It’s About Love

I took my seat behind my computer and prayed, Lord, what do You want to say to her? What do You want to remind her of? What do You want to teach her? What do You want her to know about who You are?

I waited, listening for His voice. Becky, begin with love, God answered. Tell her it’s because I love her that I made a way for us to be together. Tell her I sent My Son and My Spirit so I could be close to her just because I love her so much.

We try to make our lives as followers of Jesus about so many things. But the foundation of all we believe is that the Father so loved us that He bought back our eternal relationship through the blood of Jesus (see John 3:16). The Father so loved us that He wouldn’t leave us orphans, and even after Jesus came and returned to Heaven, He sent His Spirit so we could be together. Jesus asked the Father to

give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever — the Spirit of truth... I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. — John 14:16, John 14:18 NIV

Love.

I don’t know what you’ve faced or even if it’s morning, afternoon, or night as you read this. But I know this with full certainty: God is with you and wants to take all the cares you’ve been shouldering. He didn’t form the earth and then step back, brushing the dust from creation off His hands, leaving us to figure out each day on our own. He’s the God who sent His Son in the flesh and sent His Spirit into our hearts so He could walk each dusty day with us, washing off the worries of the world with the fresh, living water of His presence.

God Wants You to Know Him

As a child, I saw God do wonderful works that still cause me to marvel at His awesome power. These events marked me. I became unsatisfied with just hearing about God. I wanted to meet with Him again and again, and I learned He wanted to keep meeting with me too.

As I grew, I also learned another foundational truth that has given my faith solid ground throughout most of my life: Who God is today is exactly who He has always been. He created us to know Him, and through the sacrifice of Jesus and the gift of the Holy Spirit, we can be together with Him forever — beginning right now.

I learned that the Holy Spirit reveals Himself in the Word throughout history and the Early Church. And I learned that one moment in God’s presence can do more to transform a person’s life than a thousand moments simply hearing about Him. He isn’t just out there but is a real, loving friend who comes close and speaks directly to us.

• As Believers, we are carriers of His Spirit and have been filled with His power and presence, and it’s for His glory that we’ve been given gifts to impact the world and reveal the message of Jesus.

We must know what it means for God to go with us wherever we go. We must learn to hear His voice and follow it, not just for the world out there but also for the sake of our own relationship with the Lord and for the people He has placed in our lives for a purpose.

Friend, I don’t know if you’ve already learned this or if you just need a reminder, but Jesus didn’t give His life simply so we could spend eternity with Him after we die. The Father sent Jesus so we could become fully alive in Christ and be full of His power right now, while there is still breath in our lungs. He is available. His heart is turned toward us. And He is with us through His Holy Spirit today.

I don’t know what your relationship with the Holy Spirit has been like in the past. I don’t know what you’ve been taught or who you have known Him to be leading up to this moment. But He wants to meet you as He met me and millions of others. He doesn’t want you to be enraptured by just one encounter. He wants to fill you and for you to be aware of His presence continually, every day of your life — each one a reminder of God’s purposeful pursuit of your heart. I believe this is the deep longing of our hearts: to know God as He intended us to know Him. As the ancient worshiper said,

My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God. — Psalm 84:2 NIV

Adapted with permission from God So Close: Experience a Life Awakened to His Spirit by Becky Thompson.

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Your Turn

The Holy Spirit wants us to know Him so He can make Jesus real to us. Sit and ask the Spirit to meet with you and teach you. Ask the Holy Spirit to take what you thought you knew about Him and clarify it. Scripture plainly says,

The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. — 1 Corinthians 2:14 NIV

Explore through the Word and by walking in faith what it means to be awakened by the Spirit of God and experience God So Close.