This song has always reminded me of a “call out” song, or “pep rally song.” I always expect to see flashing lights and an announcer say, “Are you ready for this?” like the song at the beginning of a basketball game.

Or maybe I have thought about this too much!

(verse 1)
From wherever spring arrives to heal the ground
From where ever searching comes to look itself
A trace of what we’re looking for
So be quiet now, and wait

(verse 2)
And what was said to the rose to make it unfold
Was said to me, here in my chest
So be quiet now, and rest.

There is a time and place for vague poetry. Some words are worth untangling. But public worship is not a place to confuse people with hidden meanings. At least not if the song is intended to be sung by everyone.

Here I raise my Ebenezer falls under this category, which just breaks my heart. I love Come Thou Fount!

One other factor I’ll point out: in the Bible, not only was God’s direct revelation to people scary and paradigm-shifting … it was also EXTREMELY rare. Think of the millions of people whose lives are encapsulated in the Bible accounts, and the thousands of years of history that are covered. Whole generations of millions of people went by where there was “no word from the Lord.” Direct words from the Lord happened rarely, to a few people. And now we have millions of people assuming that God is speaking to them all the time and guiding them to find a good parking place at the mall? Not so sure about that.

Why do we prioritize singing and lecturing over confessing to each other and praying for each other? There are a lot of Christians walking around with open wounds and limps because we choose to not be healed.

Now after that I had a serious time of recording what I thought I had heard from God, and measuring it up against scripture and Biblical principle. Yes, I believe God speaks in ‘out there ways’, big prophetic experiences voices and all that, but there are also many other voices which speak to us. This is why our honesty and our motives are always important. I also think this brings in the importance of confirmation through scripture and the witness of those within the body of Christ. He never leaves us to battle with it ourselves.

I believe God can give us revelation that many may not agree with, but if we have contextual scriptural confirmation and our brethren confirm the word which has been spoken to us we are safe. God will always confirm his word, often through the scripture. I think he does this because it safeguards us against error.

Blessings

Christian

Occasionally, I take my son on prayer walks around our neighborhood, and a funny thing has happened. To my eyes, the neighborhood hasn’t changed much, but my prayer walking is changing.

On one walk, I passed a guy working on his lawn. I said hello, threw out a quip about being productive, and kept on walking. As soon as he was out of my periphery, I got the idea that I should ask him if I could pray for him.

“Next person,” I told myself as I continued on, speaking out loud my prayers as I pushed Nathan in the stroller.

A few streets later, Nathan pointed to a little girl standing in her driveway. Her mother was taking out the trash.

“That’s a little girl, huh?” I commented, followed by a friendly “hello” to the mother. We were past the house before I remembered that I was going to ask if I could pray for her. I wondered if I was being forgetful or willfully negligent in passing up these opportunities.

Heading up our street to go back home, we saw one more person, a woman raking weeds in her front yard. I said hello and commented on her yard and her diligence. Before the conversation ended, I crossed to her side of the street and mentioned our mission for this walk.

“Our neighborhood needs it,” she said.

Then I made my pitch: “I don’t mean to push anything on you, but is there anything we could pray about for you?”

Without hesitation, our neighbor explained what was happening lately in her life, and how we might pray for her. We learned that she follows Jesus and she shared a good deal about her family. Before walking on, I prayed a quick prayer aloud for her requests, then wished her a good day.

Over all these months of praying over our streets, it’s never once struck me to stop and pray with our neighbors. I’ve prayed for husbands, wives, parents, children, and I’ve prayed that God would reveal himself to our neighbors. I just didn’t think that he wanted to reveal himself right there on the street during our prayer walk. I’ll be walking a lot more carefully on our next walk.

Occasionally, I take my son on prayer walks around our neighborhood, and a funny thing has happened. To my eyes, the neighborhood hasn’t changed much, but my prayer walking is changing.

On one walk, I passed a guy working on his lawn. I said hello, threw out a quip about being productive, and kept on walking. As soon as he was out of my periphery, I got the idea that I should ask him if I could pray for him.

“Next person,” I told myself as I continued on, speaking out loud my prayers as I pushed Nathan in the stroller.

A few streets later, Nathan pointed to a little girl standing in her driveway. Her mother was taking out the trash.

“That’s a little girl, huh?” I commented, followed by a friendly “hello” to the mother. We were past the house before I remembered that I was going to ask if I could pray for her. I wondered if I was being forgetful or willfully negligent in passing up these opportunities.

Heading up our street to go back home, we saw one more person, a woman raking weeds in her front yard. I said hello and commented on her yard and her diligence. Before the conversation ended, I crossed to her side of the street and mentioned our mission for this walk.

“Our neighborhood needs it,” she said.

Then I made my pitch: “I don’t mean to push anything on you, but is there anything we could pray about for you?”

Without hesitation, our neighbor explained what was happening lately in her life, and how we might pray for her. We learned that she follows Jesus and she shared a good deal about her family. Before walking on, I prayed a quick prayer aloud for her requests, then wished her a good day.

Over all these months of praying over our streets, it’s never once struck me to stop and pray with our neighbors. I’ve prayed for husbands, wives, parents, children, and I’ve prayed that God would reveal himself to our neighbors. I just didn’t think that he wanted to reveal himself right there on the street during our prayer walk. I’ll be walking a lot more carefully on our next walk.

As an adult, I have some friends who use the language “God spoke to me”. I love these people dearly, but don’t always agree with their interpretation of God’s voice. However, I try to remember that I could be wrong. As long as God’s voice doesn’t directly contradict what has already been revealed in scripture, I stay open to their experiences.

I often wish God would call more “audibles” in my life. Like a clear, VERY clear voice. Not the still small kind, but the stop you in your tracks kind of voice. This has happened to me only once. And the words were a direct quotation from scripture. It both challenged me to change, and offered encouragement. The voice came so completely out of the blue and was such a loud impression in my head that it felt as if it were an actual, living being saying them. This is my only experience with God’s voice.

I hesitate to press send- whatever will people think?!? But you are asking good questions. I hope others will tell their experiences too.

If we had been told that, though, probably not nearly as many people would have gone through with it. This may not be everyone’s experience, but it was certainly mine.

I’ve always wanted to read this at a wedding.

The Bible is a “who-is” book, rather than a “how-to” book. Jesus didn’t come to show us the right way to do church. He came to be our indwelling Lord. We don’t need better biblical interpretation. We need to look to our active, living lord and let him lead our gatherings.

When we let Jesus lead our plans and also our real-time words and actions,new and surprising things are bound to happen. It might not look exactly like it did in one or more passages of the Bible. If all the members of the group submit to Jesus’s direction, it won’t conflict with the Bible, and that will be enough.

And you KNOW I would get you a puppy in a heartbeat except I fundamentally don’t believe in Pugs. But that pic is pretty stinking cute.

Where are you registering anyway?