“And they said to one another, ‘Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?’” Luke 24:32

A Cause To Pause

It seems to be a common experience to us all that if we are pregnant, we notice all the pregnant women around us, and if we are thinking of buying a cute little VW, we notice all sorts of other cute little VW’s driving around town, and if we tend a vegetable garden, we love to hear everyone else’s successes and failures with their vegetable gardens. Perhaps we think this is really nothing more than our desire to share “like experiences” with like-minded people.

One recent experience with this phenomenon, though, makes me realize how much the Holy Spirit is involved in preparing us for what is coming. I went to pray early one morning, and as I began, I got a picture in my head of Jesus praying. He was on His knees and I only saw Him from the side. That was it. No great revelation there. It’s the same picture we see in our heads from our childhood Bibles and Sunday School lessons.

I said to Him in prayer, “Your knees must have been much better than my knees. I can’t be on my knees like that for very long.” Jesus often prayed long. We know that He sometimes prayed all night (Luke 6:12).

After I finished praying, I opened a devotional of writings by A.W. Tozer and was drawn to read his short biography in the front of the book. Because of my earlier prayer, I was given cause to pause on these words: “(Tozer) spent more time on his knees than at his desk.” This short sentence holds special inspiration for me on many levels. Aside from that, I was excited that the Holy Spirit had prepared me to read it and pause on it long enough to consider it for my own life.

If I had not prayed about “knees” and had that picture in my head already, I might have passed right by the sentence about Tozer on his knees. Because the Spirit prepared me with that one rather silly word, I could stop, focus, and meditate on a special word coming to me straight from the heart of God.

Let’s ask the Spirit to prepare us to hear a word from the Lord. It will come in surprising ways day by day, so be ready for the adventure!

Dear Jesus, how I long to hear Your voice to me. Prepare in me a heart that is receptive, ears that hear, and a mind that embraces Your Word. In Jesus Name, Amen.