Gentle whisper

While visiting Jerusalem recently, I could realise the intensity of the spiritual warfare. The first evening I laid down exhausted and fell immediately asleep. Early in the morning I was awakened by a very loud chanting from a nearby minaret calling all muslims to pray. Then more voices joined. The man´s voice was very intense, steady, fast military. As I checked my phone, I found out it was 5 am. The exact time the Lord usually wakes me up to spend some time with Him before the day starts. And suddenly I heard Him saying, that He is constantly calling his beloved children to come and pray, to be with Him. But He is not shouting, He doesn´t want to break us, but He whispers very gently and He is always giving us a choice. The voice of the Holy Spirit is very quiet, not violent, but it is constantly calling us to wake up and fight. Not only five times a day, but He is inviting us permanently with His voice full of love.

It reminded me of Elijah running for his life, the story told in 1.Kings 19:11-12: The Lord said, ”Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.” Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper.      

He is approaching you very gently. You can never force anyone to love you. Not through threaths or promises, not even using power or fear. Only when the person discovers your inner beauty, sees your real heart, your pure motives, then they will fall in love. He/she will want to spend more time with you, would do (almost)anything to make you laugh, will feel good and whole in your company. It is just the same with the Lord. He is inviting us to know Him better, to look at His beauty, glory and holiness, to search for His company, to talk to Him, to listen to what He wants to share with us.

There are only two motivations of all human work done on this earth. It is either love or fear. Fear can manipulate people, even Christians, making them do things they don´t want to do and stopping them from doing things they really want to do. Fear can paralyse us. People let themselves to be manipulated through fear of lack, fear of loosing a good reputation, fear of being alone, fear of loosing something, that they actually never really possesed. Fear makes people weary and takes life out of them. The second motivation is LOVE. When we do things for our loved ones, we are glad, we are filled, it is easy, it is fun. It brings us life and joy. God is constantly inviting us to a relationship with Himself, into a relationship full of joy, peace and life. Into  a relationship full of His limitless love, hope and trust.

Today is the day we have to make a choice how we want to live. Will we manipulate people around us through fear or will we love them and invite them to love? To love the One, who gave up everything so that He can be with us. Will you stop for a while to hear His gentle loving voice calling you to love? In Revelation the Lord is telling those, who hear the calling of the Spirit and Bride, that they should extend this invitation to those, who are thirsty and hungry for God.

Revelation 22,17: The Spirit and the bride say, ”Come!” And let the one who hears say, ”Come!”  Let the one who is thirsty come, and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life.