Several years ago, I found myself asking the question “Is this it? Is this what Christianity is all about?” Don’t get me wrong: I loved the Lord. I knew Him. I accepted Jesus as a young child and had followed him ever since. I did all the things that good Christians do: I attended church weekly, volunteered to help with different outreaches or ministries, read my Bible, prayed. I was checking all the right boxes. I had a solid, real relationship with the Lord and truly loved Him, but I felt like there was more- like I was perhaps missing out on something deeper, more meaningful, maybe even more adventurous than just surviving and floating through life.
Feeling motivated by my query, I decided it was time to dig deeper so I joined a Bible study. I realized that even though I had been studying the Bible alone, I gained much more insight from being in the group with other, more mature Christians. Their testimonies sparked me to desire more for my own walk. I delved into the scriptures like never before, meditating on them and letting them soak into my heart.
The Bible says those who seek Him WILL FIND HIM, so I started seeking after the Lord asking Him for more with a sense of earnest- I felt sure that there was more and I was just starting to taste it. With young children, demanding careers as physicians and busy schedules, finding time to meet Him was hard. My husband and I both wanted to go deeper so we committed to waking up an hour earlier each morning to get our “quiet time” in. At first, getting up was a STRUGGLE. But as time went on, I realized God was going to be there waiting to meet with me at our “scheduled time” and I was motivated not to stand Him up. I started praying He would show me how I could live a more invigorating and abundant life than what I was doing. I asked for Him to show more of Himself to me.
And then, as I sought Him and asked Him to breathe new life into what I finally realized was my lukewarm Christianity, something exciting started to happen: I began hearing from Him in thrilling new ways. He would give me inside information for my day. At first I thought, “How funny! That scripture I read this morning was about exactly what is happening today,” like it was some kind of coincidence. But it soon became very clear that these connections were not by chance, but were direct, timely communications to me: God was speaking to me. The realization is still unfathomable: The God of the universe was taking time to meet with and speak to me. This should not be so shocking to us- after all, do we think he would love us so much as to die for us but not enough to want to talk to us?
What seemed like all of a sudden, I was exploding with love and newfound excitement for the Lord. In the past, I had always known our job was to share the gospel with others, and had considered myself “willing” to do it if the opportunity ever arose. It rarely did. Or if it did, I didn’t recognize it. Now, though, with my new zeal and passion for Christ, I found myself with a new desire, aching to seek out opportunities to share God’s love and encouragement with everyone! I started hearing from God not only during my quiet time, but throughout my day and sometimes in extraordinary ways: through scriptures I read, conversations I had, sermons, situations I encountered, things I observed in life or nature, thoughts He gave me, and even in more surprising ways through dreams and visions.
I started to sense Him directing me to do things: he would bring someone to mind for me to text or call, or lead me to volunteer for something, or he would give me a verse to share with a specific person. I used to worry about what people would think of me- will they think I am crazy? Will they think I have lost my mind or that I’m too “extreme”? Guess what? I found out it doesn’t matter. They may think I am crazy or they may not. But the risk of not doing what God is asking me to do is much greater than someone thinking differently of me. So I sent the text message, called the friend, gave the verse, volunteered to teach, etc etc. Whatever He asked, I started saying yes, even when I felt awkward. I felt like an undercover agent for Him. What used to be mundane normal day-to-day activity became an opportunity to pay attention for my next assignment. My life became full of divine appointments with friends, patients, strangers.
Life became exciting. Adventurous. I was no longer lukewarm. I was on FIRE. And with each assignment I said yes to, He gave me another one more invigorating than the one before! Sometimes I would get a glimpse of the supernatural work’s fruit: people would respond “I can’t believe you said that because….”. God was speaking to them through me and they recognized Him doing it. I don’t always get to understand how my obedience ultimately impacts things, but I do know that if He is asking me to do it, it will accomplish the task He intends for it to do.
What is your spiritual temperature- cold, lukewarm or HOT? Are you going through the motions, checking the boxes, but feeling a lackluster in your stride like I was? Seek a deeper, more meaningful relationship with Him. Step out of the comfortable lukewarm walk you’ve been moseying in and let Him revitalize your spiritual fervor: tell Him you’re ready to live life differently, boldly on the wild ride He has planned.