Oh!

I really love the prophetic. God is so cool, so amazing. Because I am a "word person" I really love the way God communicates, the choice of words that He uses. Now some people think they've got God figured out well enough that they can tell if a contemporary prophetic message is from God or not because of the words used. My wife was told once by a good friend of ours, that a certain prophetic word she had been given could not have been from God because "God doesn't talk like that." But we have never doubted that God had indeed spoken that word because it was such an appropriate word for the moment - it spoke straight to our hearts and did exactly what prophecy is supposed to do - strengthen, encourage and comfort (I Cor. 14:3).

My first, personal encounter with receiving a "word" from the Lord was on our wedding day. Even though I had asked my Dad to officiate, I had also also asked my pastor at the time to come and be a part of the service. I knew he had a wonderful prophetic gift and I encouraged him to speak anything out during the service if the Lord gave him a word for us. Well, we were not disappointed. I had a tape recorder going through the whole service for that very purpose. I didn't want to miss a single word of what God might want to say to us. My purpose in this posting is to only highlight one little word in that prophecy - the word "oh". The last two sentences in this word was, "Oh, do not fail to press ahead! Do not fail to follow hard after me, for I have much for you to do."

Obviously, the main message here is a good follow up to my previous posting. How much do I really want God, to stick close to Him? The more I want it the better my chances of getting what I desire.
Until recently I never paid much attention to that little word, "oh", that begins those two sentences. But I believe that this little word is the key to what follows. This word clues us in to the emotions of God. It is when we tap into the emotional side of God (which requires Holy Spirit revelation) that I believe we will then have the requisite, or necessary passion, and therefore will, to keep drawing closer.

I don't think I've ever heard teaching or preaching that emphasized the importance of God's emotions. I was raised with the mindset that one related to God primarily with the intellect and that emotions were not to be trusted.  But I've become convinced that nothing could be further from the truth. The favorite Scripture that is often quoted to support this distrust of emotions is the one that says that the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. But what about the supreme command to love God with all our heart, soul, strength and mind?! (Notice which takes priority, and which is mentioned last!) The key is to live an integrated life where our hearts and  minds are in unity, not somehow compartmentalized into separate quarters!

I wanted to include an extended quote at the end of this post, but instead I'm going to just put it in the next posting.  To me, this is the most powerful explanation/description of God's emotions I've ever come across . . .