Soaking in His Spirit.
I bought a small little devotional in the checkout of our Krogers this week and it really is quite inspiring, I am sharing a bit of it today..
Remember Your Father Sees
Never be in a hurry,
Do everything quietly and in a calm spirit.
Do not lose your inner peace for anything
Whatsoever,
Even if your whole world seems upset.
St. Francis de Sales
I mused on this for a time and the Holy Spirit took me right back to the years soon after I retired when I purposed to spend a lot of time getting to really know God. Sometimes my afternoon would pass me by as I put on my praise music, and worshipped Him truly in spirit and truth. I had the house to myself so
I had freedom to actually react to Him during our time together. Sometimes I would dance in the spirit. Oh, I was sitting in my chair with my eyes closed, but in my spirit I was praising Him with dance and singing in my heart. But mostly, I was quiet . Listening for His small voice. And I learned how to hear from Him :It was not an audible voice, but a very strong conviction would formulate within me and I have learned to recognize it throughout these remaining years. Especially when I am in corporate prayer groups. I will wait to pray until I actually am given the unction to pray specifically on a certain topic. This is called praying in the Spirit. And when I pray I do not get all grandiose or anything. Not at all. Most of the time my prayer will be more introductory to the next part to pray where I introduce that element He put on me, and others continue to pray accordingly.
One source explained it this way. “ Praying in the Spirit’ is altogether a divine activity that one appropriates through faith in Jesus Christ and in His finished work on the cross… To pray in the Spirit, walk in the Spirit, and worship in the Spirit (‘in Spirit and in truth,’ John 4:24) is to come before the Lord according to His appointed means—that is through the One whom the Spirit magnifies, the Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 8:26-27), depending on His revealed Word and pleading as a lesser creature to our glorious Creator.”
But not only did He speak to me in Spirit, but often times He would interact with me. When I requested special time with Him and gave Him the uninterrupted space to enter in He never let me down. At one point I was undecided about how to get involved in a new large church we were attending, I had been feeling somewhat lost and really needed to feel a part of the “family” so I asked the Father to help me. I closed my eyes and gave myself to a him. Soon I felt Jesus walking beside me through an ancient city. We didn’t speak along our path, but suddenly we stopped at a closed door; the door slowly opened wide and Jesus extended his arm and said “ look for the open door” and a light came on in the room. Then there I was sitting on the sofa. A couple of weeks later, a new friend, Lynne, approached me and told me how the pastor was desiring to revamp the church prayer request program. She asked me if I wanted to be involved in it on the committee. There it was. The opening in my life which over the years since 2009 my prayer walk has developed hugely. I became part of a prayer circle of women of great faith and experience in prayer. We grew together and were moved to start a community prayer initiative …where we met prayer warriors from around our city and gained even more impetus for deeper involvement. At this point in my life I am a prayer warrior, l and my husband, meet twice a week for corporate prayer lifting up the deep concerns of our city!
Because I gave it to God He has led me into this new life with Him that blesses me everyday. It really hasn’t been anything that I did, except to give my time to Him. He has done it all. Given me purpose, given me wonderful new friends, and through the interaction of where He has led me, I live in perpetual joy. Not by my hand, but His!
Dear God, I want my spirit to be listening always,
To hear clearly
Remind me to spend time with you; draw me away from mindless worldliness,
And allow your love and wisdom to be my guiding light through my life! Amen
