I find it interesting how God aligns things when He wants to make a point. I had planned this email several weeks ago based on a devotion I had read by Oswald Chambers and a scripture God had quickened to me in my personal devotional time. Then this morning one of the guys in our men’s group brought a discussion based on our need to recognise our own our separation from God and our need for a Saviour.
In the Oswald Chambers devotion I read, he was pointing out that we need to make room for the impossible, the supernatural in our lives. Because only then do we begin to come to grips with our own need and spiritual poverty. If I am not moved by the Holy Spirit, I cannot begin to understand my need for salvation in my rational mind. Simply because I rationalise my behaviour and make excuses for myself based on rational thinking, therefore I have no need of a supernatural salvation.
The supernatural cannot stop at the point of salvation. I believe I must walk with the supernatural each day. If I don’t, I join a whole bunch of people who know about God, but don’t actually know God, and there is a significant difference. To know God, I must live with the supernatural because God is Spirit, not flesh and not rational. It is so easy to follow the process we use in the rest of life to learn about something so we can use it. But God will not be used, so instead of looking for information, I need to look for formation. Spiritual formation, the way we are formed spiritually, is how we are able to respond to God. I was taught in our school system to find information about a subject, but God is not a subject. This is rational thinking! It can be quite satisfying to learn new things, but does it grow us in our spiritual walk?
Through my spiritual walk I learned to experience God and therefore embarked on a supernatural journey. I learned to hear the voice of God by trial and error by having an expectation that God would move supernaturally. That doesn’t mean I get everything I want or always get it right, but I have seen God move supernaturally many times. If you are unsure about this, Henry Blackaby would suggest we start with the basic belief that God is always at work around us and speaking, if we just look and listen. So, I continue to look and find the activity of God. This has shown itself to be a truth over the years for me personally and for PK as an organisation. Henry Blackaby says we hear God through prayer, the Bible, circumstances, and the Church (the counsel of others and prophecy).
If I seek to understand everything, I limit God to the capacity I have to understand. But if I allow for the supernatural, I am opening myself up to the vast capacity of my Heavenly Father. The Bible is a book of the supernatural experiences of those that have gone before me. It is called the “living word of God” because it is supernaturally relevant even after thousands of years. The question is, am I prepared to join them and be part of His Story? My answer is yes, and I encourage you to join me.
Blessings
Paul Monahan