What to Know Before You Go


Have you ever had one of those moments when you finally learn something that you’ve heard for a long time? The thing that when you hear it you say, “I know that already,” and tune out?  

This weekend, I had one of those moments. I learned a lesson I’ve known for a long time – so long in fact that I don’t remember not knowing it.

You wanna know what I learned? If not, then stop reading otherwise get ready to be rocked – intimacy is developed in the secret place. Wow! That’s amazing isn’t it? Let me share my journey to learning this simple but profound lesson.

In August, I was invited to be part of a 7-person ministry team. It was my first “official” ministry trip and I was excited. I was looking forward to testifying what God does when we step out in faith. Before we left, I imagined that I’d have plenty of time to soak in the presence of God. I had a rough idea about what I was going to speak on but thought I’d have time to inquire of the Lord what was on his heart for the people we were ministering to. At the very least, I thought I’d at least ‘feel’ spiritual.

All of my expectations were the exact opposite of what actually happened.

When we arrived, after travelling for 7.5 hours (I was up and out of the house by 6:20am), we were assigned our places to stay. Then we went with our host families and chatted until dinner, which had to be eaten quickly to make it back to the Healing Rooms for the evening service. We had a quick prayer, before people started arriving and the team went into minister mode.

It was a great evening; a few members of the team spoke and shared their testimonies and we ministered and prayed for several people there. Jesus was honoured and he showed up with power. It was awesome to see but I was still distracted by the feeling of not being “prepared”. The next day was more of the same. I was hoping to soak and spend time with the Lord, as I normally do in the morning. But I was in someone else's home and I didn't have the same opportunity to keep my schedule. I felt rushed to have breakfast and get to the meeting rooms on time for the next session.

I was complaining to the Lord about this and he said, “Twenty minutes with me in the morning today isn’t going to make a difference, it’s the time you’ve invested in the relationship before this weekend that matters. I’m going to show up because of the intimacy we created in the past.”

Developing intimacy in the secret place isn’t something to put on the ‘to-do’ list. It’s developing the relationship we have with our Creator God so that we can know his heart and overflow when we are ministering the love of Jesus. Wow. And like that, I got it.

What lesson(s) have you finally learned after hearing the message over and over? Please share, I can’t be the only one, can I?

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