So much of Christian experience today is centered on the knowledge that God loves us and wants to heal our brokenness. As this is part of his intention, it often is short-changed by a lack of true experience.

In the last article on living in fear, I talked about the fact that men and women struggle with fear in various forms, but it all goes back to creation when man walked away from a trusted relationship with their Creator and bought into the lies of Satan, thus making fear a cornerstone of his deception. All too often we try to deal with the effects of fear and not the root cause. If you haven’t read the first installment on this subject please read that first.

A recent survey by American Psychiatry says that nearly half of American households have had someone seek mental health treatment this year! This is just one such survey revealing the struggle and confusion of the human soul. Believing in God but not trusting Him practically is like the above picture.

Another study done in 2007 found that 3 out of 100 people struggle with depression. The same study showed that people being treated for depression tripled in the early 1990s. Overall about 8.7 million people were treated for depression in 2007 compared to 6.5 million in 1997. Today it is estimated that 11% of people world-wide suffer from some form of depression and among adolescents under 18 years of age its closer to 70%. Is it any wonder the suicide rate is up so high with teenagers?

WORD OF THE ONE WHO 

HOLDS THE KEYS TO THIS BROKEN LAND

The background of this word came from the Lord as I was flying from North Carolina to New York, to minister at Saratoga Abundant Life Church, in Saratoga Springs, New York. the day was April 5, 2018.

I intended to put music on in the plane and go to sleep. After not seeping much for a number of days I knew I really need the rest. I felt directed by the Hoy spirit to put the sound track to the movie “The Last Samurai” on and settle in to go to sleep when just after the first song ended the Holy Spirit told me to take out my iPhone and start writing. I attempted to disagree with the Lord’s instruction, claiming my keyboard on my iPhone had small keys and I had fat fingers, but the Lord was not changing his mind or my instructions.

When we were kids, most of us played the game of hide and seek. Sue and I use to play it with our grandkids when they were under one year old but putting our hands over our face and then pulling them away saying “Boo”! The kids would laugh their heads off. When we all became older as kids we played a more complicated version of hide and seek with our friends were we had to find the person or persons that were hiding behind trees or bushes.

The game was fun when we could discover the person hiding quickly, but if it took to long we all got discouraged and wanted to quit the game.

This morning, I sat at an outside Starbucks to read the Word and a great new book I recently purchased – “Hearing God” by Dallas Willard.

You may wonder why I would read another book on hearing God’s voice when I have been doing so for 46 years, since becoming a believer. Well, the truth is, hearing God’s voice is often a misunderstood subject and I, for one, am not exempt from misunderstanding what I think I hear from God.

Just before coming to Christ in 1969, I got in two motorcycle accidents that nearly took my life except for the miraculous intervention of God. In the first accident, I hit a parked car going 55mph and prayed a desperate pray – “God if your real and you get me out of this I will seek you!
I was knocked out and when I came to I did not have a scratch on me; no bruises or broken bones. I think God is looking for those kind of prayers from lost people to show up and confirm His reality.

This last Sunday, while waiting for the service to start in a church which Sue and I visited, I purposefully put my spiritual antenna up to see if God would speak to me about, well anything. I figured, being in God’s house is the best place to hear his voice right?

John 10:27
“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me;

While at a Starbucks, at 6:30 this morning, I find a reminder of a discipline I have mastered and lost so many times. “Solitude & Quietness”

Part of my time lately has been to reread A. W. Tozer. In my early days as a new Christian, I would read his words during my 15 minute breaks when working as a mechanic, and then go back to the shop floor and meditate on his words for the next 2 hours of work. It was some of the richest times of my life. God was rebuilding my life from the ruins of my own choices.