Today I stopped at Circle K to grab a fountain drink. While I was entering the store, a man held the door open for me. He was black and I noticed that he had a tattoo of a teardrop near his eye.
As I was walking in the store, one of those feelings came over me. There are days when I can sense and feel the love of the Holy Spirit for the people around me. Today was one of those days. Sometimes I feel like He will show me His great love for a particular individual. Today, I felt His love for the man with teardrop tattoo. One thing I have learned is that God’s love is overwhelming. It is born out of the most miraculous purity. It knows no bounds. It sees no color. It is blind to a person’s past. It is just there. Bright and brilliant. Wonderful and miraculous.
I watched the man. He allowed someone to go in front of him in line. I could sense things about him. A hardness and yet a tenderness at the same time. I felt like I wanted to wrap my arms around him for a moment and tell him that everything in this life is going to be o.k. But instead I asked him how his day was…. He said, “Fine.” Then, he asked how my day was. I said that it was good.
I believe that Jesus can speak to us through His Holy Spirit. When the Holy Spirit speaks to me it comes in the form of a sense of overwhelming “rightness.” It often brings tears to my eyes.
I remember once I was driving in a Walmart parking lot. I saw a man sitting outside in an area that was obviously reserved for outdoor breaks for the employees. He was young, tall, and I noticed that he had tattoos all along his arms. I felt an overwhelming need to let this man see the love of Jesus. So I stopped the car and kindly motioned for him to speak to me for a moment. While he was standing at my window, I began to cry. I told him how Jesus had a very great an overwhelming love for him. I told him that “it was all real.” Jesus, He’s real. I felt as if I was supposed to give him something. So I handed him a one hundred dollar bill. The giant that stood before me began to weep. As I was driving away I could hear that beautiful voice of Jesus telling me that no one had ever given this man anything. He had always had to work very hard for what little he had.
On another occasion, when I first became a Christian, I saw a woman I knew sitting outside on her front porch. I heard His beautiful voice urging me to go and pray with her. I fought it. But Jesus, “she’s seems fine.” I don’t even know if she believes in you, Jesus. Why should I go? But I heard His voice, “Just go.” So I went. I walked up to her and asked her how her day was. I told her that I felt like I needed to pray with her. As we prayed, she began to cry. She began to open up to me about many things that were going on in her life and thanked me.
Jesus has a way of breaking down walls. Our kindness, as Christians, heeding the voice of the Holy Spirit has a way of speaking to people that is unparalled. Some people can attend church their entire lives and never see who or what Christ is….That is why we have to live church. It doesn’t matter what denomination you are. Methodist. Baptist. Catholic. Non denominational. If you are living Christ, and carrying His light, then you are doing something worthwhile. You are representing in a magnificent way the One you proclaim to know.
Christ works in ways that are often unique to each of us….. It is something that our human minds can’t even begin to wrap our minds around. He reveals Himself to each of us in very different ways. He revealed Himself to me through dreams and through the overwhelming and genuine love that He put in my heart for others. I believe that He reveals Himself to people all over the world in ways that even I can't understand. That is how big and powerful He is...
The other day I had the opportunity to share my dream with a few different people. I was at work and there were four of us sitting in a room. We were talking about Jesus. To me, this in itself is something to write about. I have a genuine and sincere love for the people I work with. I pray for them daily.
We were talking about the Trinity. I guess the concept of the Trinity can be difficult to wrap one’s mind around. How can God be the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit all in one? Someone asked me what I thought of the Trinity.
Here’s how I explained it from what I was shown in my dream. One night I had a very real dream that felt less like a dream and more like an experience. I dreamt that Jesus was standing next to this brilliant and beautiful light. It was like a fire. It was alive. It flickered and it lived and breathed. The light was small. The color of this light was white and gold. It was like a fire of complete purity. Even more than the appearance of the light, what I remember most was the feeling of being in it’s presence. There was more peace and more joy in the presence of that light than anything that I have ever known or felt. In my heart, I knew that that light was perfection. The substance of that light was innocence. I could see how no sin, no darkness, and no fear could live in that light.
When I woke up, I asked Jesus what the dream meant. He reminded me that God is often referred to as a Light. His character is described as Light. He said that, as Christians, each of us has that light within us and it is OUR DUTY TO SHARE it with others….He then reminded me of the immense peace and joy that I felt in the presence of such of small light. He said to multiply that feelings times millions and that is the feeling of Heaven.
To many, my dream may sound strange. But it is just one of the many ways that God revealed himself to me. Through my dream and by following His divine will, I came to see that He is all that is pure, all that is good, and all that is right. He is perfection.
I told the man at work how it says in the Word of God to carry our light and not hide it under a lampstand or bushel. We are to take the spirit of complete love that He gave us and share it with a very lost and dying world.
I told the man at work that I didn’t fully understand the Trinity. I don’t know how the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are all three in One… But I know that they are born of the same Spirit..the spirit of perfection. The spirit in which no darkness can live. They have the spirit of peace, of perfection, and of an all encompassing holiness and purity that is almost unfathomable.
There are times when I know that I am acting in accordance with the will of God, because a complete peace will embrace me. It is then that I feel as if the light of heaven is literally shining down upon me. And all I can say is that there is no feeling anywhere on this earth that compares. It is like stepping a foot inside of eternity and bringing little pieces of heaven to this dark earth.
My prayer for you, reader, is that you come to know and understand who Jesus is…that you feel His arms around you. That you experience Him in a very real way so that you may share Him with others.
When you experience God, then it will be undeniable. He will leave a mark on your heart so large that you will Know…Don’t ask me how, but you will know. and when you fully comprehend it, you will want nothing, and I mean nothing....to do with the darkness. You will hate sin in a way you could never imagine...but you will be filled with a complete love for every human being on this dark planet.
So seek Him… The journey begins not on our feet, but on our knees. There are people in this life that have probably accomplished more through prayer than by walking thousands of footsteps.
On another note,
The other day my sister and I were talking about church. We were wondering why things are done the way they are. She told me of a dvd she had watched called, “Church without walls.” Before churches were comprised of brick and mortar, church looked very different than much of what we see today.
Tithes went to helping widows and orphans. Tithes were put into storehouses that served the needy. Money and offerings went to clothing the naked, feeding the hungry, and meeting the needs of the poor. Today, many tithes go toward sustaining a building in the form of bank notes and utility costs. It costs a lot to run a brick and mortar church. Many tithes go toward making someone rich…I’ve seen pastors and preachers with multiple million dollar mansions and private jets. Something within me wants to desperately cry out…”This isn’t how it’s meant to be.” Something is dreadfully wrong here.
Feel free to disagree. I’m not calling for debate. I’m only writing this because it is something that I feel deep within me.
We spoke of communion…What did communion look like? It looked like people dining together, as Christ dined with His disciples the day before His death, Communion looked like people embracing one another in love, thankfully recognizing that they were partaking in a sacred moment in remembrance of His body and His blood and that they were each a part of something greater than themselves.
The church of old, before brick and mortar churches were contrived, looked like fellowship. It looked like meeting the needs of others by being the very hands and feet of Christ here on earth.
I have no doubt that people from all denominations will walk together in Heaven someday….But I say we start walking together now. I say we stop letting the title of our churches separate us, and we go out and show Christ to those around us during the week. True church is meant to be lived. It is a way of life. It is a deep and resonating love within us that unites us in deep and meaningful ways.
I was speaking with a man the other day and he made a profound statement. You can find God in a closet. Yes, you can. If you seek Him and ask Him to meet you there, chances are He will. Sometimes, you have to keep on knocking, but if you knock loud and hard enough, He will answer. And when He does, you will know it. It will leave a mark on your heart the size of Texas…
And your perspective will change, and your love will grow, as you lean into the Greatest Truth ever beknown… Your eyes will be opened and you will see things as you have never seen them before.
If you act on His Word, then you will grow roots. And you will be unmoveable. You will be as a tree planted beside the water that can’t be shaken.
Today, before I entered the Cirlce K, I was struggling with some thoughts I was having. Sometimes I feel like people want to take advantage of my kindness. Sometimes it feels like people only call when they need something. Never simply to say, "Rachelle, how is your day." But as I reflect on this now, I am thankful that people call me. I am thankful that they know that I am Christian and that when others will fail them, Christ cannot. I hope I represent Him in a way that shows that He is unfailing. I know that as a human, I am falliable . But He is not. He is perfection.
So, today, dear reader..my prayer is for you. that you will come to know Him in a way that you never have. Your past does not define you. You are more than the sum of your mistakes. You are precious in His eyes, worthy of love and forgiveness.
I pray that you find peace, happiness, and joy...I pray that you turn away from the things of darkness. Don't let the darkness define you. You are more than that. You have a purpose.
One final but very important note...
Everyday I can see God manifesting Himself in different ways. I can see that He is a beautiful force that stitches things and people together...while darkness is the force that tears people apart, God stitches together. He heals, He mends, He is the substance of life and light.
My grandmother is dying. She may only have a few days left to live. But I have a peace in my heart that tells me that one day I will see her again. If we live our lives the way Christ called us to live, then we can rest with that assurance.
The other day I walked into a room at work and there were three men talking about Jesus. I thought, This is an answer to my prayers. I want to live my life in such a way...as to make others stop and think about Him..and to question the path that they on... I want people to come to realization that there is more. There is much, much more than what we can see with our eyes.
There is much more that God has in store for each us.
The other day I was at church and I could hear my dad singing in the pew behind me..and suddenly my spirit was filled with peace. There was a sense of rightness to it. It was one of those beautiful moments that God gives to those who love Him.
Reader, Reach out to God, and find your beautiful moments. There are gems that are in every breath that we take and every person we enounter. Find them. Hold them next to your heart. Relish this wonderful life you've been given by giving it back to the One who created you.
Dear Reader, I love you. Chew on that.
"But as it is written, Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for those who love him. But God has revealed them unto us by his Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God." 1 Cor. 2:9, 10
God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all[b] sin.
8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us. 1 John 5:10
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