Some ask me how I study the bible, and how I spend time with God, etc. so I thought I’d
take just a fresh example for you from yesterday morning. I've been reading and dissecting
Colossians and these few verses really have grabbed hold of me. Colossians 1:9,10.
“..we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you….” You
see prayer is simply dialoguing with God. When we do we indirectly prove
our faith for we invest time in communicating with the one that we believe is
greater than everything, that has insight greater than anyone else, the one who
has power to lead, direct and even intervene. Paul sure got this.
He prayed… he prayed a lot but with specific intention. So I took
this verse and began to pray it for myself.
"God
fill me with the knowledge of your will through all spiritual wisdom and
understanding. And I pray this in order that we may live a life WORTHY of
the Lord and may PLEASE him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work,
growing in the knowledge of God….." (it goes on…) Col 1:9-12
I
continue to ask HIM for his revelation… his wisdom and understanding for then
we will indeed know HIS will. THEN… we enter into a life that pleases our
Lord in its fullness and is deemed worthy. Wow… and in those two ways… 1.
bearing much fruit… but also in 2. our knowledge of God. This is key and
hence why we continue to study God's word that together we would REALLY KNOW
Him. This doesn’t stop! Are you kidding??? He is unsearchable
and yet He will share more and more as we press in to KNOW and understand. The
more He reveals … the more humble we become.
So
my prayer after reading those 2 verses was "Lord, I so want to PLEASE you…
I really do… and live a WORTHY life… help me in those two ways: to bear much
fruit in every good work and to also grow in my knowledge of you… please fill
me with your wisdom and understanding. Teach me…
SO…
Here's how He teaches me in a practical way the same day. See the pic
below:
This is IN KELOWNA! Who knew??
I randomly heard about it but
LOVE to explore new treasures and so needed to investigate it for myself. It was pretty cool! And all for free.
As I drove away I was
thinking, “It’s amazing that Kelowna has these hidden gems and often residents
who live here might not even know they existed?”
THEN….
I could sense HIS revelation
from my verse… Half of Kelowna doesn’t know this exists… “half of my own
children don’t KNOW all that I am… GROW in the knowledge of who I am and I will
show you more hidden gems you can dream or imagine.”
I smiled as I drove away… for
even if the world never knows about gems that exist of God and who is HE… I
take a personal delight and pursuit in KNOWING all HE is and so much more! That He will reveal more of Himself to
me?!! Little me…. Craziness.
Second part of the verse was
the bearing fruit in every good work.
He taught me a new found
revelation in this as well… same day.
You see I say, “I know what that means…. I get it.. love, joy, peace,
gentleness… etc.” And I even think
to myself in that time we get so caught up in heading to 3rd world
countries, etc.. which are good… BUT every good work is all around us right
here; In front of my very nose…
24x7.
So… Roger and I were on our
way home driving by a busy intersection wondering if our daughter was sitting
at the bus stop as she was headed to work? Sure enough… she was.. but listening to her ipod didn’t see
us. We decided to stop and
say “Hi”.
Roger of course wanted me to
scare her from behind. That’s not
my style as I know my girls and it would freak them out too much. SO I went up behind her and pushed
myself really close to her as I tried to make room on the bench. She looked over somewhat annoyed and
shocked as to who was doing this but then a huge shocked and beaming smile
spilling with laughter came out of both of us. Roger drove around the block to give me a chance to chat
with her without stopping traffic.
I rubbed her back a bit .. chatted and loved on her. There was another teen girl standing
beside us as well. Roger pulled up
and I jumped in and he yells “WE love you!!” Well our daughter responses embarrassingly “Love you too”
but with a smile… and It was then that the girl standing beside her broke out
in such a tender but shocked smile that she couldn’t believe “Parents” were
loving on their daughter like this.
I smiled so big back at her and she met my eyes with tenderness.
As we drove home I could see
so much more behind her eyes and wondered if I would see her again. Then the revelation came… “In EVERY
good work, bear fruit….” IN
something like just loving on our daughter God used this as a way to
demonstrate HIS love through us to a bystander. It was powerful.
Not just any bystander but one that God wanted to touch…
“You see Carrie, I will
reveal my goodness and love through ways that you won’t even dream of… just be
obedient to love and apply it as it prompts you to action.” Hmmmm… wow…
You see evangelism isn’t some
big mathematical equation or even a science… it is most powerful when it flows
naturally out of the love that God has poured into each of us
individually. Just let it spill
out even in the little things. God
will take care of influencing those that we don’t even know. He often uses the ones we think aren’t
watching or listening.
I LOVE the way my TEACHER
teaches me. Can I encourage you
that there is no teacher like Him.
Get into His word… not quantity based but rather quality. Meditate on a couple verses. How can you be taught if you’re not
reading HIS words. Then ASK Him..
yes TALK to Him… “Lord will you give me your wisdom in this. Help me to understand.”
Then as you go throughout the
day and you have quiet moments… listen to that voice. The revelation that comes to your heart and mind as if you
are seeing through NEW eyes.. wow… yes.. “I never saw that before”. Hmmmmm…
My desire is to please Him…
and yet I find myself getting more pleasure out of the things He shows me. It’s CRAZY how He does that!! He will always be one up on us.. or a
billion! :)
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