The Holy Spirit is Not Bound By Our Perceptions
We have this backward idea that what happens in church is sacred, but what happens in the rest of our lives is secular. This division of our hearts and minds is what hinders us from being free to walk with God wherever we go. We minimize His power in the places that we don’t consider sacred.
This is one of the ways we underestimate the power of the Holy Spirit to do great and mighty works in our lives and far beyond. One of the ways we just saw God bring about a marvelous work even in our government system is through the nomination and election of Mike Johnson as Speaker of the House. It’s something most of us never expected or saw coming, but it is in many ways an answer to prayer to see a mighty man of God lifted up in that kind of position in the middle of our darkest days.
This helps us to answer the question: Does God reside only within the four walls of a church? Does He only have to use a preacher to open our hearts to His Word? Can His precious written words not spring to life for us in the midst of our mundane lives—in our careers, around a water cooler, or even on an airplane with a member of Congress?
No, God is not confined to our own perceptions. Instead, He is able to do so much more than what we could ever expect. He can work just as easily in the halls of Congress or the White House as He can through a missionary, a church or a nonprofit organization.
We limit God’s involvement in our lives everyday when we tell Him how, when, and where He can move through us. By not inquiring of Him in every circumstance, we hinder the partnership that we were created for from the beginning. The prayer that Jesus taught us to pray says, “Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Luke 11:2).
When we live out biblical Christianity, heaven impacts earth through our lives as we walk with God. Remember how God walked in the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve? Rebellion formed in their hearts, they chose to disobey, and sin entered the world.
Wasn’t the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross the breakthrough needed to bring us back into relationship with our Creator?
Yes, Jesus reconciled humankind back to that intimate walk with God as in the garden. Hearing God speak now is as simple as being open to His still small voice in our hearts and letting His Word reign supreme in every part of our lives. “To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out” (John 10:3).
God loves to speak, but the question is: Are we listening?
God hears the cries of His people, and when we cry out for change, He is able to hear us and answer us according to His will. We just need to keep an open ear and heart for what He has. Sometimes we will like the answer, and other times we won’t. But regardless of how He answers, God can speak to us all in multiple ways. He can cause a scripture to jump off the page at just the right time or use a friend to encourage us. He can send a dream to speak destiny or a divine appointment to walk us through a challenging time.
“God shows no partiality” (Acts 10:34). He can speak to all of us.
Out of His eternal love, He desires to walk and talk with us. This love is why Jesus came—born of a virgin, leaving His heavenly home to become a baby in a manager, and to live a sinless life with a community of people. As Jesus went to the cross, His whole vision was to restore us to a relationship with the Father and to bring humanity back to the garden.
We can’t discount the voice of the Lord in our lives—to speak to us, or to use us to speak to others. God will walk, talk, and use us in other’s lives as long as we are sensitive to His presence and His voice.
His presence can go into a room with us as we sit beside someone who needs our help, or He can provide encouragement and wisdom through us to someone on an airline flight. We must only be obedient to take Him with us—making sure everything in our lives remains sacred.
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