Praise God for this revelation!!
Johnny and I are in our 4th week of a 7 week Biblical study called Explore through our Church plant, Fellowship Raleigh (www.fellowshipraleigh.com). This is a seminar that explores the “why” behind the “what” of the Christian faith.
For so long, I solely survived in the Christian faith through a close relationship with God, a one-on-one consistent conversation we would share on a daily basis. Somehow, I felt that I could sustain our relationship through conversation alone, but never put much importance on scripture. I think it was because I fell to believe that scripture was a work of man, a work with flaws possibly and merely a “guide” to follow through the journey.
I would read scripture and easily get lost in unfamiliar words or phrases. I would start with scripture and end with a lingering thought of what I would be presenting at my meeting the next morning. And it was not long ago that I started to ask myself the question, “Do I have enough self discipline to continue doing all these things I am called to do, yet I simply do not enjoy or understand it?”
I can’t imagine how insulting this was to the Lord, when I took it upon myself to take the journey alone, to ask these questions alone. How selfish was I to think that my calling was all about me and I would be the one carrying myself through the toughest times?? Praise God for being patient with me and waiting for the perfect moment to explain simply that God is the Word. Without the Word, it is not possible to grow in a deep and intimate relationship with the Lord. Hence, a void I was feeling all along.
I was blindsided by this epiphany, or “epimeno” moment, as our Pastor
Matt Schoolfield would call it (a greek word which means to abide in
God’s word). God desires for us to know Him as we would an intimate friend. He wants us to utilize the knowledge He has revealed about Himself in the Scriptures, so that we might enter into a deep, abiding and personal love relationship with Him. His revelations are His invitations to us to approach Him, speak to him, worship Him and know Him. As we personally respond according to these truths, we will find ourselves moving past mere facts about God to a deep, intimate communion with God. No other relationship could be more important or more promising than this one.
