Category: Faith

…God is good.

On January 26th, 2020 I published “Even If The Healing Doesn’t Come…” where we discussed why we can trust God in the hardest times.

And then on April 23rd, 2020, I published “New Wind” where we discussed how to bounce back after a hard blow to the faith.

And finally, on June 6th, 2020, I published “I Thought By Now… PART 1” where we discussed the importance of keeping on trusting God even when you thought by now He should have done something…

Well… Today we get to experience PART 2. Micah’s echo was just the other day and the doctor determined his heart has healed enough to discontinue his blood thinners which means no more injections.

This was surreal for my wife and I. It seems so small in writing but… it means we don’t have to wake him up every morning when he’s tired or put him to bed later than he’d like or pin him down with my body because he won’t stop thrashing… it means an era of peace for my family. Much, much needed peace. He still needs to take Aspirin daily to aid in the continued healing of his heart but the fact is: God did a miracle and healed Micah’s heart to a place where we don’t need to pump his body full of blood thinners. His heart is healing at a rate that is pleasing to the doctors.

After 6 months… we’ve finally gotten great news. As you know, it’s been a long hard road. And I’d be lying if I said I didn’t doubt God along the way.

But constantly, He taught me. Constantly, He showed me His heart. I’ve learned more about God in the past 6 months than I have the past 6 years.

There is an old adage that goes like this:

“The tender (God) of the vine (you and me) is never more near the vine than when He is pruning it.”

It’s hard when bad things happen. Sometimes it feels unbearable. But God’s there. EVEN when it doesn’t feel like He is… He is.

We can rest in His promises. Which was a tough one for me because in January, after leaving the hospital, I wanted to cling to a promise. I prayed and asked God to show me a promise that I knew He’d fulfill. But I didn’t have one that really stuck out. Nothing really gave me that unexplainable hope that I was looking for.

But in hindsight… this is the promise that God instilled on my heart:

“Taste and see that the Lord is good.
 Oh, the joys of those who take refuge in him!”
Psalm 34:8 NLT

Tasting and seeing are actions. Physical actions. God is good and you will see it. Even if you don’t feel it now. Even if the healing doesn’t come. Even if the walls don’t ever fall… God is good and that’s His promise. That’s the promise that I’ve learned. God is good.

So thank you all for your prayers and support… and whatever hole you’re in… know that God is good.

All the time.

And all the time?

God is good.

“Walking around these walls… I thought by now they’d fall… but…”

These are the opening words to Elevation Worship’s  song, “Do It Again.” Do you know what the next part is? If not, it’ll just be a few more paragraphs until I tell you!

Alright, you know that my son, Micah, has/had Kawasaki Disease. AND you may also know that June 9th (which at the time of releasing this article is next week) is HOPEFULLY his final appointment with the heart doctors as we hope he is 100% healed by then.

Yet in these last two weeks, I slumped back into the same sort of dark and despair kind of mindset that I had after coming home from the hospital with Micah back in December. This darkness only hit me for a day or two but it was such a stark reminder of where God has pulled me from.

And how did I get there? Well, similarly as before, it was because we had to take Micah to the emergency room.

It all began… with a cut. A cut? Yes! A cut on his finger. Now, most kids would’ve just healed up quickly after some pressure, polysporin, and bandaging. But Micah? His body is pumped full of blood thinners every day. 40mg of Aspirin orally every morning. 20mg of Enoxaparin injected every 12 hours into his muscle tissue.

So when he bleeds… he bleeds. At first, things were okay. About a week and a half in, it had already healed over nicely and things were looking up. But then he developed a pyogenic granuloma. I’m not going to explain it because I don’t fully understand it so feel free to google that term! Anyways, a massive bulge/growth of blood developed right underneath his cut. And then it burst. And it gushed. We took him to the hospital to have emergency surgery on his finger and some stitches. I couldn’t go in because, due to COVID-19, only one caregiver was allowed per patient. Also, someone had to watch Asher!

The nurses and doctors were impressed at the amount of blood. But he and my wife came back that night and things seemed okay again. And then the pyogenic granuloma returned. And now we’ve got to see a specialist and they’ll have to perform a more in-depth surgery to make sure it gets taken care of.

Obviously, this isn’t too big of a deal; but for my family, it was a hard hit to take. We’ve been through a lot with Micah’s health and this just seemed like such an unnecessary allowance of suffering.

And like I mentioned for about a day or two I felt so distant from God. I felt sick of asking Him to heal Micah. I mean, what’s the point if it doesn’t happen, right?

Wrong. And that’s where we get into Elevation Worship’s song:

“Walking around these walls
I thought by now they’d fall
But You have never failed me yet
Waiting for change to come
Knowing the battle’s won
For You have never failed me yet”

Waiting for Micah’s healing is like walking around the walls of Jericho. And on the seventh day on the sixth lap, I’m thinking… God! I thought we’d be done by now!

As we go into next week, we find out if God’s done it. We find out of God’s healed Micah’s precious little heart completely. And that’s why I titled this article PART 1; because there is a PART 2 coming but I just don’t know what it will be like. I have FAITH that it will be what God wants. Because we all know what I want. And I TRUST that it will be best for Micah. Because we all know what I think is best for Micah. And oddly…

Oddly enough, those aren’t always the same: what God wants, what I want. What God thinks, what I think. You may have just thought, “Well duh. Every sermon ever has taught me that.”

I’m talking about my kid. My kid. Don’t you think his healing would be what God wants? Don’t you think that that’s the best thing for my little bright man? Oddly…

Oddly enough, sometimes it’s not. I mean, clearly! This happened! And God allowed it.

So that leaves us here.

And I know you’re probably, hopefully, matching this up as an analogy for what you’re going through: divorce, cancer, bankruptcy, criticism, doubt, emancipation, anything! Life’s full of injustices and heartbreaks.

But can I tell you something? Something I learned on the drive home from dropping Micah off at the hospital.

I’ve been working from home these past few months and so I don’t drive much which means I don’t get to listen to my favourite radio station which plays Christian music all day long.

And so I’m driving home from the hospital and I’m thinking I’ve got to drown out my thoughts, tears, doubt, anger, etcetera, etcetera. So I turn on the radio, to CHVN (my favourite station), and this is what I heard:

“Fear is a liar
He will take your breath
Stop you in your steps
Fear is a liar
He will rob your rest
Steal your happiness
Cast your fear in the fire
‘Cause fear, he is a liar”

Zach Williams’ song “Fear Is A Liar” had never hit me so hard.

My fear… of what could happen to Micah. Your fear of ________________… It robs us. In the above lyrics, Zach personifies Fear which I think is a neat concept. And Fear… He takes our breath. Stops us in our steps. Robs our rest. Steals our happiness.

Fear robs us of something else too. I realized, driving through Winnipeg that Sunday afternoon; one kid in my van, one in the hospital, that my fear… blocks my faith. I was afraid Micah was going to bleed out in that hospital and that was it. But that thought BLOCKED my faith in God’s miraculous, healing love. Don’t get me wrong; God can do what He wants. But in my heart… my fear kept me from having faith in God. I couldn’t think about what He could do. I was just thinking about what could happen.

God, in His word, has the words “fear not” at least 80 times.

God, speaking to us now as His grafted-in children, says in Isaiah 43:

“Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you.
I have called you by name; you are mine.”
Isaiah 43:1b NLT

God says straight up that we shouldn’t be afraid because He’s bought us. He’s bought us from death and suffering and hell with the blood of Jesus Christ so we don’t have to be afraid of whatever hell-on-earth we may face… We’re His. And that’s that.

But don’t get me wrong; my dark days came after this thought. I felt emotionless. I felt unable to pray to God. I felt unable to engage in His word. I read things like:

“We were crushed and overwhelmed beyond our ability to endure, and we thought we would never live through it. In fact, we expected to die. But as a result, we stopped relying on ourselves and learned to rely only on God, who raises the dead. And he did rescue us from mortal danger, and he will rescue us again. We have placed our confidence in him, and he will continue to rescue us.”
2 Corinthians 1:8b-10 NLT

Which gave me some comfort. And:

“For Jesus Christ, the Son of God, does not waver between “Yes” and “No.” He is the one whom Silas, Timothy, and I preached to you, and as God’s ultimate “Yes,” he always does what he says. For all of God’s promises have been fulfilled in Christ with a resounding “Yes!” And through Christ, our “Amen” (which means “Yes”) ascends to God for his glory.”
2 Corinthians 1:19-20 NLT

Which told my mind that all God’s promises are YES and that Christ is the ultimate YES and that, in Him, I can be safe because will Micah be healed: YES, will we see an end to this pain: YES, will my son go back to the way he was: YES. But that verse told my mind those truths. It didn’t tell my heart. I felt numb. 

And then I closed my eyes. And my mind thought so many things. Like:

“You’re selfish for wallowing in this. It could be so much worse.”

Yeah. It could be worse. It could be way worse but I’m justified in feeling my pain because I, and you, are human! So we can’t let our little minds or other people’s negative influence tell us that we can’t feel our pain because that only delays what needs to happen. And what needs to happen… is this:

A connection with God.

Sometimes it’s a confrontation. Sometimes it’s in desperation. Sometimes it’s in whatever form your faith can stomach.

How do we do that? I don’t know. Sometimes I get it in the word but this time I think it was in prayer. I don’t even know. But all of a sudden, with my eyes close, I felt this message. I don’t know if this was from God’s lips or if it was His Holy Spirit guiding my mind to come to a conclusion: I don’t care. This was the message:

Micah is God’s child before He’s my child. And so don’t you (me) think God would do what’s best for him? Obviously God is going to take care of this kid in the way that God sees right.

And I tell you; I felt like the weight that was in my heart dissolved. I felt comforted. Because I connected with God. But in our despair, it is so hard to do that! People don’t get it! I didn’t get it before 2020. When people say “go to God” and it’ll fix your pain I ask the question: “WHAT IF GOD IS THE PAIN? WHAT THEN?”

Thankfully, God’s never the pain. He’s never the pain. Yes, He may have allowed the pain. But He’s not the pain. He’s the cure. He’s the ointment. He’s the bandage. He’s the graft. He’s every fixing right down to a RESURRECTION!

That’s what God is to us when we’re in the darkest of holes. And as soon as our hearts will allow us to grasp that, as mine did, all this garbage becomes so much easier to deal with. Easier… not easy.

So that’s my two weeks. And next week… I sure hope the healing has come.

My wife reached out to Dr. Sam to ask him what kind of comfort there is in all this. He said Jesus Christ is the ultimate comfort. And then he prayed for Micah and prayed that the doctors would be astounded by a supernatural healing. I pray that too. And you should too. Have faith that it will take place. BUT we’ve got to remember that if God doesn’t answer… If God doesn’t RESCUE us in the timeline that we want… That means He’s got something else planned. And God’s plans are always better. And so there’s comfort in the waiting. (Head on over to YouTube to watch a video I made detailing these events in a simple-to-grasp illustration aimed at kids – release date is June 12th so hang tight!)

We need to remind our fear-drenched hearts that God is still on our side! God is for us. God’s promises still stand and they’re fulfilled in Jesus Christ.

And remember “Do It Again” – God has never failed us yet. A critic would say, “God never fails you and He never will fail you. Saying God hasn’t failed you YET is heresy.”

Well, guess what critic; sometimes it feels like God has failed us.

I’ve led you to this song before and I’m going to do it again (no that’s not a pun: it’s a different song).

Bethel Music’s John Mark and Sarah McMillan’s “King Of My Heart” has an often confusing bridge for people.

It goes like this:

“You’re never gonna let
You’re never gonna let me down
You’re never gonna let
You’re never gonna let me down
You’re never gonna let
You’re never gonna let me down
You’re never gonna let
You’re never gonna let me down

We need new wind. What do I mean?

We’ve all heard or read this verse before:

“Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth.”

Ephesians 4:14 NLT

But guess what? This is not what I mean by New Wind. Just thought I’d get that out there first.

No, what I mean is explained best by some analogies.

Have you ever played any kind of full-contact or semi-contact sport? When a player gets knocked down or receives a bad hit, oftentimes they experience extreme fatigue, an inability to breathe properly, and a sincere need to rest and sit out the rest of the play, round, game, etc.

Most people refer to this as getting the wind knocked out of them. Like getting punched in the gut during a boxing match.

Also, when your little kid is running rampant from some kind of sugar rush or just having energy because they somehow have twice the amount of energy you have but are half the size… they’re likely going to crash. And sometimes this crash is rough. Screaming is a common symptom. And sometimes the only cure is a TV show.

But sometimes this kid of yours gets a sudden burst of energy, again! They’re running off the walls and screaming (joyously now). What is this often referred to as? Catching their second wind.

Let’s turn these two analogies toward our faith, shall we? After all, that’s what we’re reading this for!

Life is going to hit you hard sometimes. God’s going to ask you to do something crazy. And maybe, when life hits us hard, or God puts us through something that’s uncomfortable, it can feel like He’s not there with us.

What we need to do when this happens is to ask God for something: new wind.

I used to believe that faith was a muscle. I believed if I constantly read the bible and constantly prayed (Psalm 119:11, 1 Thess. 5:16) that I would be exercising my faith muscle which would in turn strengthen me so that when a storm came, I was strong enough to endure it.

Don’t get past me wrong, there is truth in this. It’s important to exercise your faith to strengthen it and to spend more time with God so your relationship with Christ can deepen and be richer. From this, you can gain confidence, surety, and peace.

But guess what? If you get punched in the gut, you’re going to be winded.

And brother, sister, did I ever get punched in the gut. When Micah was diagnosed with Kawasaki Disease and we spent a week in the hospital not knowing what was wrong or if he was going to be okay; when we got home and he was like a different kid and we had to give him two needles a day to prevent his heart from trying to kill him, and when God seemed to ignore my calls for help; allowing him to not get better for three months while we sat on the edge of our seats: it was a punch to the gut of my faith.

The gut of our faith is probably not going to be a popular expression among the church going forward, but bear with me here.

I thought I was strong! I thought that because I was so close to God, and my faith was “unshakable,” I could handle anything He sent me! But guess what… when life hits you hard: it knocks the wind out of you.

Ephesians 2:8-9 NIV says:

“⁸ For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— ⁹ not by works, so that no one can boast.”

So if I thought the strength of my faith could get me through something, and that the strength of my faith came from me exercising it… what did I think? I thought it was from me. I thought it was from my works alone.

What I didn’t realize was this: only God can give us our second wind. And we need it every day!

My perspective changed. Just like Elisha’s servant in the awesome story from 2 Kings, chapter 6. An army was coming against Elisha and his servant; two versus an entire army!

“Oh no, my lord! What shall we do?” the servant asked in verse 15.

“Don’t be afraid!” Elisha responded in verse 16. “Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.”

What kind of math is that? Elisha went on to pray for the situation. Did he pray that God would send an army to fight for them? No. Did he pray that God would teleport them out of there? No! He prayed the servant’s eyes would be opened to see what was already there: God’s army.

And when Joshua (Joshua 6) and the people of Israel are on their sixth lap around Jericho after six days of doing this and thinking to themselves: “What are we doing? God’s told us to do this crazy thing! This will never work!”

It’s so easy to feel winded when we’re surrounded by bad situations or when we’ve exhausted ourselves following what we feel God has told us to do. And that’s because we’re human and weak and broken vessels.

But that’s where God meets us! That’s when He steps in, gives us new wind and allows us to see what’s really there: His protection. He allows us to conquer that high walled city by His strength.

Remember Gideon? He had 32,000 soldiers with him ready to fight against the enemy that was attacking (Judges 7). But God says there’s too many! So everyone who is afraid of fighting is told to head home. Gideon’s left with 10,000 now. But even then, God says there’s too many! So they weed out even more soldiers until finally… Gideon and only 300 others remain. To fight an army! And guess what? They won.

After Jesus ascended, the disciples where thrown in prison so many times. They were flogged and persecuted and hated and hunted. But God kept giving them a new wind to carry on. Most of them ended up killed, but it was with the strength of God in their lungs.

God allows us to go through all these struggles and confusing scenarios. Personally, I don’t believe He causes it. But for some reason He allows it. What I do know is He stretches us, puts us in uncomfortable places, allows our kids to get sick. And I can’t tell you why God allowed your specific trial or misery. I know one of the reasons why He allowed mine: I’ve learned so much about Him and my walk with Him through this and I know I’ll have so much to teach Micah through the years about how God protected Him. A global pandemic called the Coronavirus broke out one month after we left the hospital… My work just so happened to insure 80% of the $400 / month medication that Micah had to take (Lovenox brand enoxaparin blood thinner with 8mm needles). Micah’s heart could have been damaged in one of two ways: healable and non-healable. Guess which way God allowed Micah’s heart to be damaged? The healable way. I can see God’s finger print throughout this entire horrible, horrible ordeal. And that makes me give Him all the glory.

Well… that’s just plain selfish, isn’t it? God allows us to go through misery just so He can have the fame and glory when we get out of the trial?

Firstly: He’s the Creator; so technically He deserves all the glory for every victory we have.

Secondly: Why do you think God wants the glory? It’s because He wants everyone to know He did it. Everyone knew God defeated the Arameans for Elisha. Everyone knew God tore down the walls of Jericho for Joshua. Everyone knew it was God who defeated the Midianites for Gideon.

And why? If everyone knows God did it… everyone acknowledges God.

When I give God the glory for healing Micah’s heart: I’m telling my co-workers not only that God exists, but that He’s good.

Okay. So it’s not by our own strength that we bounce back from a punch to the gut of our faith.

Our lives are a ring (boxing term). We’re in it, gloves on, and there’s a scary boxer on the other side. He could be debt, he could be a child wandered away from the faith, he could be an unfaithful spouse, he could be a sick kid, he could be a lost job, he could be cancer, he could be temptation, he could be failure, he could be depression, anxiety, hatred, abuse, alcohol, injury, and all the time; he is fear.

And sometimes… he’s going to hit us in the gut. We’re going to be down and thinking: “God… where are you?”

But God’s right there and He’s waiting for the RIGHT time to give you your second wind. To fill your lungs with a new wind that’s going to give you enough strength to knock down whatever it is on the other end of that ring that’s taunting you. And when you knock down that dreadful giant know this: it was the wind of God in you that did it. It was Christ living in you through His Spirit that gave you the strength.

And get this!

“No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.”

1 Corinthians 10:13 ESV

And,

“Yes, and the Lord will deliver me from every evil attack and will bring me safely into his heavenly Kingdom. All glory to God forever and ever! Amen.”

2 Timothy 4:18 NLT

Whatever you’re fighting has been fought before. God is faithful; He’s not going to allow you to get hit in the gut to the point where you can’t recover. He’s going to give you a new wind so you can get back up, bear the next hit, and finish the fight. And every battle that comes your way, He’ll rescue you from.

And it is to God that we should give all the glory for that victory.

And that victory… could be a long way ahead. You might have to take a hit two, three times before your new wind comes. But every day. And I mean every day. If all you have the strength to do is fall on your knees and pray, asking God for that new wind. That’s enough.

He’ll take that. He’ll give you that new wind. We’ve just got to know that it’s on His terms. He’s a good God to trust.

You’ve probably seen this phrase on a wall, social media page, or someone’s tattooed arm. “Be still and know,” has been a phrase that’s been used a lot to get people to calm themselves and not worry about the storm they are in. But if you’ve never actually read the verse, then you’re missing out! The phrase has so much more depth if you read it with some other scripture and read the last part of the phrase. 

“Be still and know that I am God!”

Psalm 46:10a NLT

Okay so maybe you have read that whole phrase. It sounds so familiar, right? But for the unbeliever: it means so much. And for the believer: it means so much. And this meaning is found in two great little stories in the bible. One about Moses and the other; Elijah.

We’ll start with Moses. He was a Hebrew man born and raised in Egypt. His people were slaves by that time (originally refugees centuries prior) and yet he himself was like a prince! He was adopted by the king of Egypt’s daughter and raised as an Egyptian. Events led him to flee Egypt and he found himself wedding Zipporah, having kids and living a regular (1500 BC) kind of lifestyle. But one day, recorded in Exodus chapter 3, when he was watching his father-in-law’s flock, he wandered way out into the wilderness and came upon Mount Sinai. And on that mountain he saw, intriguingly, a bush that was burning, yet not burning up. It simply was ablaze. Turns out God was there and He spoke with Moses and told him to go back to his people in Egypt and free them. Moses asked in which god’s name would he be appearing before his people. You see the Egyptian culture (Moses’ adopted culture) believed in a god for almost everything. So naturally when he met “the God of his ancestors,” (vs. 3:6) he wanted to know God’s name.

Do you know how God responded? “I am that I am,” (vs. 4) the text reads. And looking at the original wording, it can be translated as a few different things, two of which being “I will be what I will be” and “I am because I am.”

To Moses, an unbeliever, God’s proof for His existence is His existence. God so boldly states that He is, simply because He is! When I tell people I’m a father, I usually back it up with pictures of my sons to prove my statement. When I say I’m a husband I point to the ring on my finger or the way I interact with other women. When I say I’m an author I show them my website and invite them to read one of my works. We always follow up with proof for our claim. God’s proof to His claim… is the claim itself. This is the boldest and most daring thing God could say to Moses.

God could have shown Moses a vision of how He created the universe. God could have told Moses every decision he had ever made. But when Moses asked God for His name… when he asked who God was as a god… our Lord simply and boldly stated that He is.

If this response is still a little confusing, (don’t worry, because it certainly can be!) let’s jump into our next story; what God says to the believer, Elijah. 

Elijah is best known for his feat on Mount Carmel where he has a ‘whose god is best’ showdown against the prophets of Baal (1 Kings 18:20-40). The challenge is an epic one and well worth a read! Spoiler alert: Elijah and God kick butt! 

“Perhaps he is daydreaming, or is relieving himself,” Elijah asks (vs. 27 NLT ). And his Lord is showing up by sending down fire from the sky and burning up a water drenched alter! God is proven to be God. Elijah means: my God is Yahweh, I’ve also heard it described as Yahweh is God and that perfectly sums up his ministry: proving God is God. Elijah backs up the statement, “I am that I am,” through his God-proving battle.

But, the story I want to tell takes place right after that accomplishment. A woman of great power, named Jezebel, wishes to kill Elijah because he is a prophet of the Most High. So he calls fire down on her! No, not really… he runs! He flees! He gets out of dodge!

And it’s in his moment of despair, when he is hiding and seemingly low on faith, that God shows up. 

“9 And there he went into a cave, and spent the night in that place; and behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and He said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

10 So he said, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God of hosts; for the children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. I alone am left; and they seek to take my life.”

11 Then He said, “Go out, and stand on the mountain before the Lord.” And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; 12 and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice.”

1 Kings 19:9-12, NKJV

Where was God? He was in the quiet. He was in the still. He came to Elijah in that still, small voice because that’s what Elijah needed. He had seen God’s fire. He had seen God’s power. But Elijah needed to know that God was his… oh, the word for this is hard to find but let’s list a few: friend, protector, tender guider, shepherd, love. If there is a word that could sum all that up, it’d probably be Yahweh.

Imagine you’re in that cave. Are you afraid? Are you low on faith? Are you in the middle of a storm that could never be calmed? Are you before a mountain that you could never climb?

“The LORD Himself will fight for you. Just stay calm.”

Exodus 14:14 NLT

Listen and hear God’s whisper.

Luke Langman’s song “Every Word You Say” has a gorgeous opening line: “You only whisper because You’re close.”

God is not One who requires a chaotic approach. He is not One who requires a clean and perfectly practiced approach: He offers an approach to Himself that is calm, still, and awe filled. And as a result, we are calmed, stilled, and awed. Even if we come to Him in a storm, He’ll calm our waves (Matthew 8:23-27). If we come to Him with a mountain before us, He’ll move it (Micah 1:4, Mark 11:23, Matthew 17:20).

These two men, the unbeliever and the believer, were approached by God in a way that demanded awe. Did you know, Moses had to remove his sandals because he was upon holy ground (Exodus 3:5)? Elijah saw God’s power manifest in nature and yet His voice, His presence was found in a still, quiet, humble, small voice.

And if I were Elijah in that cave, I would close my eyes and listen to His whisper. I’d hear the One who exists because He exists say:

“Be still and know that I am God.”

Friends, He is God. He is your God and He fights for you. He loves you. He is enough for you. Calm yourself. Be still and know this.

This would be a great time to take a moment and reflect on the passages we just read. Reflect on what God has done in your own life. Maybe read Psalm 77. Do you notice the second half of Asaph’s prayer? Sometimes God doesn’t need to do a new, big thing in our lives. Sometimes we’ve got to look back at what He’s already done and remember that He’s close to us, whispering and leading us by the still waters (Psalm 23:2). Take some time, right now if you can, to pray and thank God for what He’s done in your life, invite His Spirit to meet with you and then just sit there and be still. Let God do the rest.

Prayer. One of the few and necessary pieces to the puzzle of faith. Simply put, prayer is speaking with God. I’ll get to the crux of this article and just state that any relationship will suffer without communication. Two-way communication is necessary to maintain your faith: a relationship with the Almighty God. And if we hear that old man preach once a week and maybe we read a verse from the Holy Bible every now and again, but have not prayer, then our faith has either no communication or it’s a one-way street. And either of those is unhealthy and a recipe for distance from our ever-gracious Lord.

And now that I’ve stated all that I wish to present in this article, let’s break it all down and start at the beginning. And I mean, the beginning.

How prayer began; God made mankind and it’s clear in Genesis He was conversing with Adam and his wife, Eve. God tells Adam before Eve was made, to be fruitful and multiply, name the animals, tend the garden, but don’t eat from that one tree (Gen. 1:28-30, 2:16-17). Well, we know how the story goes and so when God confronts Adam and Eve after they’ve eaten from that tree, the humans are seen verbally conversing with God (Gen. 3:9-19).

And so prayer, although the very first subject matter seemed a bit intense, started off as fairly casual. As if they were talking with someone who was right there. And He was! The Bible tells us, God Himself walked in the garden (Gen. 3:8).

That’s pretty interesting, for more on that check out the article: Christ in the OT, once it hits the site (could be a few months from now), but I want to see where prayer went from there. We’ll briefly go through the historical figures who subsequently conversed with God after the fall of man and we’ll try to see if there is a change.

Next, we have Cain! Cain? Yes, Cain. The guy who killed his brother because God favoured what good ol’ Abel had to offer. God spoke to Cain and Cain spoke back (Gen. 4:9-15). Verbally and casually.  So clearly this casual speaking with God is not exclusive to life before sin (Adam and Eve in the garden).

And then we have the enigmatic Enoch. The man who was and then was not. He is said to have “walked with God” or in the NLT: “walking in close fellowship with God,” for three hundred years (Gen. 5:21-24). Interestingly, we never have recorded conversations between Enoch and God, in the Holy Bible. I presume him being such a close friend to God, warranting a pre-death rapture— one of two, the other being Elijah— he must have had two-way conversing in order to maintain such a fruitful friendship with the Father.

Noah would be the next prominent character but only God’s words spoken to Noah are recorded and no response from Noah himself is recorded (Genesis chapters 6-9).

And at last, the friend of God, Abraham. Two-way talking is recorded in a face-to-face manner and omnipotently on many occasions. God appears to Abraham physically and speaks to him and Sarah (Gen. 12:1-9, 13:14-17, and all throughout 15, 17 and 18). Abraham speaks back in Genesis 15, 17 and 18. God says He will protect and reward Abraham, who subsequently complains to God that he does not have children. God replies. It’s a conversation the two are having. Casual and natural. The entirety of chapter 18 is another marvel as God is physically there talking with Abraham and his wife Sarah.

As does Jacob when he wrestles with God (Gen. 32:22-30). Skip ahead a few centuries to the iconic conversing of Moses and God —through the bush that’s ablaze— (Ex. 3-4). And then we’ve got that gorgeous time of Elijah in the cave (1 Kings 19:9-18) hearing that still small voice (1 Kings 19:12 NKJV), for more in that story read the article: Be Still and Know… What Exactly?.

Even before Elijah, with Joseph, Samuel, David and many more as well as after Elijah with Nehemiah, Ezra, Daniel, and many, many more… All throughout the Bible, we have people speaking casually with the Lord of Hosts. The God of all.

So what divides us from those peoples of old? Why can’t we talk with God casually and naturally? Is it Christ? Did his coming and completing the requirement of the law and freeing us from slavery to sin make it so we can’t talk to God like He’s our buddy or our daddy? No! Look at Jesus! How fluidly did he speak of and to the Father?

Talking with, not just to, God is still a part of our faith and needs to be a part of our lives. This article is not about whether God still speaks audibly to us today as He did with those I’ve mentioned already. This article is about using the intimacy of prayer to strengthen your relationship with God.

So, what does this desire to be casual with God and speak with Him look like for you? Well, I’ll tell you what it looks like for my own walk with God.

I set out on a journey in 2017 to read through the whole Bible in the year (in chronological order— I recommend that sometime, it is fascinating!)

After that year, I found myself having missed something: prayer. I spent so much time immersing myself in scripture that I had forgotten to pray! Don’t get me wrong, I’d still prayed maybe once or twice a week but it definitely wasn’t what Paul instructs to do: “pray without ceasing,” (1 Thes. 5:17).

Thus, for 2018 I set out on another journey: a dedication to pray,, on my knees, every day. I wanted to show God through my posture that I revered him. This sort of attitude and actually the structure of my prayers for that year were inspired by Jeremiah 32:17-25.

At that time, the prophet Jeremiah was imprisoned for speaking God’s word to the king: a certain message the king didn’t like. To make matters worse, Jerusalem, where Jer was at the time, was under attack! Jer is in prison and God tells him to buy a field. Jeremiah goes through with it but then sends God this prayer:

He spends 17-22 just praising God for what he has done. And then he yells out (paraphrasing) “we’re under attack! Yet… you’ve told me to buy a field!”

Isn’t that such a great prayer structure? I ran with it— or rather: knelt with it. Every morning I got on my knees and I spent the majority of my prayer praising God for who He was and what He has done. I told Him things that He knew like: “you are good, awesome and holy. Your name is higher than anything in my life. You are the one true God and your power is endless.” The amazing thing was, by praying these things to God, I found the words were ministering to me. He was speaking back by shaping me in a man who revered God. It felt like a conversation. It felt like the days of old.

And at last, at the end of my prayer, I would lift up my wife and son (now sons), my church and extended family, my coworkers and my own requests.

Praying this way felt better. Because I was on my knees, literally bowed down with my head pressed against the ground, I couldn’t help but praise God and make the prayer about Him and not me.

I tell you, brothers and sisters, it is a profound way to pray. I know not everyone is able to get on their knees and if you can’t: do so in your heart by starting to pray a ‘Jeremiah’s Prayer.’ Pray to God in a way where it is casual and pour out your love for Him. Tell Him how good He is. Sing to Him! Almost every morning I would pray through Bethel Music’s John Mark and Sarah McMillan’s “King Of My Heart“. I especially loved praying to God the chorus: “You are good, good, oh, oh. You are good, good, oh, oh.”
Through this kind of prayer and humbling of your own self and getting back to talking with God as if He is right there with us, you’ll find Him whispering back to your heart in extraordinary ways: breaking down walls, removing sin, fighting pride and so much more; if you let Him. I encourage you to take up prayer as if God were casually next to you, and then worship him with all your heart. Let Him be your best friend and your God.