In Lesotho I had the chance to speak at one of our church services. God had been putting something on my heart that I felt I should share. Below isn’t exactly what I shared that day because God didn’t have me prepare or write down in advance what He wanted me to say. I kind of just ‘winged it’. Here is the best recap I can give you all of what was said.
I talked about the idea of MORE.
God has been continually showing me that He always has more for me. He has been showing me to constantly search for more of Him in so many different ways.
Growing up I always believed in Him. Knew He was real and knew that I had accepted Him into my heart and that I was ‘saved’. But after I graduated college I came to a revelation that okay yes, God exists… So what does that mean to me during my life? Is there more to this?
I was convinced in my heart that there was more. God was slowly calling myself to Him and telling me that yes there is more. And I made a decision then that I wanted to find out what that more was with God. The first ‘more’ that God showed me was how active and involved He wanted to be in my life. He showed me that there is more to being a Christian than going to church, being a good person, and saying the right things. And that is a personal relationship with Him.
At that time in my life I longed and yearned for that relationship. God was showing me that He was as well. When I moved in with my parents in Idaho my goal for my move was to find God; to rededicate my life to pursuing this relationship with Him. At that time I had a lot of false beliefs about God. God seemed big and far and that He was watching me for every mistake I made. I felt unworthy, unholy, ugly, and dirty in front of Him. How can you have a relationship with someone who you think you are unworthy for? God showed me that in order to start a relationship with Him I needed to first learn about Him. I needed to learn how God saw me.
Upon moving to Idaho I started going to my parents’ church’s year long bible school program. It was there that I learned what it meant to have a real and healthy relationship with the Lord. I learned things about who God was that I never had learned before. I saw Him as my father, my friend, my comforter, my savior. I also realized that He didn’t see me as dirty or unholy, but actually the opposite. That all my mistakes were washed away once and for all by Christ and that He now sees my worth. Worthy to be His daughter, His bride.
With this new perspective on God I knew that a relationship was possible and what He wanted. I learned so much about God that year. I also learned to pray, to talk to Him, and to rely on Him… but still there was something more that I was still missing.
One day I was out with two friends I had met at the church. Two girls my age who were also following after God in their lives. The way they were talking about God and how God worked and spoke in their lives was foreign to me. I understood it as a concept but not as reality in my life. I knew then that I was missing something. That there was more.
The second really big ‘more’ in my life was learning how to hear God’s voice. What does this mean? Well it was a relationship I was seeking and a relationship can only last so long when one side is doing all the talking and not hearing anything back for the other. I was there. At that point where I wanted more than an ear or just to know about God. I wanted Him to speak to me. To have a relationship with Him where He speaks to me and I listen. Where I know His voice, the way He moves and works in my life and where I can recognize Him working.
Learning to hear His voice in your life is not overnight and is not easy. I once had it described to me as learning a new language. That it takes practice and that at first you only learn the simple little words. Maybe you get little pictures or a few words, but soon you start to understand how He communicates and then you pick up so much more that He really is saying to you. You get the sentences, the concepts, the big pictures on what He is showing you. You see, God speaks to us all differently in many different ways. He is always trying to reach us. It is us who are unaware of how He speaks so we do not realize He is trying.
I learned that the first thing you need to know to start to hear God’s voice is to believe without a doubt that God WANTS and IS trying to speak to you. Job 33:14 says, “For God does speak- now one way, now another- though man may not perceive it.” When we start to be convinced that God wants to speak to us it becomes easier to to want to spend time with Him and search for Him in your life.
Looking back on my life I can see many things things where God was trying to get my attention; trying to communicate to me, and trying to speak to me. But I had no idea. I didn’t know He was trying and I didn’t know how to listen. Though now I do have a better understanding of how God speaks to me and I hear Him often, it is still difficult. At times I don’t get anything from Him for a long time. Other times I get a ton of words of encouragement for myself or for people and maybe understanding into situations and other times I don’t. It’s still a growing process. It’s still learning the language of my Father. And my Father is far greater than I. I will never be able to fully understand Him. I pick up probably a very small portion of what He is trying to communicate to me. Partly is because, well… compared to Him.. I am just not that smart. 😉
Even with all that I have learned and grown in Him, He still has more for me. More for me to find and experience, more for me to live in. So He sent me on this race. 11 countries in 11 months, living in community with over 20 people, serving and loving after God’s own heart. On this race I have seen God’s ‘more’ in forms of more freedom, peace, love, joy, and discernment.
In month four, China, I had a vision during one of our worship sessions. I was in a dark alley and there was a corner ahead of me that turned right. From the right there was a glow of light. There was something great in that direction, and I knew that it was the ‘more’ God had been speaking to me about. All I had to do was walk down the alley and turn the corner and then I will see it. Well when I started that direction there were things holding me back. They were bonds that were holding me back. I couldn’t see them but I could feel that they were there. They were holding me back from discovering the ‘more’ God had promised and was wanting to show me. I started to pray that God would reveal to me what was holding me back from experiencing and growing more in Him.
You see God is not a stagnant God. He is always moving, working and growing us to be more like Christ and live in more freedoms each day. Neither should we be stagnant in our walk with Him. He wants us to continually ask for more; to seek more of Him, His presence, His power, His authority, His joy, His peace, His love.
I want to challenge you to seek the ‘more’ in your life. What is the ‘more’ that God has for you right now in this time of your life? Also, what is hindering you or stopping you from reaching the ‘more’ that Christ has for you? What are the strings or bonds that are holding you back?
God always has more for us to find of Him. What’s your next ‘more’?
