by David Scott Robertson
I was prayer-walking this morning and God spoke to me.
Now when I say that "God spoke to me" some reading this will know what I'm talking about and some won't. I'm not going to elaborate on HOW I heard His voice in this thought; I want to ponder for a moment WHY I heard His voice.
- Maybe it was because as I walked down the street I confessed to the Lord that I wasn't really good at hearing His voice lately.
- Maybe it was because instead of taking the short prayer route (the one I take when I'm in a hurry) I made a decision to take the longer prayer route today.
- Maybe it was because I quit talking for a change and was determined to listen.
- Maybe it was because I made the connection for the first time in a long time that it was more important to hear God than to finish my "prayer list."
- Maybe it was because I had spent time listening to several worship songs before I left the house and my spirit had been primed to receptivity by praise and worship.
- Maybe it was because I approached the throne of grace with humility and an attitude of gratitude instead of viewing God as a genie or Santa Claus whom I had to somehow persuade in prayer to give me what I wanted.
- Maybe it was because I was relaxing in my Heavenly Father's presence and enjoying the delight of just being His son - no strings attached.
- Maybe it was one or a combination of these things…whatever it was, I heard His voice.
The result? Revelation. Breakthrough. Fresh perspective. New insight. Encouragement. Excitement. I felt warmth in my soul in spite of the cool temperatures touching my body.
As amazing as it was THAT I heard His voice WHAT He spoke to my heart, my spirit-man, was really the most important thing.
God pointed out something to me that He had been doing in my life in recent months. It had to do with a new direction in my life - a positive shift - an adjusted paradigm - God-inspired tweaks that had been slowly but surely adding value to my life. It seems that God had been "setting me up" for some time to bless me and only this morning, as He spoke affirming and reassuring words by His Holy Spirit did I discern it.
It is typical and almost a trademark of God to work behind-the-scenes in such a way that you could be tempted to explain things away as coincidence or good fortune if you believe in such nonsense.
I subscribe to the belief that "The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way" (Psalms 37:23).
Have you noticed that God works out His plan in our lives like that? We sort of wake up one day and ask ourselves, "Wait a minute, how'd I get here?"
It's like when I was a kid my Dad would scoop me up from the bed, still asleep, and pour me into the car at 4:00 a.m. and drive four hours to Grandma's house. I went to bed in the suburbs of Chicago and woke up in rural Southern Illinois. I loved it when Dad would say, "Son, wake up, we're there!" That's how our Heavenly Father does it sometimes.
My Heavenly Father "woke me up" this morning during my prayer walk and basically said, "Wake up, son, we're there!"
DSR
5/9/05