Just like with Elijah, God doesn’t speak to me in a terrible blast of flying rocks or in an earthquake or in a fire. “After the fire came a gentle whisper.” 1 Kings 19:12
God often speaks to me in what feels like a whisper – a faint breeze of truth and light that flits through my mind. I have to stop, concentrate and reach out to catch it.
If I’m not careful, it’s gone.
If I’m not purposefully opening up my spiritual eyes and mind, the spark moves on. And I’m left wandering, ‘When God is going to answer my prayer? When will I see him move?’
When I am quiet,
when I am focused,
when I don’t let distractions derail my time with God, I hear him loud and clear.
God’s Word is alive – he will underline passages in my Bible (you wouldn’t see it but I do), he will point out a sentence to me by making it bold print (again – in my mind) and sometimes his voice will start reading a passage in my head when he wants me to really stop and hear. This is especially true when he is talking about how much he loves me. Yes, I know my Father God’s voice. It makes it easy to discern his truth from all the other voices surrounding me, including mine.
There are situations where God simply opens up my eyes to how he has already answered my prayer. He has taken care of the issue and moved on. Keep up!
That’s when I realize how much I miss when I’m not quiet,
when I’m not ‘zoned in” enough to hear the whispers and feel his breeze of truth ruffling the pages of my Bible.
I know because I wandered away for several years when I was a young adult. I moved away from home and gradually filled my calendar with activities I knew were not the best for me. The people I met while doing these activities weren’t interested in a relationship with God so we never talked about him. My whole lifestyle changed to ‘looking for love (and fun) in all the wrong places.”
It was easy.
Several years later, I woke up (with a lot of nudging from the Holy Spirit) and realized I was not where I wanted to be. Don’t get me wrong – I had worked hard and gotten the degree, the husband, the career, the house, the kids and the cars that I thought I wanted – everything I thought would make me happy.
But I wasn’t happy. I was empty. I had a huge hole in my life. I needed a meaningful purpose for getting up every morning beyond feeding the kids, paying the bills and getting my ‘to-do’ lists done.
It took me awhile to figure out that the aching hole in my life was where God was supposed to be. I’m sure the Holy Spirit had to work very hard on me to get me to see that. My relationship with God at this point had melted into nonexistence.
I realized I missed God. I missed my spiritual family.
I’m extremely grateful that the Holy Spirit helped me identify my real need and desire so I could get back on track. My relationship with God has given me all the purpose and joy and success that I was looking for.
Huge numbers of Christians have wandered away this last year because of the pandemic:
their Bible started gathering dust on a shelf.
with churches closed, other things used up the time they used to spend with God and their church families.
it got so easy to tune in to church on line when it was convenient. It’s so much easier than going back to church in person.
their week became too busy with other things and they didn’t like zooming so they dropped out of small group Bible studies, leaving their Christian friends behind.
Do any of these describe you? I’ve got to admit the ease and convenience of on-line church had a hold of me for awhile….especially since I moved out of state at the start of the pandemic and I needed to find a new church home. But then the Holy Spirit gave me a significant nudge, reminding me of the importance of having a spiritual family full of people who I can worship with, serve with and grow with. So my husband and I searched and prayed and God is blessing us through our new church family.
I am reminded that wandering can happen to anyone when I read about the end of King Solomon’s life. He was the wisest man who ever lived and yet his pagan wives influenced him to such a degree that he turned his heart away from the One True God and started worshipping manmade idols. Unbelievable! Such a sad end to an awesome life.
God had warned all the Israelites, “You must not intermarry with them (foreign wives), because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods.” 1 Kings 11:2.
I feel like God is warning me today through his Word. I must be diligent about keeping my priorities straight. If attitudes and activities start to draw me away from God, I need to adjust my focus.
I wandered away once when I was young. I’m determined not to do it again.
I know you will never let me down. Everyone who trusts knows how faithful you are. Those who don’t trust in you get their just rewards.
Help me know you better, dear God. Direct my steps and guide me into a deeper understanding of your truth. Teach me, Father. All of my hope is in you, God, my Savior.
You have been merciful and loving since the beginning of time. I have confessed my sins and I know you have forgiven me because my guilt has disappeared.
You love overwhelms me. You are so good, LORD.
I feel you walking beside me as I go through my day, God. When I listen, you teach me what is right. You are loving and faithful to those of us who have put our trust in you.
Your grace covers all of my sin and rebellion.
In response to my respect and honor for you, you help me make the right choices in my life. You give me good things and bless my children.
I need to hear your voice, Father. Speak to me – I need you each day.
When my eyes are fixed on you, God, you help me avoid the danger and pitfalls that come my way. I turn to you when I am alone and sad – you take away my worries and stress. When the trials and problems of this world press in all around me, you are always beside me – loving me and giving me strength.
You are my Rock and Refuge, Father. Guard my life and rescue me. I trust in you alone.
I pray that all people everywhere will experience your mercy and strength, God.
My Lord protects me. I have everything I need. He provides for me and fills my life with his supernatural peace.
He gives me joy and strength for each day. Through his Word, he directs my choices and decisions.
Even when I am going through tragedies and tough trials, I am not afraid. I know God is right beside me. He is guiding me. I feel his arms wrapped around me, comforting me.
No matter what is going on, I know God loves me. He is faithful and he wants the best for me.
I am precious to him – I can feel that in my soul. My heart overflows with thankfulness.
I know, Abba Father, that your love and goodness will never end. You will be with me all of my days here on earth. And you will be walking right beside me when I leave earth to enter heaven.
In Exodus, we are witness to an epic battle between Moses and Pharaoh – actually God and Pharaoh – and Pharaoh is losing badly.
By chapter 10, God had sent 8 plagues causing wide-spread disease and hardship for the people, death and destruction for livestock and crops. But Pharaoh continued to refuse to let God’s people go. And the intensity of the plagues continued to grow. It’s significant to read that the 9th plague – worse than the other 8 – was darkness. Darkness spread across Egypt for 3 days. It was so dark, they couldn’t see anyone else around them.
Pitch black for 3 days.
Can you imagine the depression, anxiety and fear? This plague affected their minds – it was worse than the rest. Because we can’t go somewhere else to get away from our minds. We can’t avoid thinking. They couldn’t stop feeling the oppressive darkness – the void where light and warmth used to be.
Pitch black for 3 days.
I love the fact that during these three days God provided light where the Israelites lived. I visualize a huge spotlight shining down from heaven onto the Israelites.
The light of God’s love.
God’s care.
Light for God’s favorite people.
Bright, warm, good.
Those of us who trust in Jesus know how this feels because we live in this light every day. It’s the light of God’s love and care for his favorite people – those who have accepted salvation through Jesus. Through my relationship with God, I have watched him faithfully turn any darkness in my life into light.
He wants to transform your darkness into light as well. He wants to fill any void in your life with warmth and goodness.
His spotlight of grace, strength and wholeness shines down on me everyday, filling my mind and heart with his love. I feel it.
I see it in the gorgeous sunrise as God once again declares his faithfulness to me with the start of a new day. I feel it in my 2 year-old granddaughter’s hug. I see it in the smiles of my friends. I feel it in the ‘love you’ from my husband of almost 40 years.
It’s the great love God has lavished upon me.
God tells me that I am a precious child and he proves that by showing his love for me in a multitude of ways, every day.
“See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called the children of God.” 1 John 3: 1a
It’s very encouraging to realize that the closer I get to God, the more love of his love I feel pouring out over me. As I’ve been consistently memorizing God’s scripture these last 5 years, I also feel his wisdom pouring out from his Word. More knowledge. More understanding.
I am his child! How much more love and wisdom and knowledge and understanding does he have available for me?
There is no limit!
As 2020 comes to an end, God is revealing his goals for me in the new year. Yesterday he started the list with fight the battle well, hold onto the faith, hold onto a good conscience. Today he stopped me with, “Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” 1 John 4:11.
Love other people. In my experience, the only way I can genuinely love people is to get close to God and let his love flow through me to others. As I open up my heart to God, he fills it with so much love that it spills over into the lives of people around me. It’s all about God, not about me.
I’m looking forward to the opportunities God is going to give me in 2021 to love others with the love God gives me.
I join with Paul today as he prays for us in Ephesians 3,
“I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth.
You are awesome, Father.
“I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit.”
Please give us your strength, Father.
“Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him.”
Make your home in our hearts, Jesus, and teach us how to grow our trust in you.
“Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong.”
Grow our roots, Father and keep us strong.
“And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high and how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully.”
Please give us the power to feel the perfect love you pour out on us each day, Jesus.
“Then you will be made complete with all of the fullness of life and power that comes from God.”
Only you can make us complete, Abba. The power to live a full life comes from you.
“Now all glory to God , who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.”
We believe, Father, that you can do anything – things beyond what we can imagine – and that you want to accomplish your plans through us. We are your hands and feet on earth.
“Glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever. Amen.”
“I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth.
You are awesome, Father.
“I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit.”
Please give us your strength, Father.
“Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him.”
Make your home in our hearts, Jesus, and teach us how to trust you more.
“Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong.”
Grow our roots, Father and keep us strong.
“And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high and how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully.”
Please give us the power to feel the perfect love you pour out on us each day, Jesus.
“Then you will be made complete with all of the fullness of life and power that comes from God.”
Only you can make us complete, Abba. The power to live a full life comes from you.
“Now all glory to God , who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.”
We believe, Father, that you can do anything – things beyond what we can imagine – and that you want to accomplish your plans through us. We are your hands and feet on earth.
“Glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever. Amen.”
We often ask these questions when trials and tough issues come our way.
When I ask this question, God gives me answers. One of the answers is Romans 5. “Suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.”
I have learned to watch for God moving in my life as I’m persevering through trials. Where is he re-molding me? What thoughts is he renewing in my mind through this suffering? What is he washing out of my life through all of these tears?
I know he is building my faith as I persevere because it’s never more obvious to me how much I need him than when I’m going through a painful experience. And I have watched him strengthen my character as I persevere. He reveals areas of weakness in my thinking and replaces them with his truth. He tests my convictions and transforms me as I ask for wisdom in my trials.
Through all of this, he gives me hope. I can see him working. My trust in God grows as I watch him bring light out of the dark sufferings in my life. He has a purpose. He has a plan as he draws me closer to him.
As I count on him, God covers the pain with his grace and love – every day.
I have the privilege of talking with the Creator of the Universe – not because I am good.
But because God is good.
This picture is the wall of my garage – the first thing I see every time I get back to my house and open up the garage door. It’s a great reminder – something I need to remember every day no matter what my circumstances.
Daniel says in his prayer, “We do not make requests of you because we are righteous, but because of your great mercy.”
I can’t earn God’s love.
I can’t work and save myself.
I can never be ‘good enough’ on my own.
I can’t look in the mirror to see what I’m worth – I have to look to the cross. Jesus died so that I don’t have to be eternally separated from God because of my rebellion and sin.
This kind of mercy deserves a faithful heart.
This kind of grace deserves a heart that is submitted to His will.
This kind of love deserves a life lived in gratitude. My life.
Come with me on a Journey through the Bible 