Over the course of the last couple of weeks, God has given me the opportunity to immerse myself in his Word for hours at a time. I discovered through it all that the Lord God was leading and speaking to me (wonder of wonders!). I left the coffee shop where I spent much of the time always feeling very much strengthened (Hebrews 12), and I remembered again how vital that kind of intimate time with God is. I must hear from Him and expect that He will show up! (Hebrews 11:6).
Every true relationship of love is two-way. I must come to God with all kinds of things on my heart (Philippians 4:6), and at the same time I must hear from Him, expecting Him to teach, train, counsel, disciple, comfort, encourage, strengthen (2 Thess. 2:16-17), etc. Directly, immediately, presently… to me, for me, here and now!
Of course I should expect this! This is what Paul meant when he said that we must not only believe in Christ, but come to him expectantly. What love would be sustained if only one were invested? It would be like Suzanna with Tristan in the movie Legends of the Fall when he would not write back to her after he left the ranch. “Forever,” she later told him, “turned out to be too long.” Of course it did. The life of the heart cannot be sustained without continual contact between the two lovers. We must have the ears to hear God and His precious and intimate Word. Constantly. The Word that hovered over the waters and created the light indwells us and speaks to us now.
“We stand within a community of the spoken to,” says Dallas Willard. This is what it means to be a “chosen” people (John 15:19; 1 Peter 2:9). Paul said it, too, when he wrote, “God chose you to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth. He called you to this…” -2 Thess. 2:13-14a
He called you to this. This is our birthright that the God of the Heavens would indwell us and lead us intimately. Eugene Peterson translates Ephesians 4:30 as, “His Holy Spirit, moving and breathing in you, is the most intimate part of your life, making you fit for himself. Don’t take such a gift for granted.”
