My Father speaks to me. He really does. And I'm not talking about the usual stuff like picking up my Bible and reading about love and knowing that He is teaching me to love. Yes, I do get plenty of His Words that way. But I'm talking about something different.
Years ago, I read a book by Anne Graham Lotz (Billy Graham's daughter) called My Heart's Cry. It was the first time I had heard of God speaking to someone through His Word in the way that she described it. For example, He had shown her beyond a shadow of a doubt that He was going to heal her son, even before the doctors could see it coming. Another time, she was seeking Him about when she should leave a certain Bible teaching position, and He gave her the answer in His Word. I found this intriguing, as I had never experienced that. Anne Graham Lotz was criticized for this, with people telling her that God doesn't speak like that to people. She simply stated that He did speak like that to her.
That came to mind years later when I was seeking God about something, and He brought me to James and corrected me for not expecting Him to answer. So often, we pray for an answer, wring our hands in worry and then just plow ahead forward with no true clear answer from Him. If we are honest, we would admit that we don't truly EXPECT Him to answer. We often pray just to vent things or to have a sense of comfort at having done our duty of praying, but we don't truly expect Him to answer.
Or we are so careful not to take verses out of context that we shut His Voice out. I agree that we must study the Bible in context and not randomly pull verses out by themselves. Bible study must be done in context. No, verses should not be studied out of context. I've known people who twist verses to justify wrong things they are doing.
But, rest assured and lay all of those things aside, because I'm not talking about that. I am here to make the simple but profound case that this Book is LIVING, breathing, powerful beyond what you think. It is more than what it looks like. It is a treasure trove for the person with ears to hear and eyes to see.
Let me share just one story to illustrate what I mean.
Last week, on the morning of July 30, I was on my knees in fervent prayer. Do you know what fervent prayer is? It's different than typical mealtime prayer or bedtime prayers or please-bless-me-and-keep-my-family-safe prayers. It's desperate, pleading, sweating, passionate prayer. It's the kind of prayer that means, "If You don't answer, I simply cannot move from my knees." I believe that God loves these kinds of prayers. He wants to see us so dependent on Him that we are on our knees in absolute desperation to have His guidance for this day, this decision, this moment. When He says we will find Him if we seek Him, He means it. Seeking Him like a lost coin...like a treasure buried in a field...digging, turning up everything in our path to find our treasure. That is fervent prayer. If you've never done it, you're missing something beyond description. I challenge you to give it a try...it will change your life.
So, anyway, I was on my knees in fervent pleading prayer for direction. You see...our house goes on the market in about 2 weeks. We know He is moving us for His Kingdom work. We had a general idea of where He might be calling us, but we were unclear on some details. And as the timeline was shrinking, He was leading us to the place of total dependence, where we get to the edge of a cliff and we scream out, "If you don't answer, we cannot go another step!" I believe He loves when all our other crutches are gone...when we have nothing else to lean on but Him. Fervent prayer sets in, and knees get worn.
And then it goes beyond prayer, the lifting up of my voice to Him. There comes a point when all words have been said and silence sets in. And this is the most incredible time that I think many of us miss. I know I missed it for years. I would pray...sometimes fervently...and then I'd leave my prayer position and go about my day. Then one day I learned how to just rest quietly in those silent moments after prayer. I learned to be bold enough to quote His Words back to Him, " Lord, You said that if I seek, I will find. You also said that if I ask you for wisdom, You will give it to me if I expect it. Here I am, Lord...quiet before you, expecting You to speak and give me wisdom."
And He does. I'm telling you...he really, truly does.
That morning I sat in the silence, and He began to lead me to Scripture. In those Scriptures, a certain phrase popped off the page. I hope to share this verse in a future post when we make our direction public. But for now, I wanted to point only to my Father's amazing way of providing wisdom and direction when we expect it. That morning, He gave me a certain Scripture with a key phrase that highlighted exactly the area where He wanted us to move. This verse is in Jeremiah, a book of the Bible that isn't as well-read as other books, and in context, He is speaking about a certain area in Israel. But in direct answer to my prayer that morning, He led me to that verse, and the Holy Spirit figuratively lifted the words off the page and gave me the specific direction I was asking for.
I am human, so I wanted to make sure that He was indeed saying what I thought He was saying. So, I prayed, "Thank you, Lord, for this direction. I believe I know exactly where You're leading us. If I am hearing You correctly, please give my husband this exact same direction without me saying a word to him. YOU lead Him." I was fervent, pleading, desperate to go where HE is leading us, not wanting to go where I want us. And then I simply rested in His ability to speak to my husband just as He spoke to me. In my human-ness, I really wanted to say to my husband, "Oh my goodness...look what God showed me today! He told me where He's moving us!!" But I didn't want this to be led by human words. I needed to know that it was God leading us, so I simply had to be silent and rest in Him being the fully powerful, sovereign God that He is.
That day, I received an email from my husband, saying that he had something interesting to tell me when he got home from work. After dinner, he told me the story...
He had been at work and felt an overwhelming pressing in his spirit. He wasn't sure what it was, but he knew God was pressing in. He went to his car and got out his Bible and began to fervently ask God to show Him where He wanted to move us. As he was recounting the story, I kept saying, "Uh-huh," but inside my heart was racing, knowing that God had answered my pleadings. My husband went on to say that God had led him to Jeremiah. Uh-huh. I asked him what chapter. No kidding...it was the EXACT SAME chapter He had led me to that very day. He reached for His Bible, and I reached for mine. We opened it, in awe that we had both been led to the same chapter on the same day (and by the way, we weren't on a reading plan and weren't studying that book of the Bible...this was completely due to God Himself leading us by His Spirit to the same chapter in the Bible). He showed me his Bible, and I showed him mine. Both Bibles were not only opened to the same chapter but also had the exact same verse underlined.
Did you know that there are over 31,000 verses in the Bible? Over 31,000!! And on July 30th, God led us each to the exact same verse to show us (and confirm it double!) where He was leading us.
I am telling you... That Book you have is living and breathing and powerful. It can teach how to love and how to live. It can be studied in context to learn more and more truths. But do not limit His Word to your little ideas of what it is. Take Him at His very Word that if we seek, we WILL find...and that if we ask Him for wisdom, He will give it gladly IF WE EXPECT IT. Don't box Him in to your teeny tiny ideas. And don't put His Book on the shelf with all the other books and think of it as just a good book. It is alive and active and able to point you exactly where He wants you to go. His Word really IS a light unto our paths.
And my husband and I still are in awe of the answer He gave us...His direction in answer to our fervent prayers for Him to lead us where He wants us and use us for whatever He chooses. There is power in leaving the choice to Him. It will absolutely rock your world. It will actually wreck your puny world and rebuild it in ways you never dreamed. And it's not for our comfort. In fact, if you want to be comfortable, don't get on your knees. He will lead you to abundant life, but it will be in giving your life away. It's all right there in that Book.
