Today’s chapter is Revelation 2

Tom writes:

This ferocious force in the heavens, this unstoppable time-bending warrior has eyes like blazing fire. He uses them to search every heart and mind. He is searching your heart right now. He uses his double edged sword to prize open every hidden thing that lives inside of you. That is true whether you choose to engage with it or not, whether you choose to think about it or not. God is searching your heart. And after he has searched it he speaks. His voice may be audible, it may be mediated through an Apostle like John who has written it in the scriptures, or his voice may be a “conviction within” that conforms to His Word. But he will speak. Because the God of the Heavens wants his earth back. And he is going to get it. His pattern of speaking is nearly always the same; “1) Hear me. Give attention to me. 2) You are doing well 3) But there is something that is not right. Repent from it 4) Have Hope! I will win this earth and when I win, I want you to share in the sweet and satisfying spoils”

We see this format in each of the letters to the churches and, if we have ears to hear, we will recognise it in our lives. God invites us to lean towards Him. He takes the initiative in winning us back. He wants us to start by listening. If you are anything like me, that takes a moment to act upon. Actively listening to God is not something that I naturally do. But if we do it we will find Him lavishing us with such bewildering encouragement that we start to think that he has the wrong guy. And then, when we are safe in his arms, he begins to win every part of our beings. Like pulling grass-seeds out of a dog’s ear God comforts us with his love as he works to pull our sins from our tangled souls. Our repentance is our ‘yes’ to him. With his forgiveness and his process of healing he continues to win every part of us. And after the repentance comes a further invitation to intimacy, a second request to be still. And He closes the conversation with an even greater promise, a sweeter kind of word, a yet more brilliant hope. The best is yet to come; what he is doing in us, he will do in all the world. Every fibre of creation will be won by God. The Mighty Warrior will win and heal and restore all things.

Question for reflection

Do you recognise the 4 aspects of how God speaks to the churches? Which of these aspects are you hearing? Are you also hearing the other 3?

Revelation 2 - Friday 29th November