The other day God really touched my heart in a special way and brought me to a place of just really falling in love with Him again. I wish I could say it was because I threw off all the things that were distracting me and sought God until He came and touched me with a fresh wind of His Spirit. I wish I could say I willed myself into falling in love with Him again. I wish I could say I followed three easy steps and brought a new wave of life into my spiritual walk. The truth was, I can’t think of anything I did differently. I was aware that God has been doing a work in my life lately. In Ephesians it has a passage that seems to speak to this:
Ephesians 2:4,5 – But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.
This verse came alive to me the other day in my study time, and I realized that what this meant was that He came and caused us to suddenly be alive to hearing His voice and desiring Him. It was like a dead man, who has no desires is suddenly made alive and can feel again and long for life. God comes and breathes on us and gives us a chance to come alive to Him. We always have the ability to let ourselves be distracted, or resist Him and fight this life He offers, but He is the only one who can initiate it. Before He comes, we have no desire for Him. If we have a desire for Him, it is because he has already given us life.
I have heard different successful pastors and those starting different ministries say that they don’t really know why or how their ministry grew. I used to think they were just not very aware of themselves or not good teachers or there was something wrong with their perspective on humility. All they seemed to know was that God came and made the difference. I am beginning to see the truth in that. I think that God comes and gives us the opportunity to be changed and made alive, and we can then accept and allow Him to continue to fill us as we surrender and submit to Him, or we can resist Him and He will go away for a time to wait until we are willing to become willing to love Him.