Dialogue
with God
This is something
I've been very keen to write about. It gets to the heart of my main purpose in
putting together this account of God's dealings with me. I want others to know that
Jesus is real and that the Holy Spirit is very active in our world today. He didn't
just stop doing miracles when the excitement died down a few years after Jesus returned to
heaven. He has not stopped revealing Jesus to those who are willing to see
Him. He has not stopped fulfilling the promise of Jesus that He would be with us
forever as the Spirit of Truth. In Jesus' own words:
"The
world cannot accept Him, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. But you know
Him,
for He lives with you and will be in you.
I will not leave you orphans;
I will come to you."
John 14:17-18
I get
excited about that! Jesus said it 2000 years ago and it is still happening today in
millions of lives every day around the world!
I can
remember the day I first learned how I could hear from God like it was yesterday. For the
first year or so of my life as a Christian I settled for the idea that God only spoke to
me on very special occasions and the rest of the time I had to live by 'deaf' faith and
not hearing. That is not altogether untrue, of course. It is not necessarily the
norm to hear God clearly the way I often do. Some perfectly content and faithful
Christians live productive lives never once sensing God's presence in a tangible
way. I know because I am married to one! Living with me has perhaps made Grant
a little less 'content' because he sees the excitement it brings me to have God make
Himself so real to me, but nonetheless he accepts that God works differently in everyone's
life.
I was
in a small Bible study group and a lady came to talk to us about a method of prayer known
as journalling. Essentially it is a form of written prayer and it was right down my
alley! I am so much freer when I write than when I speak and it unlocked a door
inside me. Once I was released to communicate with God more freely, He responded in
a wonderful way.
That
night I took out the notebook she had given us to practice in and sat down to give it a
go. Five hours later (!!!) I was still writing, asking God questions and keeping a record
of what I thought He was saying in reply. I sense some raised eyebrows, but the
whole thing was very real, very special and entirely harmless. More than that, the fruit
of it has been undeniable. Over the years I have filled many books with writing and time
after time events have occurred which confirm that what I felt God was saying, He really
was saying.
In no
sense whatsoever is it a form of automatic writing. It is very normal and healthy to write
when under stress, which I was for many years, and the parts which were from God were all
written in the form of "I feel like God is saying...", which is simply the way I
live.
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