I have spent a lot of time recently listening to God speak to me through my journaling. The focus has been a call to dig deeper into scripture. So... I've been digging!
I continue to marvel at how God speaks to me through scripture. Two days ago he took me to 2 Kings 12:1-12. . . not a passage I have often read, nor would I expect to find in it a message applicable to my own life! However, as I read through the passage, certain verses popped out at me, and I noticed a quickening of my spirit within. It seemed there was a message for me in those verses! I sat quietly to see if anything definitive would surface. As I listened, I sensed there was a hint of a promise from God to me. I will let that promise sit loosely in my hand, trusting that if it is indeed from God, he will fulfill it in his time.
As I continued to ponder this passage, I noticed that King Jehoash asked the priests in the temple to use some of the money that came into the temple to repair the house of the Lord. And yet, (apparently) years later, nothing had been done.* So, the king took the job away from the priests and gave it to workers with the necessary skills to complete the necessary repairs. And he ordered some of the money that came into the temple to be given to those workers.
In light of this passage, I understood from a different perspective that in post-resurrection times, the "house of the Lord" is each believer. The presence of Jesus Christ, in the form of his Holy Spirit, resides within each of us; we are the "house of the Lord."
For the past few months, God has been speaking to me more about the call to ministry that he has given me. The essence of this passage serves as a confirmation of my call, and has shed new light on what that ministry is: as a spiritual director and spiritual mentor, my ministry is one of rebuilding the house of the Lord, one believer at a time. I am called to walk with others as they seek deeper intimacy with God, and thus grow toward spiritual maturity. I was touched by the specificity of this passage to my ministry, and loved receiving a new perspective on this work that I do. I now see myself as a carpenter - one who works in partnership with God to rebuild that which has been damaged by the hardships of life and that which has been inflicted upon us by the enemy our our souls. Additionally, according to this passage, I trust that God will provide appropriate income to meet my needs from other sources as I engage in a ministry that does not bring in an income.
God can and will speak to us through his word about any issue in our lives, if we will simply listen. We do this by spending time in the word regularly, with an open heart, asking the Lord to speak to us as we read. He never fails to speak to me through his word when I ask him to do so - and sometimes he speaks even when I am not expecting it.
He is an amazing God!
*Scripture is not clear how many years transpired.