From Conversations

"He is not limiting Himself to a few words."

TALKING TO ME in person is not at all like reading what I’ve written. There’s a reason why I choose writing. I prefer to measure my words. Yet, hearing me speak, after a while, you will understand the way I think, and I hope, the way God speaks to me. Jesus came to reveal the Father, to uncover all the mystery of Him that had previously been hidden. He showed us the Father’s character, demonstrating how very much He loves individuals (John 14:9-10). Jesus’ disciples, in turn, write in their epistles of Jesus’ character.

The apostle Peter has poignant words in 2 Peter 1:16, “We were eyewitnesses and saw for ourselves the beauty of his character and the glory of his majesty (Remedy).” John writes, “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life (1 John 1:1).” It is that they knew Him and walked with Him that turns our hearts toward Him.

We are meant to know the Holy Spirit in this way as well. He speaks in constant unity with the Father and the Son, but He speaks as Himself. The church has mistaken reverence and honor for subservience, and that has never been God’s intent. He created man because He wanted a family. He created woman specifically and only for man. The romance of marriage was His idea, and all that the physical body does when a husband and wife become one and a child is created is His beautiful plan. Read Song of Solomon without blushing and realize that He never wanted us on a leash.

The picture of a King and the King’s court as we’ve seen it on earth is far below God’s picture of heaven’s kingdom. God’s men have created (small g) are fueled by ungodly emotions – rage and vindication, sorrow and defeat. Our loving God, the only living God, is none of those things, and our King the most generous and kindhearted human who shares all of His life with us. He laid who He was down on the altar so that we could pick it up, so that we would have all the power of the Resurrection that conceived Him in Mary and raised Him from the dead.

He wanted us to talk to Him, to know Him as we know each other. He expressed this in His love for His disciples in John 17 and prayed for all those who would believe on Him through their teaching. “Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world (Verse 24).” He wants us to behold His glory, to know Him. Not simply to fall at His feet and see nothing but our weaknesses, but to be confident and bold to speak. At the moment of that prayer in John 17, He was facing the cross, yet He could commit to it with a strength and peace of heart that we should also know intimately.

We put ourselves far below Him, and though I get this, for He is King of Kings and He is Jehovah, what did the apostle Paul write in Ephesians 1:3? “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms.” And in Ephesians 2:6, “And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” We are with Him to be like Him, to wear His armor, and speak His words so that the enemy looks at us and can’t tell the difference.

But to speak His words, we must know His voice. We must hear Him, and not just when we’re facedown on the carpet in our secret place. But in the grocery store, at our jobs, at our children’s schools. In all places, we are to walk united with Him, close to Him, never without His knowledge and wisdom and COMPANIONSHIP. It is our love for Him and His love for us, it is knowing its depth and height and length and breadth that gives us complete trust in Him. We know how faithful He is to us, and all our doubts are removed on what He is willing to do, on who He’s willing to be with us.

On how much He desires to say to us personally. We’ve had this idea in the church that we can only approach Him for serious things and again, with that subservient mindset. When the truth is, He desires us to be like Paul. After his Damascus road experience, he tells the church at Galatia how he spent three years learning the truth about Christ. FROM CHRIST. What he has written in his letters, we’ve read and reread, not realizing it was not written before then. He feared speaking of what he’d learned to the disciples like Peter, having such respect for them, but, in the end, he said they knew what he spoke came from Jesus Himself through the Spirit of God. From conversations. And here is the Father’s heart and a truth we must consider and spend time meditating on, because what God will say to a man like Paul, He will say to others, to those with a humble heart.

He knows the intent of every man’s and woman’s heart. We can choose to be like Paul, one He trusts and speaks freely to, or fall into that subservient reverence, far short of God’s desire for us. God is never silent and refusing to talk. We usually think so, and we attribute it to Him just “being God,” when He delights in sharing Himself with us. He wants us to really know Him, but we set our expectations too low. When He does speak, what we do hear we assume the meaning of. We reason it out and make decisions, taking action that He wants to be involved in. This leaves us far short of what Jesus accomplished in showing us the Father. He is not limiting Himself to a few words. The more we seek Him, the more He will be found. The more we lay down who we are and what we think we know, the more He will explain the simplest things to us.

Conversations are two way, and with our wonderful Father, there is nothing we cannot ask nor a limit on how many questions we can have. There is nothing He will not answer when we come to Him minus arrogance and anger, and any desire to hurt people. Minus greed and lusts from our fleshly nature, to the pure, honest heart, God is forever willing. In fact, He is continually seeking us. He runs after us. He sought us first, after all, when we were far from Him. How much greater, then, is His heart for us, His children? Discipline is only a small fraction of our relationship. We’ve made it the majority.

With those who know me, there is no misunderstanding of what I say. Even if it is simply a text, they know what I meant by it. We can know God like this, and though He does not need it, rise to His defense. Because maybe the one who didn’t get it, who misspoke that which He would never say, will see Him more fully and turn aside from the image the devil paints of Him, as callous or indifferent, even in a small way, to the truth of the Savior who gave up all He was as God, and a Father whose Spirit lives with us.

“’God’s Spirit is on me because I am his anointed One to bring the Remedy to the afflicted. He has sent me to bring freedom to those held in the bondage of fear and selfishness, and a clear understanding to those blinded by Satan’s lies, to exterminate oppression, to remove human brokenness, and to make God’s pleasure known this year.’” (Luke 4:18-19, Remedy)

“Father, may your true character and nature be fully revealed and may Satan’s lies about you be fully exposed!” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have revealed my true character and nature, and I will reveal it again.” (John 12:28, Remedy)

Image by Евгения from Pixabay


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Suzanne D. Williams, Author
www.suzannedwilliams.com
www.feelgoodromance.com