Imagine… You have a loved one who has been complaining lately that they don’t hear from you, that you don’t communicate with them anymore… That you seem distant… So you ask them out to dinner, and during that whole time that was supposed to be just the two of you, she’s flitting around here and there, occupied, busy, distracted instead of sitting down and enjoying her time with you… Does that sound familiar?
It does to me… I had been feeling so envious over the last few weeks while thinking of Moses. Stating how I wished my relationship with God was one similar to what Moses had, where he would hear, “Thus saith the Lord!!!!” And know exactly what it is God wanted Him to do. That Moses face would radiate the glory of God. I found myself envying him. Moses heard from God and knew without a doubt what direction God wanted him to go (even though he felt unworthy of the calling). He heard God’s booming voice and had a certainty of what things God wanted him to accomplish. I suppose looking back, I was feeling really frustrated, wishing that once I gave my life to God and invited Him in to be my Lord and Savior, that I could just allow HIM to do whatever He wanted in my life… I had given Him the wheel, now I could just be in the passenger seat and let Him drive… Unfortunately that is not the way it is…
I have over the last couple of years, developed an urgent passion to pray more diligently, pray earnestly and I didn’t know quite how to go about it. I’ve kept a prayer journal and I’ve spoken to God in conversation exactly the way I converse with other people, but ever since I saw the movie, “The War Room” the urgency I had already feeling increased, and I knew I needed to get more organized and focused in my prayer life. I also had a sense that God was calling me to pray behind the scenes more fervently for people I love. Literally covering them with prayer from head to toe, on my own, behind the scenes and I decided that along with my prayer journal, I would use sticky notes and jot down my prayer request on the sticky note and at the bottom of the note put: Answered Prayer ________
To put the day God answered my prayer, and also I would use the back of the sticky note to put what God’s answer was. I then began to post the sticky note prayer request on the wall of my closet. As I wrote each prayer request out individually, I would pray verbally as I wrote them conversing to the God about the individual, the situation, the prayer request etc. then I would stick it to the wall. I did this praying until I felt like I got everything that needed prayer out of my system and looked at about 20 stickies stuck to my closet wall. I felt a release. I felt joy, I felt peace, I felt obedient and even more than that I heard the Holy Spirit whisper in my ear:
“Kelly, you see? When you take time to converse with me without any other distractions around you, you can hear what it is I am saying to you. I am the same God I was during the time of Moses. The results of you taking time out to converse with me fills you with the same radiant glory that Moses experienced with me… I am no respecter of persons. Do you not feel my glory and my peace radiating from you right now from the time that you have spent with me in prayer?”
And all of a sudden it all made sense… I did! I felt the joy of the Lord, I felt peace, I felt love, I felt contentment – all because I took time in my day to communicate with my Father without any distractions. A serious one on one time where I prayed and then I listened and in doing so, I heard. It made a difference, I felt God’s shekinah glory radiating from me. I felt God’s love – all because I took time to being obedient and spend some time with my Heavenly Father, time that He knew would benefit ME.
Life gets so busy; we don’t take time to use the tools and weapons God has given us to get through this crazy life. His word is full of instruction because He knows it will benefit us. It will help us, yet often we use the instructions that are there as a last resort, if at all. But when we DO listen, and we ARE obedient, we benefit from it. We are in spiritual warfare every day and unless we feed ourselves the spiritual food of God’s word, we can grow weak, weary, frustrated and a sitting duck for the enemy. That’s not God’s will. He’s given us tools so that we will use them! But it is up to us to do just that.
My time with the Lord has made me fall more in love with Him. When I go home and I open my closet door I look at my prayer requests written out and stuck to the wall and I wait in joyful expectation for my Father to answer. I look in expectation to hear Him because I know that He knows what is BEST for me and that is what I want – God’s best. I have found that God’s best is better than anything I could have ever imagined or chosen for myself and then I want to slap the palm of my hand against my forehead as I think of all the times I tried to figure things out on my own and not let God figure it out for me.
Yes, we are to walk by faith and not by sight but God IS faithful and He longs for us to experience the fullness of His love. I think that is where the abundance comes through.
I think the most exciting thing I’ve witnessed is seeing answers to what I prayed about come to fruition because once those prayers are offered up to Him, we don’t always know what happens next – but when you talk to someone you are praying for and they say innocently (not knowing that you’ve been praying for them) I just got a call from so-and-so and they want me to do this… And your ears perk up because you were praying behind the scenes for that individual on behalf of that situation and God just gave you a preview of what the status of that prayer request is – it increases your faith! God DOES hear your prayers. That example encouraged me to continue praying deeper, interceding and trusting God for His will to be done in whatever situation I’m bringing before His throne.
God desires a relationship with us and if we allow ourselves it can become the sweetest, deepest relationship we’ve ever had. I’m finding this out for myself and in drawing nearer to God through prayer, experiencing that peace that passes all understanding, walking in confidence that although I don’t see a way – God IS the way and He is BIGGER than any concerns, problems or situations I can bring before His throne. I can trust that since I have given my life to Him, if I allow Him, He will work out my steps according to His purpose and glory.
As I had been reading and praying, I had a realization that just like Jesus told the sisters of Lazarus, that their brother’s sickness would be for the glory of God (John 11:1-45) sometimes the things that God allows us to go through a situation so that we can learn not to trust upon ourselves, but upon Him. That we would trust more in Him and less in ourselves that He would be glorified… We have to trust that the God who we have made our Lord and Savior all the details of our lives, even when we don’t understand the WHY of it. He’s still in control and that is where our peace comes from, it comes from Him.
The truth is what God has for you IS so much better than what you could ever choose for yourself… There is a peace in experiencing this first hand. To stand in awe of Him when you realize how tremendously blessed you are. You become truly thankful and the praise just automatically comes out of your mouth without even having to think twice.
My plan is that when God answers those posted sticky note prayer requests – however He chooses to respond, I will write the date He responds and on the back of the sticky note I will write what His answer was. I plan on using a note book to keep all the requests in so that during times when I feel as though I’m having a “wilderness” experience, I can open the notebook up and refer to all the times that God answered my prayers. He’s got me, I just need to walk in obedience and trust that He does. My steps whether I know it or not, are ordained by Him…
I believe there is an old hymn that portrays this exactly, it’s called “Trust and Obey” and the words are as follows:
“When we walk with the Lord
In the light of His word
What a glory He sheds on our way
While we do His good will
He abides with us still
And with all who will trust and obey
Trust and obey,
For there is no other way
To be happy in Jesus
But to trust and obey
Not a shadow can rise
Not a cloud in the skies,
But His smile quickly drives it away,
Not a doubt or a fear,
Not a sigh or a tear,
Can abide while we trust and obey,
Not a burden we bear,
Not a sorrow we share,
But our toil He doth richly repay,
Not a grief or a loss,
Not a frown or a cross,
But is blest if we trust and obey,
But we never can prove,
The delights of His love,
Until all on the altar we lay,
For the favor He shows,
And the joy He bestows,
Are for them who will trust and obey
Then in fellowship sweet,
We will sit at His feet,
Or we’ll walk by His side in the way,
What He says, we will do
Where He sends we will go
Never fear only trust and obey”
If a relationship with our family depends upon communication, love, respect and time spent together why would a relationship with God be any different? We are the ones who benefit from it, God created us to be in fellowship with Him, we try to fill it with other things, but truly the only thing that will ever fill that God given relationship void within us is God Himself. Test it out yourself and experience that pure joy and peace and love that is the result of spending time alone with God. In other words, “Taste and see that the Lord is good.” (Psalms 34:8) Because He IS.
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