh my, could we handle it?

          “Deeper, deeper!  blessed Holy Spirit,
           Take me deeper still,
           Till my life is wholly lost in Jesus,
           And His perfect will.”

To walk that road with Jesus may bring trials.  It may be a time of hardship and toil.  A person may want to walk that way.  James and John wanted to sit on the right and left hand of Jesus, and He asked if they were able to drink of His cup.  They said of course, not knowing what they were saying, and Jesus said to them that they surely will.  The only way a person can make it if they want to truly wanting to know the deep things of the Lord is to be rooted in Him.

          “Deeper, deeper!  tho’ it cost hard trials,
           Deeper let me go!
           Rooted in the holy love of Jesus,
           Let me fruitful grow.”

Scripture declares that we are more than conquerors.  I have often pondered that idea.  Jones, I believe, has hit on the truth of that statement.  We are more than conquerors when we finally hear the words of Jesus when He says, “Well done, good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of the Lord.”  With that then we are truly more than conquerors, for this evil world did not defeat us.

          “Deeper, higher, ev’ry day in Jesus,
           Till all conflict past,
           Finds me conqu’ror, and in His own image
           Perfected at last.”

               “O deeper yet, I pray,
                And higher ev’ry day,
                And wiser, blessed Lord,
                In Thy precious, holy word.”