Myths of Christianity - Part 3

Last week I was writing for the blog and to be honest, it wasn’t going well. I had spent a good three hours and it seemed like I was barely getting anything on the page. That night I didn’t sleep well, and in the morning, I woke up and felt God speak to my heart, “Delete what you wrote”. In prayer I asked him “But God, that was three hours of work. I don’t have anything else for this week. Really? Toss it?” His response, “Yep. Trust me.” I had thought about saving a draft, just in case I heard him wrong. I didn’t have any back-up blog posts written. Deleting it meant there may not be a post for that week. I was wrestling with what I was being asked to do. I also felt God, right there with me, hearing him again speak to my heart, “Trust me.” Friends, I took a deep breath and deleted it. And as soon as I did, I felt a peace settle over me. The circumstances hadn’t changed. I still didn’t have a post for the week or time in my schedule to write one. And yet there was a peace that filled me, like a windstorm that had suddenly calmed. 

Myth 3: God doesn’t speak

God was guiding me. He was telling me to surrender. Reminding me that trusting His voice, what He was telling me to do, was going to require me to step out in faith and following and trusting him was the very best thing I could do. For the majority of my life, I believed God was someone we gave our requests to. That faith was believing in him and prayer was a one-way conversation. I would go to him in prayer at night, ask for his protection and help for things I wanted to happen in my life, and when I was done rattling it all off, closing it with an “Amen”. I pictured God as being out there somewhere, sitting on a throne far above the clouds. I had no idea God’s desire was for so much more. That there was even a possibility of more. If you told me God speaks, I would have quickly and confidently told you, you had lost your mind. I might have even thought you were bizarrely religious and distanced myself.

At that time, I didn’t read the Bible. I didn’t know all throughout the Bible are examples of God speaking. That God desires to be in relationship with us. Think of your most treasured relationships…the people you love to spend time with. The frequent, daily conversations. From quick texts to long conversations that run into the evening hours. The moments of sharing both your deepest pain, fears, heartbreak to your moments of greatest celebration and joy. The honesty in the relationship, where the trust is so deep, you hear things you may not want to hear, and you share things you wouldn’t share otherwise. This is the relationship God desires with us. It’s not for the chosen few. It’s not reserved for those with special gifts. The Bible tells us directly, God has no favorites. (Romans 2:11) This type of relationship, this intimacy, is available to us all. We have another post on learning to hear his voice. You can find that here. Relationship, intimate relationship, is not only possible with God, it’s what he longs for. 

When we are in relationship with God, friends, there is truly nothing better. It is having the one who knows the best possible outcome for every choice we have to make, right there to give us advice. It is having the one who knows your greatest pain who will not only offer the perfect words of encouragement, but also take that pain and bring comfort, healing and peace. It is having someone nudge you to take a chance, to step out in faith, and then seeing that trust rewarded with an outcome you couldn’t have anticipated. I have been on a wild ride with God for the last five years. Stepping out in faith, in some ways it’s become easier as I can look back and see all the ways he’s honored that trust in the past. He shows me his fingerprints. That he was behind it. It’s not just the feeling of peace I’ll have come over me. There is often a tangible result. That blog post I deleted? The evening after I deleted it, I slept beautifully. The next morning, I sat down and in record time had a new post written, my other work done, and even extra time to get a run in. I honestly felt like I’d entered some weird space-time continuum where time had slowed down just for me and I was getting two hours for every actual hour. Friends, God is awesome. If you want a relationship with him, it’s there for the taking. I promise, there is nothing better. 

It starts with hearing His voice so I encourage you to read the post and try the experiment. Another resource I highly recommend, is Brad Jersak’s “Can you hear me? Tuning in to the God who speaks.” It can be found on Amazon and is absolutely worth a read/listen. A quick prayer I encourage you to pray:

“God, I want a relationship with you. Will you help me to hear your voice? In Jesus name, Amen.”

There is no better relationship to invest in. No better adventure you will experience. The creator of the heavens and earth speaks. And he wants to speak to you.

Praying blessings of hearing his voice and intimate relationship with Him.