I have done more work in digital Bibles over the past several years in my study because I can put notes directly into the text and do a LOT more than in any wide margin Bible. I didn’t realize just how far back that went until this morning.
Every once in awhile I will date the note to reflect on the moment I was in as I read that passage and related it to something going in my life or in the world at that point in time. This has become more useful to me over time. I journal regularly, but I don’t go back and review those journals, so I can’t pinpoint a specific time, situation, etc. But with my digital notes, I can see what the Lord has done through time on a particular passage.
Which made this note in particular a bit… chilling. It was a fresh reminder of what the Lord has been speaking to me for years. Honestly, it’s been 15 years. I just haven’t found the original journals. But this note was from 2012.
I wrote this in Acts 12:5. Peter had been tossed in prison and the Church went to prayer. (Funny thing about that Church. They didn’t think to call their lawyer? They didn’t think to elect the right people so the right judges could be appointed? What’s the deal?)
Summer 2012 — I am reading the New Testament with fresh eyes, and ACTS is a place where we need fresh eyes. The challenge the Lord has given me is to read the NT again, and this time as the “minority report.”
The Church in Acts didn’t have the advantage of the legal system. What would happen in our day if we didn’t have the advantage of the legal system? Would we give ourselves to prayer?
And I will continue to reiterate this as it relates to the current series we’re finishing up at our church, “Living in Babylon.” God is trying to prepare us. We’re not doing a great job at listening. We’re panicked when we should be preparing. But the word the Spirit gives me is this: no matter the outcome of this election, things turn harder on the Church. That is not “bad news.” We need it. We need to understand the power of the prophetic voice we truly have and we need to be freed of the chains we wrapped ourselves in when it comes to chasing political power.
We need to get our spiritual eyes opened. There is a fresh wind of the Spirit blowing and our sails need to be UP.
What I sensed four years ago (and honestly, 15 years ago) is still strong in my heart today.
It’s not a time for panic. It’s a time for prayer. Not a prayer about who will “win” the election, but deep prayer that will call the Church back to listening to the Spirit NO MATTER WHAT.
That is the need of this hour.
Apprentice 2 Jesus 