Our time in the mountains, praying and listening to the Lord, was remarkable, leading us to very simple truths! However, putting them into practice could be a major step for us both. We went seeking to experience more of God’s love for us, and to fall more in love with him, and spent the afternoon in prayer, listening to what the Holy Spirit said to us.
We started out reading Galatians 2, from verse 15, which Mike’s Bible titles “What is central?”. That’s what we were here to find out! We understood it to be saying that none of our striving is relevant. We then read 1 John 4:16-17 (“God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgement, because in this world we have been like him”) and Galatians 3:2-3 “Did you receive the Spirit by observing the Law, or by believing what you heard? Are you so foolish? Are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort?” We started to think that what we were seeking had actually already been done, and we just need to grasp hold of it by faith. We coined the phrase “receiving by believing” based on Galatians 3:2. (We thought this sounded rather close to ‘Name it and claim it’, which made us laugh.)
Reading John 14: “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going”. Thomas then says “Lord, we do not know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”. Jesus replies “I am the way and the truth and the life”. Linking that with Jesus’ statement that “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father”, something began to dawn on us: the centre and the aim of our faith is the Father and our relationship with him; however, we have only seen as much of Jesus as the Holy Spirit has revealed to us. So, our aim is the Father, Jesus is the way, and the Holy Spirit is our guide. We began to realise that our Christian life is a journey toward our Father. We actually do not know fully where the journey ends, so should be content where we are. We both sensed quite strongly that the Holy Spirit was saying “Stop trying to be where you’re not”, or perhaps more understandably in this context, “Enjoy where you are, and don’t be frustrated that you have not yet reached your aim.” I could compare that to my current journey, which will end back home in Switzerland. It would be ridiculous for me to be frustrated that I am not there right now, because I am in the right place according to the journey plan. I cannot simply stay in the same place all the time, though, because I would not reach my destination. So it is in the Spirit: enjoy where we are, but keep moving.
Looking at the river where we spent Friday afternoon, we felt the Holy Spirit speaking to us, telling us that there are times in our lives at which we experience God very intensely (the rapids and waterfalls), but that there are also times at which the experience is less intense (where the water flows smoothly). It is the same water, and the same river, at both times. We should not expect it to be very intense all the time, but instead also be satisfied with the more serene times. Quite contrary to what we often hear or say as Christians, the phrase that came to my mind was “Go with the flow” – of the Spirit!
We separated for a time of personal prayer. I started by asking “What should I be doing?” and immediately sensed God saying “Relax! I love you!” I responded by asking “But shouldn’t I….”, but my question was cut off by the response “Relax! I love you!”. I took me a while to get the message. So, I did experience the Father’s love, just as I had been seeking.
When Mike returned, we discovered that we had both had very similar impressions about what the Lord was saying. The first word he had written was “Relax”!
Summarizing what we understood from our times of prayer: don’t worry about not yet having reached the goal; it is a journey, and as long as we aim to finish it instead of staying where we are, we will progress. Also, relax, and do not be concerned about many things; our Father loves us and takes care of us. We should not worry about many things, but simply listen to the Holy Spirit speaking to us, and do what he says. Looking back, those are pretty basic truths, but it was very relaxing and encouraging to hear them afresh from God in our present situations. Now we just need to apply them in our daily lives 🙂