Matthew’s Question to Madison: What scriptures continue to speak to you?

Of all the spiritual disciplines, reading scripture has typically been the way I most easily connect with God. That’s a big reason as to why I loved Bible school so much, and plan on continuing a more formal approach to studying the Bible.

To paint a bit more of a picture for you, when I was studying in Germany, there were 18.5 hours set aside each week to be in the lecture hall – 13 of those hours were with the lecturer. The other 5.5 hours were for other things. All good things, I admit. But at the beginning, I would get frustrated that they were taking away so many hours from studying the Bible. I got used to it eventually, but my roommates definitely laughed at me for wanting more lecture time.

I think the Bible is the coolest book around! It’s crazy to me that you can keep reading it, and still learn from it. No matter how much digging we do, we’ll never have it all figured it. There’s so much to glean from a book with so much information, yet can still fit in my hands.

For me, there have been some passages in the Bible that have stood out for me and have shaped the way I think and live – some have more recently have impacted me, and others have been glued to my heart for years. I’d like to share with you two of those verses.

Ephesians 3:14-21

This passage, in my Bible, is titled “Paul’s Prayer for Spiritual Growth”. I don’t actually remember when I first took notice of this set of verses, but it was somewhere between 5 to 7 years ago. I continually go back to it and pray it over people, especially when I can’t formulate the words on my own. I’ve prayed it over each and every one of the 13 girls in my small group; I’ve prayed it over individual kids that I work with; I’ve prayed it over people I meet in the community; I’ve prayed it over friends from school; I’ve prayed it over my family and over myself. The words are very powerful for me! When you experience the love of God, even in little glimpses, you want other people to know it as well. But God’s love is too great for our human minds to fully understand, yet these verses are a cry to God to let us know more of that love He so willingly extends to us. Sometimes I get annoyed at myself for praying for things or for God to change something because, really, who am I to tell God what to do since He knows things at a much higher level than I do. Don’t get me wrong, God wants us to bring the things in our hearts and minds to Him, but I’m wary of it becoming a transactional relationship. These verses bring me back to the reason for it all. It all comes down to loving God, and then “your roots will grow down into His love and keep you strong” as you trust Him despite circumstances; despite emotions; despite what you think should happen.

Psalm 23

For my 23rd birthday, I read Psalm 23. It’s a pretty popular Psalm that many people have memorized, and because of its popularity, I actually avoided it – I’m an anti-trend person, and apparently it also applies to Bible reading. But this chapter hit me right where I needed to be hit earlier this year. I was listening to someone speak, and they put a greater emphasis on verse 5, which says, “You prepare a feast for me in the presence of my enemies. You honour me by anointing my head with oil. My cup overflows with blessings.” When it talks about enemies, not just here but anywhere in the Bible, I never know what to do with it since I think about enemies being people. I don’t have any enemies in that sense, so did those passages just not apply to me? Or should I create an enemy for myself? The person sharing described the enemies to be internal – the enemy of fear, or loneliness, or pride, or self-centeredness, or jealousy, or [fill in another internal enemy here]. I have lots of internal enemies. But as God prepares a table for me, and keeps pouring into my cup, never letting me leave, I’m encouraged by the fact that those enemies have no seat at the table. Now whenever I catch one of those enemies trying to distract me and pull me away from the table, I call it out and turn my gaze back on the One who invited me to the table in the first place.

I could go on and share other verses or larger passages that are significant to me, but we’ll stick to these two today. What are the verses that are significant in your life?

During a recent conversation with a couple of long-time discipleship friends, we asked each other what we have learned along the way and how we have changed what we do with respect to coming alongside another person in guiding them on their journey of faith. It was a great conversation that allowed us to encourage each other, knowing that we all may have many more decades of engaging with others should God give us the strength and health.

With all that we talked about, we agreed on one main theme – we all have recognized in deeper ways the uniqueness of each person’s journey of faith and we have all allowed much more leeway in those we come alongside.

This might seem like an obvious statement, and yet how often do we infer what we are learning and how we learn to other people. We are growing in a certain area and so we assume that others should also be growing in that area. God is prompting us to read the bible in larger chunks so we believe that this is what someone we are meeting with should do.

And yet, God sees us all uniquely. God prompts each of us uniquely. God has an assignment for one person to take on and as such he is moving in their life differently than someone else.

After 30 years of regularly meeting with guys, I am much more likely to be watching for how God is speaking to them personally and doing what I can to pray for and fan into flame the specifics of their life instead of trying to get them to come along with what God is prompting in me.

I am glad to share where God is guiding me and allowing them insight into what I am wrestling with on my own personal journey, trusting that I am modeling for them what this looks like. Yet I need to be in tune with how the Spirit is touching their life and providing whatever guidance and prayer I can for them. It is a lot more fun having a front row seat to someone’s life change than trying to force them into my life change.

Lately, I’ve been using the analogy of a home with many rooms. When we choose to follow Jesus it is an invitation to enter into our home, and he gladly comes in through the front door and is now present. However, our home also has many rooms in it – the finances room, the marriage room, the parenting room, the loving your crazy neighbour room, the sexuality room, etc. Jesus walks around our home and asks for access to these rooms, one by one. He wants to enter each room, rearrange it, move some things out and move some things in.

I believe that God knows the best order in which to enter the rooms, and it looks different for each one of us. The important thing is that I am eagerly listening to his promptings and opening up the door to room as he asks. And, as I come alongside others, to help them discern what rooms God is wanting access to in their life and being there with them as they allow God access into the messiness or barrenness of a specific area of life.

It is my desire that as we come alongside others, we will be listening intently with them for what God is calling them into and then being a friend, guide, mentor, contributor and prayer support for them.

For the kingdom.