They laughed and didn’t move. It had to be some kind of joke, right? The kingdom of God, under a rock? That’s ridiculous.
“You missed it,” the wise man said.
“Being able to respond immediately is how you find the kingdom of God.”
I was needing fresh inspiration to write the other day. For a fresh anointing. I kept praying about it.
“God, what do I need here? How do I find you in the busy-ness of the day? I want a fresh testimony of You.”
I even stayed up almost all night, seeking for Him. Yet it wasn’t coming right away. Then God moved me to fast the other day. I obeyed. That day, God kept speaking: “Be quiet and wait on Me. Just draw close to Me.”
I prayed, read the Bible and other books that spoke to my heart. But at the end of the day, I just felt worn out.
I’m not proud of it, but I looked at it with my natural eyes. “I’m not sure this whole fasting thing works as advertised,” I told someone. “How is this helping me?”
Yet the Bible says the things of the spirit are “spiritually discerned”.
Looking at it with the natural eyes is an easy to completely miss God.
Naaman, the Syrian general, had leprosy when he consulted the prophet in Israel on how to get healed. Naaman was expecting a grand reception. Instead, the prophet gave his instructions to his servant.
“Go dip in the river Jordan seven times,” the servant instructed the general.
“The muddy Jordan?” the general scoffed. “I have better rivers back home!”
But Naaman’s servant spoke up.
“Naaman? Sir?” He asked. “Look, I know I’m not some big general like you, but…”
“But what?” the general asked. “Spit it out, man!”
“Well, bathing in the Jordan River is actually not that complicated. It’s right over there. Why not give it a shot?”
“Why don’t I give you a shot?” the general growled.
But he responded.
And in his response, God responded. The Syrian was completely healed!
God isn’t looking for anything big or fancy from us. No theology degree required. He’s looking for a heart that responds.
In that same way, God was moving in my life last week. I didn’t see it with my natural human eyes. Obviously, I was thinking it was all for nothing, but it absolutely wasn’t. I should have known better.
The next day, I could tell something had changed in my heart. A fresh anointing existed where it hadn’t a few days ago.
I thought: “Well, this is new! This is what I was asking for!”
It fired me up so much. God was speaking to me:
“Don’t go by feelings. Go by faith.”
Acting on what God said, even if you have evidence to the contrary, is how you experience God.
When I was younger, I had a very demonic notion that no matter what I did, it wouldn’t matter. God would show up in His timing. I just had to live my life–nothing I could do about it.
This is a prevalent idea in today’s world! “Live your own truth”, people say. “Make your own kind of music”.
But there is a way the world works. What a man sows, the same shall he reap. And the Bible says, “those that hunger and thirst for righteousness, they shall be filled”.
And righteousness is kind of a funny word.
Someone asked once: “What’s righteousness?”
Growing up, I thought being righteous was refraining from drinking and partying and wearing my baseball cap backwards. (True story!)
Nope, those aren’t it.
Arguing with a coworker over something petty, I got so frustrated, I turned away to take a breather.
I knew I was right. I knew it.
Why couldn’t she hear me?! I thought. She never listens. Never!
In the middle of this inner storm, I heard a familiar still, small Voice.
“John, doesn’t the Bible say, ‘You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make free’? Are you free?”
I felt like there was a knot right around my rib cages.
“No, I’m not,” I realized.
“Then it must not be the Truth,” the still, small Voice replied.
Then I saw it super clearly.
As right as I felt I was, if I didn’t have the right spirit, I was dead wrong.
If I wasn’t hearing the Spirit of the Lord in the situation, which was the Spirit of Truth–-THE Truth–-then everything was wrong.
I was right in myself, sure. I was self-right. “Self-righteous.” But not righteous in the Lord.
There was a difference.
I saw that that afternoon, in the heat of the moment. God set me free! I didn’t have to defend myself any longer
I didn’t have to prove my point. I could just shut up and walk away. I could simply hear what God wanted to say in the situation.
That truly was all that mattered!
So: righteousness is simply drawing close to the Lord and operating on what He says. Having the Spirit of the Lord. That’s true righteousness.
“...it is the gift of God. Not of works, lest anyone should boast.” Ephesians 2:8
But, as I was saying, if there is a way the world works.
If we hunger and thirst for righteousness, we shall be filled.
God is truly moved by our response to His word.
“We do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses….” Hebrews 4:15
There’s a lot of hope in that promise!
