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| Britt in his diving suit. |
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| Heading out to sea in the helicopter. |
My son is a commercial diver – a seeker of underwater treasures. He is usually hired by oil, gas, or electrical companies to do repairs underwater; but along the way, he gets the privilege of seeing God’s underwater creatures. I have to admit that as a mother, I had concerns about his career choice. Having been raised in a family where Mom fearfully told us not to go close to the water or you might drown, I had an unhealthy fear of water. I determined that my children would not suffer the same fate, and saw to it that they had swimming lessons at an early age.
Britt’s wife, Natasha, had given him a ticket for scuba lessons for his birthday. It was love at first dive. Soon he was changing career paths as he enrolled in diving school.
As Britt’s passion grew and he began to experience life in the ocean’s depths, he described in vivid detail underwater sea creatures. To my question about sharks, he blew it off and calmly replied, “Nah, they won’t bother me if I don’t bother them.” Needless to say, my son lives outside the box.
As I look on the passions that lie within him, I’m reminded that God has much deeper things that he, also, wants us to explore. Are we willing to listen as he speaks to us? Will we sit still long enough to hear him? And, most of all, how will we know that it is he speaking to us?
For many years, I’ve grabbed a strong cup of coffee each morning and plodded sleepily to my favorite chair. My pattern was to read the Bible, pray, and then write in my prayer journal. Nothing wrong with that. But recently, I’ve come to understand that God will speak to us with his quiet voice if we take the time to listen. Before, I had been an ‘asker’ or taker; now I’m a ‘seeker.’
While listening to a sermon from Graham Cooke, a well-known prophetic minister, he poses this thought; when you accept Christ, he comes to live inside of you, yet the Bible still says to seek him. What’s up with that? How can you already know someone, yet continue to seek him?
While listening to the remainder of his sermon, I realized that coming to Jesus and inviting him into our hearts is just the first step. God has so much more for us to experience. But to find out what that is, we must be willing to sit quietly and listen to his voice. In other words, he wants a deeper relationship with us. He wants more than a one-way conversation; he actually wants to talk with us.
To give a simple example, when I first married my husband, I thought I knew him. But, as the years have passed, I know him on a much deeper level. That’s because we share our hearts and our thoughts. I love him more now than I did then. I love spending time with him and talking with him. It took time to develop that close relationship.
Our relationship with Jesus is like that. He is such a gentleman he will never give us more of himself than we are willing to accept. Seeking him requires sitting quietly and waiting for him to speak. How long have we been willing to sit and listen to him? Based on my own experience as well as others that I know, I think most of us read his Word, and then begin to tell him what we want or need.
You may ask how do I know that the words that come to my mind are from God. Usually, he doesn’t hit us over the head with a two by four, although at times he’s had to do that to get my attention! Instead, he whispers quietly to us in the deep recesses of our heart, or he speaks to us as we read his Word. Occasionally, he speaks prophetic words to us through an individual. If any of the words that come to you bring faith, joy and peace, and lines up with the Bible, chances are it’s from God. But if the words are derogatory in nature they are not from him, but from the enemy of our souls.
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| Britt on a missions trip to Nicaragua. |
As I seek the Lord, I catch a glimpse of his profound love for me. To understand that he knows me with all my flaws, yet still loves me, is incredible! It creates a deep desire within me to know him better.
And just as my son is amazed at his underwater discoveries, he is also a seeker of spiritual things. Like Britt, I am also discovering there is more to God than I could ever imagine. He keeps giving me more of himself - as much as I desire. I’m glad I’ve become a seeker of spiritual things; it has revolutionized my life!
