IF WE SHOW UP, HE SHOWS UP
I was telling my friend that I get a little nervous every
time I go to write one of these preach letters, and sometimes have no idea
what’s going to come out. I told her: “I do know this much, if I just show up,
He shows up.” Later, I got to thinking about that statement. We all have
certain places we can go where the Lord meets us, a certain chair we like, a
bench out in the yard, a path in the woods, or behind the wheel of the car on a
favorite roadway. For me, it’s in my chair where I sit and pray every morning.
If we show up, He will be there every time.
Our Lord Jesus had His favorite places to go, where He
could talk to God alone. One of those places was a mountain. “And when he had
sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart
to pray: and when the evening was come, he was there alone” (Matt. 14:23).
And John 6:14: “When Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take
him by force, to make him a king, he departed again into a mountain himself
alone.”
John 7:53 to John 8:1 tells us that after a long day of
preaching and ministering to the people, “every man went unto his own
house. Jesus went unto the mount of Olives.”
Just think about it a few minutes. When you're facing a
really tough situation, where do you go to calm down or clear your head? Jesus
had his favorite locations. You do too. You may not have recognized it as such,
but let’s start paying attention to what touches our souls. Intimacy with the
Lord has to look like something in our natural realm.
Jesus went to a mountain, and sometimes He went to a
garden. “When Jesus had spoken these words, he went forth with his disciples
over the brook Cedron, where was a garden, into the which he entered, and his
disciples” (John 18:1). “Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place
called Gethsemane, and saith unto the disciples, ‘Sit ye here, while I go
and pray yonder’” (Matt. 26:36).
Where is it that you feel the closest to God? Sitting in
your bed in the middle of the afternoon, when there’s no one else around? Or is
it on a brisk walk around the block in your neighborhood? Or is it sitting
quietly in your church on a day and time when hardly any people are around?
Inside of you, you already know where one of your special
places is, a physical place where the Lord has met you before. If you are
really trying to think of where it is, and you don’t really think you have one,
that’s okay; this will be a new adventure for you to find it.
Prayerfully ask the Lord to show you, and then do the
first thing that comes to mind. Often when we’re learning to hear the voice of
the Lord, we practice by asking a simple question and then just doing the first
thing that comes to mind. 99% of the time, it will be the Lord. You can even
just walk around your house or be in a place that makes you feel comfortable
and ask a simple yes-or-no question: “Is this the place?”
The Lord wants you to hear His voice even more than you
do! Don’t second-guess yourself. Take the first thought and go for it. Don’t be
afraid. If you just show up, He’ll be there the first time and every time
after.
Our real-life intimate locations already exist. They are
within easy reach of where we are. Recognize and report for duty. The Lord is
waiting for you.
God is everywhere, but intimacy with Him needs to look
like something. The relationship needs to be real to us.
Love, Carolyn
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