Chapter One
The Summons
A Holy Spirit led existence is like a roller coaster ride on the wind!
I remember one summer as a teenager standing on the hot sticky pavement of the fairgrounds. At my feet a spilled cup of cola had splashed over bits of dirty, trampled on popcorn. All around me the carnival crowd pushed and jostled their way to win a stuffed bear at the arcade or to reward themselves with sugary pink clouds of cotton candy. The calliope organ tooted its merry melody and the carousel ponies danced in lazy circles.
And what was I doing there? Standing in line to board the latest, biggest, baddest, fastest, roller coaster known to mankind. I waited in that lethal queue with my stomach churning and everything in me screaming to leave now.
By the time I was strapped into that mechanical monster with no chance of escape the terror was almost too much to bear. My knuckles ached as I gripped the metal bar across my lap and the car began its slow chugging ascent to the heights. As the last bit of track disappeared beneath me I knew we had reached the top. You know what happens next. You leave your stomach hovering in the air above you as the rest of your body drops in a nosedive straight down. Then your shoulder is slammed into the side of the car as you begin a series of dizzying corkscrews. Up and down and round and round you go. At some point the screams emanating from your throat turn to hysterical laughter and you might even feel crazy-brave enough to release the death grip on the metal bar and wave your hands high above your head. What a ride!
Now imagine that you’re not strapped into some metal machine that grinds and squeals and roars it’s way round and round a never changing circle, but instead you sit on the back of an invisible steed that soars into the air, bursting through feathery clouds, twisting this way and that. Laughter bubbles up within you as you zip past a roaring waterfall, so close that you can feel the icy water vapor dampen your cheeks. Then up, up, up again you cross the highest mountain peaks, their tops glistening with new snow. Then, down and around again to…who knows where? What a ride!
This is the adventure that is ours to claim. Let me share another example.
Do you remember as a child, going to the local five and dime store and choosing a kite? Oh there were so many colors to choose from! Each one was different with bright swirls of reds and blues and yellows and purples. The kites I remember were made with light balsa wood for a frame and cheap tissue paper that would easily tear if you weren’t very careful with it. On some days we would unwind the string and then run as fast as our legs would carry us and the kite would just bounce along behind us on the ground going nowhere. But there were other days when the wind was blowing just right. It wasn’t so light that there was no air to keep our kites afloat, but it wasn’t so strong as to tear our fragile paper diamonds, either. On those days as soon as we began our mad dash, a breeze would flow along the underbelly of that kite and in moments it would soar high above our heads. Then we could stop running and let the wind carry it where ever it pleased. We stood below holding tight to the thin white spool of string, our eyes trained heavenward. You could give it a little tug and learn to play a game with the wind, but if you pulled too hard the kite would drop like a stone. A delicate touch was needed along with the self discipline to give control over to the wild wind. As we think about flying a kite, we can’t help but reflect on the interplay between man and invisible wind--and man and invisible Spirit.
John 3:8 says, "The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit."
And 2 Samuel 22:11 says, "He mounted the cherubim and flew; he soared on the wings of the wind."
Like a roller coaster ride on the wind, our lives are meant to reflect the exhilarating experience of a Holy Spirit led existence. Like the fragile kite, we can soar to the heights when we release control over to Him. It is frightening to surrender our control completely to an Existence that is by His very nature completely unpredictable, yet there is the promise of an indescribable adventure.
The Golden Key opens with an illustration of the wind because His wind-like presence blows through every page of the story. May He blow through the pages of your story as well. Spread your arms open wide like the sail of a ship and let His Spirit fill you and blow you where He pleases!
A half-hearted effort at prayer is not likely to result in a true and powerful encounter with God.
Singer/songwriter Julie Miller has written a soul-piercing song called "Broken Things." In it, she tells God that He can have her heart, if He doesn't mind broken things. She describes her heart as 'used,' 'blue' and shattered into a myriad of bits and pieces. Still she gathers those shards of her heart up and offers them to the One who makes old things new. So it is a bit of a paradox that our hearts must be broken in order to be whole.
Jeremiah 29:13 says “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” I had spent many years approaching God with half-hearted prayers. It was only when He brought me to a place of brokenness…a place where I cried out for Him with my whole heart, that I experienced the beginning of a power-filled relationship with God. The Servant Girl's dream was unsatisfying for she longed to see the King's face--and yet she couldn’t. She found that her whole heart was yearning for Him, a heart that needed to be broken. Little did she know that upon waking from her dream, her deepest desire would be fulfilled--but at the same time, it would be costly.
Have you counted the cost of intimacy with God? Are you willing to be broken? Do you bring your whole heart as an offering? If so, prepare for a powerful encounter with your God--it's inevitable.
Prayer in the Holy Spirit is circular—and it is God who started the conversation.
Charles Spurgeon said: “The Lord looks out of the windows of heaven and sees such a prayer coming to Him, just as Noah saw the dove returning to the ark, and He puts out His hand to that prayer. As Noah plucked the dove into the ark, so God plucks that prayer in and puts it into His own bosom, saying, ‘You came out of My bosom, and I welcome you back. My Spirit inspired you, therefore will I answer.’”
In my prayer journey, it was imperative for me to understand that when I pray in the Holy Spirit, my prayers are Spirit-inspired. God first releases the dove to light in my heart, and when I pray I return the dove to His safe keeping. Praying in the Holy Spirit is prayer that is Spirit-initiated and Spirit-led. He is the one who first places the desire in my heart, and then summons and escorts me to the Throne Room in order to express that desire. How thrilling to recognize that each and every prayer is uniquely created for that person for that place and for that time! Prayer is a circular gift. God first gives it to us, and we return it to Him.
The Servant Girl received her dream from The King. He was the One who planted the desire in her heart to know Him, love Him, and serve Him. He put a longing within her to seek His face. And then He guided her to the Throne Room to pray the desire of her heart, all the while knowing that the desire was there because He intended to fulfill it. This is how we can have confidence that Holy Spirit led prayer will indeed be answered. And the prayer He places in your heart is uniquely designed for you…as is it’s answer.
This is only possible when our hearts are in harmony with God's. Spurgeon says: "If your soul is in harmony with God's soul, you will wish God's own wishes. The difficulty is that we do not stay in harmony with God; but if we did, then we should strike the same note as God strikes. And though God's note would sound like thunder and ours a whisper, yet there would be a perfect unison--the note struck by prayer on earth would coincide with that which sounds forth from the decrees in heaven."
May our hearts be in harmony with His!
You can set up your own appointment to visit the Throne Room of the King, or let God do it for you.
Does this sound familiar? You are totally immersed in darkness. Small red lasers of light from the digital clock at your bedside pierce through the black with block nu
mbers reading 4:00. Ten minutes ago you were dancing through a dream world and now you are wide awake trying to figure out why you can’t recapture that precious sleep experience. You toss, you turn, and try to figure out why sleep alludes you. Maybe you’ll get up and read a book, get something to eat, flip the TV on, do anything you can think of to make you tired enough to return to slumber.
A few years ago the above scenario became a nightly occurrence and I began to fear for my health. Why couldn’t I sleep? Finally, exhausted, I began to pray. I prayed about all of the hurts and worries that filled my waking hours and slowly it began to occur to me, that these precious middle-of-the-night encounters with my Heavenly Father were truly God-ordained. Like the Servant Girl in The Golden Key, I was being summoned in the dead of night to meet my Lord at the Throne of Grace (probably the only time He could fully get my attention). It was during those silent and dark hours that I began to understand more clearly what the indwelling of the Holy Spirit really meant.
I am reminded of the plight of the Israelites as they journeyed through the wilderness. Jehovah provided them with the bread of angels and each morning they gathered the manna. Each and every day they had enough to fill them up. In the quiet morning hours the Holy Spirit wakes me to gather my manna, the daily Bread of Life in His Word. Like an empty clay pot I am filled to the brim with the Holy Spirit, ready then to begin my day. Those hours of wakefulness are no longer a mystery to me. They are a priceless gift from my Heavenly Father, and I could not survive the day without them. May God grant you, too, a better understanding of the indwelling of His Holy Spirit and how He summons and guides you to The Throne Room each day.
It’s time you got to know your Roommate.
My heavy backpack fell with a thud onto the floor and I plopped into a rickety desk to await the arrival of our Professor. The nervous ‘first-day-of-school’ chatter among the students halted as she breezed in moments later, her arms laden with books. She carefully deposited her load on the front desk and then turned to smile at the circle of young adults seated before her. The teacher’s credentials were well known to all of us, for this woman’s perseverance and dedication had created a nationally recognized and respected program in her field of education. She was a ‘big name’ in her area of expertise. Each of us had applied for special permission to take her class and after receiving a coveted spot, we knew the one rule that would be required of her students: no speaking allowed.
You see, this Professor was profoundly deaf. Our rudimentary sign language skills would be tested and refined as we were immersed in silence, using only our hands to communicate our thoughts, and our eyes to receive and understand the thoughts of those around us. To be blunt, it was terrifying. We were like awkward toddlers using our baby-like signing skills and this highly acclaimed Professor would be judging us, testing us, grading us, and ultimately deciding if we would be accepted into her program—the program that we each wished to declare as our major for our college degree. She was highly esteemed; she was powerful; she held all the cards and we were on her turf and only allowed to communicate in her language.
Years later, after completing the class, being accepted into the program, achieving my degree, and eventually teaching alongside this woman at the university, I could truly claim her as a dear and precious friend. But on that first day of class, I could never have imagined that such a special relationship would form with this powerful and intimidating stranger—especially a stranger that I didn’t even know how to communicate with.
It has been noted that those who lived in Old Testament times failed to acknowledge, recognize, and display faith in God, the Father. In the same way those who lived alongside Jesus failed to acknowledge, recognize, and display faith in God, the Son. And it could be said that we, ourselves, have failed to acknowledge, recognize and display faith in God, the Holy Spirit.
Like my impression of my powerful Professor, I viewed the Holy Spirit as a distant, powerful entity; an entity that I didn’t know how to communicate with. I could not imagine Him as a Person and I certainly could not imagine having a real and vital relationship with Him. When the Servant Girl first meets her Companion, she, too, is unsure of what to expect. Knowing Him as the third Person of the Trinity and learning the depths of His personality as my own indwelling Companion was a vital part of my journey. If He's going to dwell in your heart, and you're going to share this earthly tent with Him, you ought to take time to get to know Him. He's your roommate. Do you really know Him?