stepping out...

Right now, I'm at a conference in Kansas City with thousands of other people who are in love with God. Every day they have breakout sessions and today I went to one on the gift of prophecy. Until today, I didn't really know a lot about prophecy, so this session was perfect. I learned all about prophecy... basically, it just means the ability to hear God.

This year, I've been learning a lot about spiritual gifts through people that God has put in my life. They've shown me verses in the Bible, namely Corinthians, where the gifts are discussed. From these verses, the one that stands out to me the most is in 1 Corinthians is 12:31 where it says, "But eagerly desire the greater gifts...". I remember this verse because I always thought God gave each person a couple of spiritual gifts and it was their job to figure them out. But this verse implys that God gives gifts to believers as they desire them and ask Him for them.

So, after learning about prophecy, I went to the prayer room and just hung out with God. I talked to Him about what I learned and asked Him if I could have the gift of prophecy. A little while later, I left the prayer room and sat right outside it to eat a pb&j sandwich. As I sat there, I saw a girl about my age sleeping by a trash can, not very far from me. After I saw her, I heard in my head, "Amanda, that girl is depressed and suicidal. I want you to go wake her up and pray for her". My first reaction to this was to question whether or not it was God. I was pretty sure it was Him, but I debated in my head anyways. I even thought, "If that really is God, then there are so many prophetic people around. Surely one of them heard Him and will go pray for her". In response to this thought I heard God say, "Amanda, I didn't tell them to go pray for her. I told you. Now, go pray for her."

Now, the idea that God speaks is still new to me and I wasn't fully convinced that it was God speaking, but I remembered something that a friend told me earlier today. She said, "we must step out in faith in order for our faith to grow. Sometimes you hear God wrong, but when you do, you learn what He doesn't sound like. The more you respond to what you hear, the more you will be able to discern God's voice, because you will have learned what it sounds like". I chose to believe that this was God because I knew that if it wasn't Him that it would be okay, and if it was, I didn't want to miss it. I asked Him for boldness and I got up and walked over to the girl.

Reaching her, I tapped her on the shoulder and said, "I'm sorry to wake you up, but I feel like God asked me to pray for you. Would that be okay?" I also asked her her name. The moment she woke up, I felt very strongly that what God told me about her was true. She said that I could pray for her and so I began to pray. As I did, she began to cry. I could feel God directing my words to meet her need. It was as if I was just opening my mouth and God was speaking out what He wanted this girl to hear. It was powerful!

After I prayed for her, she told me that she had asked God to send someone to pray for her. She began to tell me about the past few weeks of her life and all of the things that she had been involved with, some really hard things, and how she felt like she had just gone so far, that God couldn't forgive her. She felt like God couldn't possibly love her anymore and she was depressed. From here, I was just in shock that God had already told me this and again I opened my mouth, fully expecting God to continue to speak words to this girl. Not surprisingly, He did. He spoke verse after verse about His love and grace to this girl and how much of a treasure she was.

As I was talking, God was showing me His heart and how great His love was for this one broken girl. He wanted her to know His love for her so badly that He orchestrated all of this just for her. His love is that good!

And my faith grew :)
He loved her enough to send me to encourage her. He loved me enough to let me be a part of it.

For I am convinced that there is neither depth nor height, nor angels nor demons, nor present, nor future, nor any powers, neither height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation that can separate us from the love of God that is in christ Jesus our Lord. -Romans 8:38

Romans 8

Spirit and Truth

"But an hour is coming, and now is here, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in Spirit and truth." (John 4:23)

The Bible, which is Truth, tells us a lot about worship. But if that's all we have to go by, we are given seemingly mixed messages. Scripture tells us to worship the Lord by preaching the gospel, praying for a sick person, giving a cup of water to a thirsty child, and sitting at Jesus' feet. It is not possible to sit at Jesus' feet and preach the gospel at the same time. So, how do we know what it looks like to worship God in the moments of life?

The way that we see Paul worship God in scripture looks completely different from the way that we see Mary worship Him, but both of them worshipped God. Was one of them right and one of them wrong? No, they were both worshipping the way that God created them to worship. Well, how can I look at two different worshippers in scripture and know how I was created to worship? The Bible alone cannot answer this question.

This is why the Bible tells us to worship the Lord in Spirit and in Truth.

As believers, the Holy Spirit lives in us and can lead us. The way He leads us looks different across the board and changes with seasons throughout one's lifetime. We must know His voice to know how He is calling us as individuals to worship Him on a moment by moment basis. Because this looks different for every person, we cannot judge others when their lives look different from ours. They may be doing exactly what God has called them to do.

For a season, the Lord may call me to rest in Him and love Him by just meeting Him alone. That doesn't mean that I shouldn't share His love or talk to someone if the opportunity presents itself, but my focus may not be on going out and spreading His truth.

Then, He may want me to really invest in people and pour into them for a season. He may call me to go pray for the sick or cast out demons in His Name or enjoy fellowship with other believers. I must listen to His voice and follow Him.

We are called to love the Lord our God with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength and to love our neighbors as ourselves. How we do this on a day to day basis is revealed to us by God's Spirit. As we look to Him, He will show us how to live each day.