(Isaiah 61:1)
The spirit of the Lord is on Me, (He is with you, and His Spirit Speaks)
Recently, I’ve been reading in Isaiah and this passage of scripture and I believe it is a passage of encouragement and also something we should keep in our hearts. For the next couple of weeks, I’ll be breaking down Isaiah 61:1-11 and I encourage you to read the passage and take notes on what it says to you. This is what He’s been revealing to me in the first section of the passage. When He says, “The spirit of the Lord is with me He is also saying that He is with us as well. That the Holy Spirit is with us in all things and that when we lean in and listen for His voice that it will reveal things to us only He can. In times of joy and in times of sorrow I can pinpoint the times the spirit has spoken and other times I have to journal and pray about what it says. One of my examples was this blog and why I wanted to start it and in the season of freewriting in my journals thinking this would just be writing to reflect on for myself the spirit began to speak saying that it was time to share it with others. It took a long time for me to confirm it for myself but in the end, when we truly meditate on the constant words being spoken over us we can begin seeing the pattern of how the spirit speaks to us.
Sometimes it’s a still and small voice like a whisper.
Sometimes it’s a friendly soothing voice that props you to step out and be yourself.
Sometimes it has to get your attention so it sounds like a jolting voice that all of the sudden you are stopped in your tracks.
All three of these have been how the spirit speaks to me but it is different for everyone and to learn to be still and listen for it can be one of the most rewarding feelings in the end if we choose to put distractions away and sit back and allow the spirit to speak instead of the world, media, distractions, options, and sometimes even our prayers. God loves it when we speak and ask Him of things and give thanks, but when was the last time you allowed the spirit to speak? Here’s a picture for you, when you go out with a friend and you both have so much to share but at the end of the coffee date you realize you didn’t hear anything the other person shared about it… awkward right! Just like in any relationship we need to remember that God wants to share things with us and that we should listen for Him to speak. In our busy lives with school, work, activities, daily chores, and to-do lists we need to remember to make room for our conversations and listen for Jesus.
One of my favorite memories of this summer was watching babies in our childcare. There was one who came very consistently because her mom was a camp counselor so she worked most of the day. In times where the mom was super busy, I would take her sweet little girl into my classroom, turn the lights off, grab a blanket and bottle and try to get her to nap. She was super feisty and wasn’t one who liked nap time and for three days she didn’t fall asleep which is never good when you come five days a week to daycare. On the fifth day, I decided to do something different to help not only my frustration with the fact I couldn’t get this baby to sleep but also my anger was beginning to show, and so that afternoon with the same routine I played acoustic worship set in the background and was silently rocking the baby back and forth sitting in my wheelchair. In a few minutes, the baby stopped fighting me and began to relax and instead of frustration and exhaustion I felt peace in the room and began to pray over the little one. My eyes welled up with tears as the spirit began to speak at that moment and for the first time in a long time my workplace in a daycare environment where there is always noise and chaos and things to do I could slow down even while working and listen for the Holy Spirit to calm my heart and allow it to lead me instead of leaning on my own strength. I could see how the spirit leads even in our everyday lives as long as we allow God to take over our busy bee minds.
He speaks to you
The Spirit speaks to you
Take a deep breath
Slow down
Where the spirit of the Lord is there is so much depth to unpack and it’s all waiting for you.
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