Day 33 – Issue 13

Be Still Know

John 14:17 NLT

‘He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world cannot receive him, because it isn’t looking for him and doesn’t recognize him. But you know him, because he lives with you now and later will be in you.’

I can remember when I first encountered Christ, I was convinced that only my own ignorance had prevented me from discovering him before. I imagined that everyone must have got a hold of this dynamic message of loving acceptance, yet for some reason I’d missed it entirely. So, eating with my parents in an Oxford restaurant on their first visit after my conversion, it was only slowly that I realised my somewhat loud and enthusiastic description of my journey to faith was causing not only them, but a good portion of the restaurant, some embarrassment.

Slowly, seated in that restaurant, not only did I discover Jesus is an embarrassment, but also that what was blindingly obvious to me remained a complete and utter mystery without the benefit of revelation. Simply put, one cannot be a Christian without the intervention of God’s spirit, who through revelation secures one’s conversion. In such a moment we are moved from darkness to light, from ignorance to understanding. No wonder Jesus stressed that only those with the ears to hear and the eyes to see might enter into his kingdom.

We hold it to be true that God makes every effort to communicate with each and every person on the earth, from the miracle of the natural world, through science and on to personal revelation. At the same time, each of us has the capacity to say ‘No’ to God. Mary, as she stood before the angel Gabriel, had the right to deny God’s request. Yet, she embraced God’s revelation for her life.

So with us; there is that moment of conversion, when the light quite literally goes on, and numerous, subsequent moments as God takes us deeper into his heart, and invites us to give ever more of ourselves to his service.

QUESTION: Who from among your circle of contacts is still waiting for the revelation of God’s reality?

PRAYER: Saviour King, I pray for my friends and family who do not yet know you; would you open their eyes to see you, their ears to hear you and their hearts to trust you?