I don’t know where it started, but somewhere along the way, most of us have started believing a lie. The lie is that deep intimacy with the Lord, or amazing experiences with Him, aren’t meant for us, but only certain, special people.
The reality is that the Lord wants an intimate relationship with all of His children, and that being on fire for the Lord isn’t just for some people, it’s for all believers.
I know that for most of my Christian walk, there have been people that I have idolized because of the way that they live their lives with the Lord (if you’ve ever read a book like Kisses From Katie, you know what I’m talking about). I look at my life, the sin that I keep hidden, and the struggles that I don’t talk about, and it’s easy to think that I could never be like them. I struggled (and still do) with envy and jealously over that perceived ease with which these people live their lives for the Lord, and do amazing things in His name. It’s something that I wanted, but it never seemed like something I could actually have, and for a long time I felt defeated because it didn’t come natural to me, like I assumed that it did for others.
But that’s just it- it doesn’t come naturally for anyone, that’s not reality- it’s a perceived reality. Those ‘spiritual titans’ that I look up to, are still just people who are messy, sinful, and who are in need of God’s grace.
Living a life of intimacy with the Lord does not require moving to a different country or traveling the world (unless He specifically calls you to that- and, who knows, He might). Intimacy just requires that we seek Him with our whole hearts and are willing to lay our wants and desires down at His feet. God knows all about our sin and our short comings, but it doesn’t scare Him. He still wants more of us. We don’t have to be satisfied with a ‘Sunday morning’ kind of faith. God wants to make Monday mornings feel like great adventures, and Thursday nights feel restful, even when they aren’t. A life lived for the Lord is a life of finding joy and adventure in the every day, and a life of living with your eyes open to what the Lord is doing around you. It’s setting your focus on the Lord, and not the storm, or what others are doing. That feeling of ‘I’m never going to be where they are’ isn’t going to go away if we continue to focus on other people’s relationship to the Lord instead of the Lord Himself.
In the past few years, I have experienced a shift in my relationship with God and I have seen His influence and importance grow in my life. When that happened, my life changed- completely. I began to see areas of my life where I had been paying more attention to my flesh, and actively ignoring what the Lord says is true. I began to see the Lord moving and working in my life, just as He always had, but now I noticed. The Lord was faithful to be found when I started to truly seek Him, and the seeking Him changed my life. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve been walking with the Lord for a majority of my life, but for a long time I was following God while not giving Him my whole heart or attention. Since coming on the Race, the change that I have experienced in me has become more noticeable to the people around me, partly because I’ve been given a platform to be more vocal about it (via this blog), and partly because my life does look noticeably different. But with those changes, I’ve noticed that the way that people talk about me, or to me, has changed, and I’ve come to the realization that people might be viewing me more as a ‘Kisses From Katie’ kind of person, instead of the regular ol’ Joe Schmoe that I am.
Don’t let me fool you, I still get more things wrong than I do right, I still struggle, and I still have to remind myself of the promises of God whenever the world feels like its coming apart around me. The change that has happened in my life, hasn’t happened over night, because an intimate relationship with God doesn’t happen overnight. I don’t want my experience on the Race, or even my relationship with the Lord, to be seen as is unobtainable, because it’s not.
The Race has been a place that has allowed me to continue to grow and focus on the Lord, but it isn’t a prerequisite for intimacy with the Lord, or even exciting adventures.
We can seek Him right where we are, and we can start today. The Holy Spirit is inside of all believers and He is at work in all places. He wants to be at work within you, and He wants to partner with you to love others and to grow the Kingdom of God.
Don’t allow the lie that this isn’t meant for you stop you from taking ahold of what has already been extended to you. Don’t let comparison and false perceptions keep you from being faithful to where the Lord has planted you. Some people see international missions as being the ‘most important’ role in God’s kingdom, or that mission is something only set aside for a certain kind of person, but guess what: God doesn’t call everyone to international missions (so stop treating it like it’s the end all, be all), or even to full time ministry, but He calls everyone to missions.
God calls us to live on mission with Him every day, and every day it can look different:
Maybe today He is calling you to talk to the lady in front of you in the check out line and tell her that the Lord loves her.
Maybe today He is calling you to be bold and have that hard conversation with your family and seek forgiveness.
Maybe today He is asking you to do nothing at all and to rest with Him and practice Sabbath (it’s a Ten Commandment y’all).
Or maybe today He is calling you to go and serve your neighbor next door, or the one half way around the world.
He is calling you to something, and through that calling He wants to build intimacy and connection with you, as well as make His kingdom known to those around Him. He wants us to see outside of ourselves, to all that He is doing in the world. He wants us, don’t wait for tomorrow.
I don’t want to leave you without any practical advice, so heres what has worked for me as I’ve tried to seek the Lord over the last few years:
- Read through the Bible- I started by reading through the New Testament, now I’m reading through the Old Testament. She Reads Truth, and He Reads Truth are great Bible reading plans (And they have an app too.)
- Write in a journal- I write prayers, thoughts, questions, and basically anything and everything. When I write, I write as if I’m talking to the Lord, and my journalling time becomes my prayer time more often than not.
- Do Bible studies with friends (I used the Bible app) it’s a great way to grow closer to the Lord while also building a Godly community.
- Honestly just doing what I feel He wants me to do- even when it’s scary.
Much Love,
Morgan
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