My life dramatically changed in the fall of 2016. I had been at a discipleship training school for roughly a month and a half. Each week we had approximately thirty hours of phenomenal teaching from various people. The teachings were profound and revelatory, opening my eyes to the Kingdom of God and the nature of Jesus Christ.
However, there is one particular morning I will never forget. All week Randy, a guest speaker, had been teaching on the authority that we have been given in Christ. He taught upwards of twenty-five hours that week, blowing my mind as he opened up the Word of God in a fresh, new way.
He walked into class Friday morning, intently looked around the room, and said, “There is no person on planet earth who is my best friend. My wife is not my best friend. The Holy Spirit is my best friend.” At that moment, my spiritual jaw dropped wide open. At the time, I would not have been able to articulate it this way, but it was as if oil from heaven was being released from Randy’s mouth. My heart turned, and inwardly I shouted, “If that is real, I have to have it.”
Randy had told us how he got up at five AM every morning with his cup of coffee to commune with the Spirit. I had no context to even dream of waking up that early to be with God. But I thought, if it works for Randy, I wonder if it will work for me. The next day I woke up bright and early, put on a pot of coffee, and ran up to the prayer room that was located on the highest floor of the apartment complex we were staying in. I was hungry, desperate, and deeply desiring an encounter with God.
I am not sure why, but that first morning I was in the prayer room, I got down on my knees, placed my Bible beside me, and told God, “I am not opening my Bible until you meet me the way you met Randy.” You see, at that time, the Bible was as boring as boring gets for me. It made no sense, and when I tried to read it for more than five minutes, I began to fall asleep. I heard my whole life it was “active, living, breathing, and alive.” But to be honest, I found it boring, somewhat pointless, and irrelevant to my life.
Day after day, I went up to that room, singing praises to the Lord, persistently asking him to encounter me the way he encountered Randy. Three days passed. Then five. Then seven. All of the sudden, on day fourteen, I was once again on my knees praying to God when what felt like fire rushed through my whole body. Up to this point, I had never experienced something like this in my life. I simply sat there for minutes as what felt like hours continued. God was near. He was nearer than my skin and more real than what I could see.
While there are countless testimonies of the reality of that encounter, the greatest one I can give is the hunger and desire I instantly had for his Word. I opened up the Bible, and what once felt boring came alive. What once put me to sleep began to keep me up at night. The best way I know how to describe what the Bible became for me comes from the words of Jesus, “Man shall not live on bread alone, but every word that comes from the mouth of God.” Matthew 4:4 (NIV) Suddenly, the Word of God gave more satisfaction to my soul than food did to my stomach. I became overwhelmed by his love and obsessed with his words.
He pursued me, provoked me, and then placed his seal of fire upon me. Everything changed. Since that day, I have been on a journey of learning about his love. He continued to teach me what I didn’t know while asking me to let go of a lot I did know.
I was blinded to what was available to me in Christ. I didn’t know what I didn’t know. I wasn’t aware his love was so fierce, passionate, and near. I thought it was an aspect of God that existed far off in heaven. I didn’t know it was experientially available to me now. He peeled back the blinders and let me see, feel, and touch his love. It changed my life.
To be honest, I do not remember anything else Randy said during the remainder of his teaching that week. I also doubt the phrase that helped shift the trajectory of my life meant anything to anyone else. But to me, it meant everything. This is a point that should be stated loud and clear. One word from a mouth partnering with the heart of God can shift the trajectory of another’s life forever. Randy’s did to me. Yours can to others.
Like me, God is wooing each of us to himself. He is pursuing you with passion, wanting to provoke you to himself through others’ testimonies, so he can set his seal of fire upon your heart. Today, lean in with passion and let go of the boxes you have put him in; he wants to lavish you with his love.
“Fasten me upon your heart as a seal of fire forevermore. This living, consuming flame will seal you as my prisoner of love … Everything will be consumed. It will stop at nothing as you yield everything to this furious fire until it won’t even seem to you like a sacrifice anymore.” —Song of Songs 8:6a,7b (TP)
