Come Aside with Jesus

Reading: Mark 4:10, Luke 11:9-13

"But when He was alone,
those around Him with the twelve
asked Him about the parable."
Mark 4:10

Come aside from the crowds, out of the busy stream of life... go into your secret place. When we ask God to reveal His word to us, He will speak to our hearts. He wants to speak to us, as much as we want to hear from Him. Think of the passion in Jesus' voice when He cried out, "he, who has ears to hear, let him hear". He wants to open the mystery of the kingdom of God to those who believe in Him, those who seek Him with their whole heart!

"So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you;
seek, and you will find;
knock, and it will be opened to you...
how much more will your Heavenly Father
give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!"
Luke 11:9-13 

"...you will seek Me and find Me,
when you search for Me with all your heart.
I will be found by you, says the lord."
Jeremiah 29:13,14a 

Ask Him, seek Him, knock on the doors of heaven and He will open His mysteries. You will find Him! God is a good Father, far beyond the best human father. He loves us as children and He will give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him. The Spirit will guide us into truth.

"When He the Spirit of truth, has come,
He will guide you into all truth..."
John 16:13

The enemy will try to convince you that you can't hear from God. The important thing is to believe God wants you to hear His voice. Maybe it is a little hard to believe that right now. In Mark 9:22-24 there is a man who had a demon possessed son and he said to Jesus , "if You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us:. Jesus said, "if you can believe all things are possible to him who believes." Immediately the father cried out and said with tears, "Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!" Do you ever feel like that guy? But isn't it wonderful, we can even ask Him to help us with our unbelief?

As Christians who attend church regularly we hear God's word go out all the time, like the sower sowing seed, resounding over the land like radio waves. We hear His word in church, on CD's, on the radio; but can we remember everything we heard and live it out even the next day? The key lies in the verse at the top of the page. Get alone with Jesus and ask Him about the word that quickened your heart; the message you felt God speak directly to you. Write it down in your journal and spend some time in that place of being until the Holy Spirit works it into your heart and out into your life. There is power in His Spirit to do things you can not seem to do for yourself. It is a patient work, all part of our journey through life with Jesus. Our journal is a record of our "travels" and the "places" where we come aside with Jesus, sojourn, stay for a while to be refreshed, grow, before we continue the journey, following Him.

Praise God for the wonderful gift of His Spirit!

"Every good and perfect gift is from above,
and comes down from the Father of lights...
Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth,
that we might be a kind of first fruits of His creatures."
James 1:17-18