This morning I was reading a few verses from Mark's Gospel, and was grabbed by a reality that Jesus demonstrated. Here are the verses followed by my reflection - Mark 11:1-6 NIV:
[1] As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples, [2] saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and just as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. [3] If anyone asks you, 'Why are you doing this?' say, 'The Lord needs it and will send it back here shortly.' ”
[4] "They went and found a colt outside in the street, tied at a doorway. As they untied it, [5] some people standing there asked, “What are you doing, untying that colt?” [6] They answered as Jesus had told them to, and the people let them go."
As this is part occurrence of the story for what is celebrated as Palm Sunday, I have heard the story many times, and thus am likely to read over it without really considering the deeper meaning or reality. This morning, my attention was focused on the reality of Jesus demonstrating very accurate prophetic fore-telling to the disciples. It is important to note that Jesus was not operating out of His divinity here, but rather as man. Thus, what He was demonstrating is available to us, through the Holy Spirit, for clearly that was what Jesus was doing! In other words, we can and should expect that God will speak to us concerning future events, or people we will encounter, giving us direction, guidance and even specific instructions of what to say or do!
I was just reminded of a time when a ministry that I was part of was responsible for the youth track of a large international conference. We had a training session beforehand, and we must have been influenced by this or similar stories from scripture, for we were asking God to show us names, situations and even faces of people we would have the opportunity to meet and minister to at the event. We believed that God could show us ahead of time those He wanted us to meet. We wrote down a whole list of people and situations that we saw or heard during prayer, and then prayed for the names and situations the week before we traveled to the actual ministry event. I don't remember how many we actually confirmed, but I do remember that every day we were checking people off our list, and seeing God touch people in the exact things we had been praying for. It was a very cool experience of seeing God move, and it was very encouraging to be experiencing prophetic intercession and even foretelling. These are not meant to be weird or extra-special anointing stuff, but I believe are meant to be part of our normal everyday walk with the Lord. He desires us to walk in intimacy with Him, and represent Him to those we encounter, and we would be be far more effective if we knew who we should be looking to meet!
I was also reminded of a good friend of mine who actually operates in ministry as a prophet. He was describing how the Lord would give him details of the things He would encounter weeks before setting foot in a particular church. He would write everything down in a notebook, and then during his ministry time, the Lord would direct him to call out certain things, and His ministry was very accurate. I found his description of his ministry really encouraging, and at the same time stretching my paradigm of how God works! If God s outside of time, He can see everything that has and will ever happen, and can speak into the present time, things that He knows will happen, or have happened that no one knows about, to give direction, guidance, or even just to let the person know that He loves them and is interested in their life!
Again, I don't believe this is meant to be a super-special gift or anointing, but rather something that any of us can operate in, with the help of the Holy Spirit. Paul actually talks a bit about this in His first letter to the 1 Corinthians 14:24-25 NIV: "But if an unbeliever or an inquirer comes in while everyone is prophesying, they are convicted of sin and are brought under judgment by all, [25] as the secrets of their hearts are laid bare. So they will fall down and worship God, exclaiming, “God is really among you!” Paul is speaking of this same type of ministry, as a part of a normal worship service!
Again, this is not meant to be some sort of super-spiritual stuff, but the daily interactions of the Lord, as He expresses His intimate love and knowledge of us, and invites us to represent Him in that way! He loves all of us, and He wants us to understand that fact. If He, in His mercy and compassion for an individual, speaks to us about the very things that are hidden in their heart, and we are able to speak those back to them, they will know that God really does exist and loves them intimately, or as Paul says, they will fall down and worship exclaiming, "God is really among you!"
Thus, I am deeply encouraged today to look to the Lord, to be open to His direction and guidance, even to His speaking of things that are hidden in hearts, so that all might know He really is among us! I am encouraged to open my heart and mind, allowing Him to stretch my understanding of how He can operate, and how He can use me! I am encouraged that God does love me and know me, even my deepest thoughts and dreams! I am encouraged that He can even tell me exactly what I will encounter, and what I should say in that encounter! Lord, I pray that You might help me to grow, stretching my faith in this normal gift of guidance and direction, being open to Your leading!
Amen!
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