I had the immense joy and privilege of attending Beth Moore’s LIT conference this past weekend. It absolutely blew me away! I tweeted that there was such a fresh fire that swept through the room. The Holy Spirit met us there and camped out with us throughout the whole event.
The event was geared toward women in their 20s and 30s who have a calling to write, teach or communicate. This gathering was completely ordained by the Lord. There was no sense of ego in the room, only yearning. We all came with one goal in mind — we want to be equipped for this high and weighty call of God on our lives. This calling is not so much one that we choose; it’s one that God chooses. Before the foundation of the world, He called us. He had us in mind to be carriers of His message.
The main focus of this event was cultivating a deep love for God’s presence, His Word and dialogue with Him. Sadly, this is often missing among Christians these days. We want to want to love God above all, but so often we don’t.
As deliberate communicators of the gospel, we have to live lives out of the overflow. The filling comes in the secret place. We lay our lives down before Him. We give Him our brokenness. We give Him our plans and desires. We give Him our hurts and joys. We submit to His purposes and leading. Our overflow comes from there.
If you’re anything like me, you can relate to this. I’m a doer. I like to be on the go. I’m not a homebody. If I sit still, I often feel like I am not accomplishing anything. This weekend revealed to me that in the spiritual realm, I am accomplishing much. I am taking ground back from the enemy and am advancing the kingdom.
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. 2 Timothy 3:16-17
The Word of God is actually supposed to work. It is supposed to bring change along with the power of the Holy Spirit. I will be processing anew these verses in 2 Timothy after this weekend.
We don’t ever go to God’s Word to just prepare for a message or lesson. We go to God’s Word to discover Him. He is the prize. He is the goal. In discovering more of who He is, we discover more of who we are.
A major concern regarding today’s believers is that we have lost our love for God’s Word. We want a microwave word from Him. We want to pop open an app, read a verse and check it off our to-do list. We don’t want to spend the necessary time it takes to receive revelation from Him. We’ve forgotten how to dig for the gold that lays in wait for us. In light of this, here are a few much-needed reminders that Beth gave during the conference:
Scripture is the very Word of God.
Regardless of who wrote each book of the Bible or when they wrote it or how they wrote it, it was breathed into their minds, hearts and hands from God. There is a weight to this. We should constantly be in awe of this. His Word is alive and active. He is wanting to impart His truth and promises to our souls. He is wanting to bring lasting change.
Scripture is our teacher.
Teachers play many roles. They instruct, lead and discipline. God’s Word is perfect at all of these roles. There are countless black-and-white verses that speak of what to do and not to do. There are verses that speak of how to live and what the motives of our hearts should be. And there are verses that sting. They straight-up point out the sin in our lives. His Word is a mirror. It points out the sin, but it offers us a way out and a way to turn from that sin and live fruitful lives.
Scripture trains us for good works.
My mind is always blown away when I read about the Father having prepared good works for us before the foundation of the world. Throughout history when each author was penning the Bible, we were on God’s mind. He was intentionally thinking about how each word would impact our souls and lives and how they would be lived out.
It is not easy to be a follower of Christ, but it is simple. It’s simple because He laid out His perfect plan for us. Many times we get in the way and make it complicated. When we listen to sermons, study the Scriptures, and pray, we are being equipped for hand-picked good works by the Father. These good works are to glorify Him, spread the gospel and build the kingdom.
I want to be all in when it comes to being a small part of God’s big plan. I know that can only come from the overflow of being in the secret place with Him. How about you? Do you find it difficult to study Scripture and to let it do a work in your life? What about that needs to change?