There is a scripture that talks about how, day after day the heavens pour forth speech, and night after night reveal knowledge (Psalms 19:1-2). I can so identify with that, as I feel like them sometimes! God is constantly pouring into me things I feel I must pour right back out. Day by day, moment by moment I will have thoughts come into my head. Some I chase down and dwell on. All of them I think “OOH, I need to write that down”. Truth is, if I don’t, it is very often gone. Like a bald eagle that once flew directly in front of our car on a road trip once. We weren’t prepared to take pictures, so once it flew away, that was it. Those are moments I call “for me only” moments. It was a sweet nothing from God Himself directly to me, and not necessarily meant for all the world to see via a post on a blog. But there are other moments where I teasingly say He just won’t shut up! Of course I would be devastated if He ever did, because I love to hear Him in my soul, it is a treasure beyond words!
How did I get this way? Glad you asked. When we accept Christ as our Savior and Lord, He gives to us a LOT of gifts. The main ones are the Holy Spirit, and the mind of Christ. Other gifts include the quickening of our spiritual senses – eyes to see, ears to hear, the ability to taste and see the Lord is good, discernment to feel, the fragrance of life to smell. This is so important because apart from Christ we have within our own selves none of these, and apart from Him are without hope of overcoming, of living free, joyous, victorious lives of destiny and purpose. We are relegated not only to the physical senses, but also to the three dimensions of the material world, where nothing else matters except “I, me, and mine”.
As a Christian, have you ever looked at the world today and wondered “What on earth…”?! People everywhere seemed to have lost their minds! And what is worse, they seem to have no ability to comprehend what is black and what is white, what is wrong and what is right. To me, the reason is simple. They have not received the mind of Christ, and none of their spiritual senses have been awakened. Without spiritual eyes to see and ears to hear, they have no way of discerning or comprehending these things. Like a ship without navigation.
But as children of God, we are different! These gifts have been given to us and by the act of faith of putting our trust in Him, as His children it is within our right to use them! You can almost think of them as muscles you have to work out to build up, as we do this through the work of the Holy Spirit within us and through His word – both written and living, whether in the quiet moments we spend with Him each day (so vital), the praise and worship we offer, the books we read, sermons we listen to. They get strong through the community of believers we choose to be part of, through our spiritual fathers and mothers, and through the discipleship we pour into others. Each time we yield, each time we choose to obey, and apply the things we are being taught by Him in our spirit, our ability to discern, hear, and see grows stronger.
Once we learn to recognize His voice, we soon discover it is like a stream that has been constantly flowing all along, and we have only just began to get near it! At first we might stick our toes in or reach down and allow the water to splash against our fingers. Soon we find ourselves scooping up the water into our hands and drinking from it. Tasting how sweet it is, we get small cups and are excited that we can contain that much (sometimes pointing excitedly towards the cup full of water and saying “Look, I have Him here”)! But we long for even more of Him still, and so before we know it, we are wading ankle deep, then knee deep. Sometimes we sit on a rock in the middle and let the waters rush around us. But then there are some of us who finally cast everything aside and just go for it – and we dive right in! It is up to us individually how fast or how slow is this process. Some throw caution to the wind and dive right in from the very beginning! Whew!
Sometimes I wonder what I would say if I was given the chance to speak one on one with someone like, say, Stephen Hawking (well-known physicist/cosmologist and atheist). I sense within my spirit he is very close to making a decision for Christ. If he were sitting next to me and we were in a casual conversation (I say casual because it would have to be on my level since he is so incredibly knowledgeable of so many things, ha!). If he asked me where does my faith come from, I would ask him the same. Everyone has faith in something whether they admit to it or not. He comes from a standpoint that all there is, is what is seen in this material world, in this life. So by this perspective, he relegates himself to living only within three dimensions. But I would bet my bottom dollar he believes in more than just three dimensions. The thing is, since we are limited by our physical sight to only experiencing three of them, we really have to take it on faith that there are more than that which exist, no matter who we are. I believe in more than just three dimensions as well, but my faith is grounded in the fact that I have a personal relationship with One who lives outside of the third dimension. Where does Steven Hawking’s faith come from? The sneaky thing about “Scientific FACT” is that it is always changing, and scientists know this. It takes faith to believe in something beyond what is already known, and that is what science is all about! If this were not true, the world as we know it would still be flat.
So the primary difference between me and Stephen Hawking or any other self-proclaimed atheist is the fact that Jesus Christ is more than the mathematical equations they use to summarize the universe. He is a real person that I have a real relationship with. I don’t put myself into the material box where this is all there is, because the Holy Spirit living inside of me has quickened my spiritual senses. I’m currently swimming in the middle of His stream, and I love it!
Alabastersky 