Heart Tracks - Information Or Revelation?

"Anyone who is willing to hear should listen to the Spirit and understand what the Spirit is saying to the churches." Revelation 3:22..... God's people have moved from a relationship to religion. So we faithfully practice religious activities, and we perfect it and keep it, but the relationship with God is like it was in Israel and Judah in Jesus time. They were not getting the message. But we think that we're in touch with God because we're doing religious activity, -- cannot remember the last time that God clearly spoke to us. Henry Blackaby

This is the information age. We are bombarded with it. Cable news, internet blogs, and late night TV seem to be the voices of our culture. Yet where is the voice of God through His Church? It's not that we don't speak, but it's a matter of what we speak when we do. Are we just another source of "information," or do we dispense revelation from the heart of the Father Himself?

Someone said that true discipleship begins with teaching people to hear the voice and heart of God. This is a far cry from most of what I've seen modeled in the church. We set up "discipleship" classes, sit people down, and begin to pour out information about the Three in One God we believe in, what we believe about Him, and why. We don't lack for having a wealth of facts about the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. We can tell people everything they need to know about each. We just don't seem to be able to tell them how to know each One intimately, personally, deeply. We can engage their minds, but we miss their hearts. How could this be so, when throughout the Gospels, we see Jesus do just the opposite with the twelve?

In no place do we see Him set up a class, pass out materials, and start lecturing about the Kingdom. His classroom was found in their hearts. He spoke words that were meant to not only strike their minds, but penetrate their heart and soul. He showed them the Father, what He looked like, how He spoke, loved, and longed to relate intimately with them. He taught them to hear His voice, trust His words, and recognize Him through both. It was a long process, and it went on every day of their lives. With each one He formed a unique relationship that only He and they could experience. He patiently put up with their slowness to understand, their stumbling in unbelief, and even their eventual abandonment of Him in fear of the cost of continuing to follow. He took them to the cross, to the tomb, and to the upper room. And there, with the outpouring of His Holy Spirit, phase 1 of His discipleship "class" was finished, yet it would go on for the rest of their lives and walk with Him. And through them, countless others would enter in the fullness of His life as well. They heard what He spoke, and they taught others to hear too. Theirs was not a list of informational facts, but an ongoing revelation from the very heart of the Father. We have drifted very far from that "model". We must get back.

The church cannot settle for being one more source of information. We will get lost in the noise. We are already getting lost in the noise. We must be, again, the very voice and heart of God to a dying world. Jesus said He spoke that which He heard from the Father. We must do the same. We must learn anew His voice, and speak anew His words. Information or revelation? Eternity depends upon which we are dispensing.

Blessings,
Pastor O