“Peace
I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives.
Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” John 14:27
I had a pretty cool experience with the Lord awhile back and I
have shared this story with many people since then so I decided to write it out
in my blog.
In January of 2010 we were hanging out at our daughter’s house
for “family night”. Every Sunday we would get together and hang out with the grand
kids, have dinner together and then play cards or something when the kids went
to bed. This particular night I accidentally
left my cell phone at their house and, when I got home and realized I didn’t
have it, I felt a surge of, well, panic! It was late and they lived about 35
minutes away and I wasn’t going to go back to get it.
The panic came when I realized just how much I
relied on that phone!! I use it as my watch, an alarm clock, and it is my
life line to the ladies in the ministry, my elderly ladies and my family…
pretty much everything I do is in that phone! When those feelings of
panic started to come, I
took a deep breath and reminded myself that even THIS situation
and circumstance was not an accident!! God knew very well what was going on and
had a plan to use it for my good and His Glory. “My circumstances do not make me who
I am but they reveal who I am” quote by Nancy Leigh
DeMoss. I believe that God uses our circumstances to show us our own
hearts and what is in there… like this panic.
“Our attitude must be one of complete reliance on God. Once we
get to that point, there is nothing easier than living the life of a saint. We
encounter difficulties when we try to usurp the authority of the Holy Spirit
for our own purposes.” Oswald Chambers - December 14th
Then,
I heard the Holy Spirit say to me, “Do you rely on ME as much as you rely on
that phone?”…. Oh my! That was a really good question!! I had to
think about that for a while… which was pretty sad
in and of itself. Do I rely on the Lord and the Holy Spirit as much as I
rely on my phone? Well, you know, the more I
thought about not having the Holy Spirit, the more I
realized that I probably relied on Him more than I am consciously aware of! I
think if for some reason He was suddenly gone out of my life (like my phone), I
would REALLY notice it and realize how much I relied on Him and needed
Him. But then, this situation also made me realize all the ways I DON’T
rely on Him!!
The following morning, when I was journaling all of this, I was
thinking about my cell phone and how, even though I rely on it quite a
bit, there are still many features and apps I had never used
before. It was my first “smart phone” and I hadn’t really done very much
investigating into all that it was capable of. Then I heard the Holy Spirit
say, "There are many features and apps in ME that you have never used before
either!" I was like, Wow... That was pretty profound!! You are right
Lord!" Nothing like getting your eyes opened by the Lord!! Not that
these apps are not available to me, but that I just haven’t taken the
time to investigate and learn to use them yet. Oh Holy Spirit,
I pray that You will help me to learn more about You and all the “features” you
offer me that I have not learned to use yet!! I feel like I have
available to me amazing things but I need to press into
You more and allow you to flow through me, and teach me, so
that You are Glorified! Please take my hand and show me more of You!
When this first
happened in 2010 I was picturing the Holy Spirit “apps” as being huge and
powerful miracles but after chewing on this and asking God about it for the
last 8 years I recently felt like He was talking about the “Fruits” of the
Spirit… Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness and self-control… Not necessarily "big", powerful things. Like what it says in the scripture in 1 kings “The
LORD said, "Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD,
for the LORD is about to pass by." Then a great and powerful wind tore the
mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not
in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in
the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the
fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper...” 1 Kings 19:11-12. He was IN the gentle whisper and NOT in the powerful
wind, earthquake or fire.
Isn’t that just like us? Looking for the BIG things when God is
all about the things that are quiet, still, small and gentle. As much as the Lord has revealed to me over the years, I absolutely know there are
things about Him that I still have NO CLUE about, big and small, and I would
really like to go deeper with Him in all areas. I know that he continues to
bring this up to me for a reason and I fully expect Him to blow me away, like always, when He does reveal even more deep and wonderful things to me. So I will continue to seek
Him and wait for HIS perfect timing! He knows my heart and my desire for Him,
so I will trust Him with the rest.
How about you? Are there Holy Spirit “apps” that you have not
tapped into??
“The
spirit of simplicity, clarity, and unity is born through the Holy Spirit, not
through your decisions. God counters our self-willed decisions with an appeal
for simplicity and unity.” Oswald Chambers – December 14th
