Stir the Water

When I was taking my morning walks with Jesus I started seeing names written on trees. God calls all the stars by name(Psalms 147:4) so having names for every tree is not a big leap.

The funny thing was that although each name was different they all started with zt. I did a Hebrew word study on the word tree and found that the Hebrew pronunciation for tree was otz.

I realized I been reading the names from left to right as in English instead of from right to left as in Hebrew.

Walking with Jesus is always an adventure.

I had an interesting experience once with a stranger offering me something in the Charlotte airport.

I have many interactions with angels, the frequency of these encounters varies, but it is not uncommon for me to go through a period when I am on a daily basis receiving messages and heavenly impartations from the angelic realm. During one of these times of heavy angelic interaction I was traveling through the Charlotte airport. While I was sitting in a chair waiting for my next flight I saw an angel standing behind to my right holding a vanilla envelope.

It told me that these were my orders for where I was traveling to, which was Asheville, NC. I was about to take the envelope when it occurred to me that I had better vet this angelic courier, so I asked it who Jesus was to it.

It stammered, looked away from me, seemed to say “Um…”, and then it left. I was a little bothered by the fact that I had almost received an assignment from a false angel. Then I felt the Holy Spirit tell me that this was a test, not so much to see if I would take the false assignment, but to show me that I had discernment.

I also know that this happened so I can help people practice discernment of spirits. If you are having an encounter and there is a check in your spirit do not hesitate to ask the Holy Spirit if what you are seeing (or sensing or feeling or guessing is there) is from Him and do not be afraid to ask any creature who Jesus is to it.

In the parable of the tortoise and the hare, the hare moves in fast bursts but is too inconsistent to win the race. The tortoise wins because of a slow steady progression in the right direction. In no other area is this a more fitting analogy then in your spiritual life. Slow daily growth in your relationship with Gods blows away extreme experiences.

If you equate an incredible mind blowing experience with God as having a spiritual change impact of 100 and spending time with God on a daily basis as having a change impact of 1 then over the course of a year the person who had one incredibly impacting experience has had a total change of 100 but the person who spent time with God daily had a totally change of 365.

Obviously, having both the daily encounters and the incredible encounter increases growth even more and the truth is that encountering God daily in small ways sets you up to have more incredible big experiences. But, the hidden danger of powerful times of growth is that it can allow you think that slow growth is no growth.

The reason the hare takes a nap after sprinting is that, after sprinting, walking seems just as slow as not moving at all. Yes he is exhausted because he was sprinting, but the seemingly pointlessness of walking makes taking a nap seem to have no cost.

The most important thing to do after having an incredibly big experience is to make sure you go right back to having small ones. If you saw an angel today search for the still quiet of voice of God tomorrow.

I was reading Luke 4 the other night to the kids and they selected verse 39 to meditate on. During the times I was reading the verse slowly out loud to them, I realized there was a depth of understanding in this verse about healing prayer that I was just now seeing.

(NKJV) Luke 4:39 So He stood over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her. And immediately she arose and served them.

I have learned to pay attention to every word in scripture especially every word that describes what Jesus did. I know that there is not a single frivolous word in scripture and that Jesus only did what He saw the Father doing. So when it says that “He stood over her”, I know that Jesus is presenting a model for prayer.

He isn’t just praying for her healing He is in a position of being over her. This isn’t just an interaction with the fever but an act of spiritual authority over her life. He stands over her in authority and from that position speaks with authority into her life situation and causes change.

Maybe this is why James 5:14 says “Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.” It might be because the elders are already in a position of spiritual authority over the people and in a great place to speak into the life of anyone who is sick.

What does this mean for us? Well, keep in mind this is just one model of praying for the sick we see from Jesus. Other models emphasize different dynamics, but in this model we see that spiritual authority can be very useful for healing prayer. If you are a father, mother, teacher, aunt, uncle, grandparent, godparent, coach, boss, mentor or are in leadership or a position of authority in any way then the authority that has been delegated to you and your compassion for the condition of those in your influence may be just as vital as faith when you pray for healing.

Now I shared this for two reasons. The first is because it makes known one of Gods ways of how He works through us. The second is because it is an example of how insight can come to us as we meditate on God’s word. Be expecting a link in a future post to an exercise that will help you read and meditate through all of scripture.

Jim Driscoll

Welcome to the new Stir the Water blog. I will be posting here on a regular basis. You can expect content on any topic that pertains to StirTheWater.com or InterpretMyDream.com plus information on what I’m doing and my thoughts on God, His people, His Kingdom and His ways.

Jim Driscoll