This past weekend I attended Living Proof Live featuring Beth Moore. God’s Word was taught powerfully. The worship was powerful, and worship music was by Travis Cottrell. Beth's titled the conference "Going on a Wild God Chase". God had been preparing my heart for it in the weeks leading up to it, . I have been studying the Book of Daniel, reading back through the Psalms, and reviewing some of my Psalm prayers through the last 35 years, and God’s answers. Sometimes when God is speaking to me, He seems to pour it out all over me and many of the puzzle pieces of my life are filled in. Prayers answered long ago are revealed, but the answers were not what I had expected. God works in mysterious ways. He is creative. He does not work in a box or a prescribed method. His answers are perfect for our life and our heart.
God has been revealing much to me on a deeper level lately:
1. God is building a cathedral in my heart. He is most interested in my heart. It is where His Son lives. His work is unusual, unique, and He can be counted on to work on my heart.
2. I get as much of Jesus as I really want. My prayers reveal my desires. How deeply do I want to know Christ? When I pray to see God’s glory, or when I pray to become more like Christ, then God always answers those prayers. They are in accordance to His perfect will. He will tell me, reveal to me His glory. He will disclose Himself to me when I follow hard after Him. So , I must keep praying for the disclosure of God to me.
3. I learn as much of the Bible as I really want. I either desire to know the truth or I don’t want to know the truth found in God’s Word. Do I really believe that God’s Word holds the Truth for my life? How much do I seek to read and study His Word? Am I hungry for it? Am I seeking it? God will teach me if I want Him to. I can complain if I want, that God is not working on my behalf, but if I do that, it reveals that I have done little to find His truth or Him. I must keep following hard after His Word. I must ask Him for a fresh revelation regularly.
4. God will use my life story as it lines up with His Word and who He is. He never wastes suffering, and neither should I. When I walk through suffering, it will benefit others as well as me. It builds my faith. It refines my faith. One day my faith will be perfected.
5. God is not free to teach the proud, because they already know it. He teaches the humble, the poor in spirit His way and His Word. I am the worse of the worst of being guilty of spiritual pride. God is making me more and more sensitive to this. I am at the point now where when I am overdosed on hearing spiritual pride, I want to simply vomit. I am so sick of hearing it from some around me. We, in the church, are often unaware of why the lost don’t want to come near our church or our people, me included. Often, we make them sick to be in our presence. Oh God, forgive me, forgive us. I really don’t know what I am doing when I brag about the good things I do or the Word that I obey, or when I share a story and be sure to add the parts that make me look so good. I get so full of myself, and start bragging. I get carried away with a love for the sound of my own voice.
6. God hears my prayers, all of them, and especially when I pray His Words back to Him. I tend to forget this. His answers come in the following days and years. Often there is a gap between the prayer and the answer, but often the answer is not recognized as the answer.
7. God has a plan and a purpose for me. He is not bringing isolated incidences or trials into my life. He will connect them, much like dot to dot pictures, at some point in my life, and has recently shown me more connection between the dots.
8. God desires to use my story to minister to the kingdom. I am able to find my place, my spot for ministry when I see the bigger picture. God has known it all along. Most often I can’t see, because often I've been blinded by my trials for awhile. In addition, it is possible to make my trial or my suffering an idol. Any time I begin to worship an idol of any kind I turn away from worshipping the One True God.
9. I need to bless others by sharing how God has built my faith. People need to hear how God has refined my faith. It blesses others, as well as me, when I review and share these things.
10. God has sent me gifts regularly as I have walked with Him through His disclosure to me, fresh revelations, suffering, trials, and blessings. These gifts have not all looked attractive. Many were downright ugly, but ahh those were the very best gifts of all. As Psalms 25:10-11 says, “All the paths of the Lord are loving kindness and truth to those who keep His covenant and His testimonies.”
God has been revealing much to me on a deeper level lately:
1. God is building a cathedral in my heart. He is most interested in my heart. It is where His Son lives. His work is unusual, unique, and He can be counted on to work on my heart.
2. I get as much of Jesus as I really want. My prayers reveal my desires. How deeply do I want to know Christ? When I pray to see God’s glory, or when I pray to become more like Christ, then God always answers those prayers. They are in accordance to His perfect will. He will tell me, reveal to me His glory. He will disclose Himself to me when I follow hard after Him. So , I must keep praying for the disclosure of God to me.
3. I learn as much of the Bible as I really want. I either desire to know the truth or I don’t want to know the truth found in God’s Word. Do I really believe that God’s Word holds the Truth for my life? How much do I seek to read and study His Word? Am I hungry for it? Am I seeking it? God will teach me if I want Him to. I can complain if I want, that God is not working on my behalf, but if I do that, it reveals that I have done little to find His truth or Him. I must keep following hard after His Word. I must ask Him for a fresh revelation regularly.
4. God will use my life story as it lines up with His Word and who He is. He never wastes suffering, and neither should I. When I walk through suffering, it will benefit others as well as me. It builds my faith. It refines my faith. One day my faith will be perfected.
5. God is not free to teach the proud, because they already know it. He teaches the humble, the poor in spirit His way and His Word. I am the worse of the worst of being guilty of spiritual pride. God is making me more and more sensitive to this. I am at the point now where when I am overdosed on hearing spiritual pride, I want to simply vomit. I am so sick of hearing it from some around me. We, in the church, are often unaware of why the lost don’t want to come near our church or our people, me included. Often, we make them sick to be in our presence. Oh God, forgive me, forgive us. I really don’t know what I am doing when I brag about the good things I do or the Word that I obey, or when I share a story and be sure to add the parts that make me look so good. I get so full of myself, and start bragging. I get carried away with a love for the sound of my own voice.
6. God hears my prayers, all of them, and especially when I pray His Words back to Him. I tend to forget this. His answers come in the following days and years. Often there is a gap between the prayer and the answer, but often the answer is not recognized as the answer.
7. God has a plan and a purpose for me. He is not bringing isolated incidences or trials into my life. He will connect them, much like dot to dot pictures, at some point in my life, and has recently shown me more connection between the dots.
8. God desires to use my story to minister to the kingdom. I am able to find my place, my spot for ministry when I see the bigger picture. God has known it all along. Most often I can’t see, because often I've been blinded by my trials for awhile. In addition, it is possible to make my trial or my suffering an idol. Any time I begin to worship an idol of any kind I turn away from worshipping the One True God.
9. I need to bless others by sharing how God has built my faith. People need to hear how God has refined my faith. It blesses others, as well as me, when I review and share these things.
10. God has sent me gifts regularly as I have walked with Him through His disclosure to me, fresh revelations, suffering, trials, and blessings. These gifts have not all looked attractive. Many were downright ugly, but ahh those were the very best gifts of all. As Psalms 25:10-11 says, “All the paths of the Lord are loving kindness and truth to those who keep His covenant and His testimonies.”
It has been a 'Wild God Chase" these past 35 years as I have been on the journey of my life with Jesus Christ. I met him on May 18, 1975, and I have never been the same. His Spirit took up residence in my heart and began to build a cathedral in my heart for Him. My life changed forever. My legacy changed from that day on and my prayer is that my children and my children's children and their children and those that follow for 1000 generations will come to know, experience and honor the One True God. If they will do that, then they too will find themselves on a 'Wild God Chase' of a lifetime. But if they choose to follow after the false gods (idols) of this world, then they will be judged according to God and His Word, and will inherit a legacy of that choice for the next 4 generations. I pray they will all choose the way of Christ as their choice.
Blessed be the Name of the Lord for He alone is worthy of our praise and worthy of any glory in this life. He alone will be worthy to do the work of the Father as proclaimed in Revelation 5 in eternity. Praise to you alone, Lord God, My Heavenly Father, My Savior Jesus Christ, and The Holy Spirit all three in One! For YOU ARE WORTHY!
Amen and Amen!
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