By RaeLynn DeAngelis
Sometimes during my morning devotion time, I implement a practice that has been a tremendous encouragement and blessing to me.
My personal morning devotion time begins much the same, with prayer. If you are anything like me, prayer times vary greatly. Some prayers are long, some are short. Some are fervent with tears streaming down my cheeks, others feel automatic, like I’m on auto pilot. (Sad but true.)
Recently, I experienced one of those intense prayer times. I had a lot on my heart and mind and was practically sobbing throughout my prayers. After crying out to God with such intensity, feeling extremely vulnerable and exposed, I felt the Lord prompting me to implement a practice He taught me several years ago. It’s a practice that requires taking time to be still before the Lord, so that I can hear what He might want to say back to me.
On this morning, I felt that Jesus wanted to encourage me. So, I gathered my prayer journal and pen, opened to a blank page, and penned the following words…
Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.
Writing down these words is my way of inviting God to speak whatever is on His heart. Back and forth communication is important in any relationship. Our relationship with Jesus is no different.
So, I waited, and as words came into my mind, I wrote them down. Below is what the Lord spoke to my spirit that morning. These words encouraged me greatly, and I felt the Lord wanted me to share them with you too. God is not only speaking to me. He’s speaking to you as well.
My child, I love you with an everlasting love. I will never leave or forsake you. I AM here. I AM always with you. Call out to me anytime, day or night, for I never sleep or slumber. Cry out to me and I will come to your aid. I know what you need, even before you ask, but I do not fulfill your prayers before their time. Trust and believe. Ask and it will be given. Seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be opened. Seek first my Kingdom and righteousness. Seek me with ALL your heart, soul, mind, and strength. Engage with me through prayer and petition, for I long to fulfill the desires of your heart. I created you in your mother’s womb. I knit you together; You are mine. You are fearfully and wonderfully made. I hem you in, behind, and before. Before the foundations of the earth were laid, I knew you. You are my beloved. I hear every prayer and catch every tear. Keep your eyes fixed upon me in days of uncertainty, in hard times, and remember. I Am making all things new. I AM THE GREAT I AM. I AM making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland. Trust my higher ways. Trust my servant, David, for I called him long ago. He is mine. He is my servant. I have chosen him for such a time as this. I AM guiding him, and he is seeking me. I know that it is very hard for you because of the uncertainty in the world. But all will come into clear view, much like looking through a pair of glasses for the very first time, clarity will come. Have patience my child. It will come. While you wait, pray. While you wait, declare and decree. While you wait, trust. I AM working all things together for good. My plans and purposes will not fail. They will prevail. You have made it this far. You will make it through to the end of this age. And then you will step into the age that is to come, my Kingdom age, the golden age, as my servant David calls it. Look to me, child, not to the world. If you want healing, look to me, your Healer. If you want peace, look to me, the Prince of Peace. Whatever you want, whatever you need, I AM that and so much more. I AM the great I AM, and I AM making all things new. Open wide, your mouth and I will fill it.
While many scriptural truths are threaded throughout this love letter from God, Psalm 139 encapsulates several of them.
“You have searched me, Lord,
and you know me.
2 You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
3 You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.
4 Before a word is on my tongue
you, Lord, know it completely.
5 You hem me in behind and before,
and you lay your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.7 Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
10 even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,”
12 even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.13 For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
17 How precious to me are your thoughts, God!
How vast is the sum of them!
18 Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand—
when I awake, I am still with you.19 If only you, God, would slay the wicked!
Away from me, you who are bloodthirsty!
20 They speak of you with evil intent;
your adversaries misuse your name.
21 Do I not hate those who hate you, Lord,
and abhor those who are in rebellion against you?
22 I have nothing but hatred for them;
I count them my enemies.
23 Search me, God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
24 See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting” (Psalm 139:1-24).
If you have never tried this practice of writing down what Holy Spirit is saying to your heart, I encourage you to give it a try. The Lord is always speaking. We just need to take time to listen. Be blessed.
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