here is part three and hopefully the conclusion(though life in Christ is a wonderful ongoing mystery,isn't it?)
Though there began to be a slow exodous from the church(for various reasons though very few actually said"it's because the" church" rejected grace") many of us stayed hopeing for a breakthrough.after all we had invested our whole lives in the"church"
our closest friends(the assistant pastor and his wife) departed for florida for a time of rest and study with bob.
mary and i continued on with the good fight in northfield,taking each opportunity to learn and grow in this new revelation..we drove down to west palm with another couple to spend a week with bob,savoring every minute as he shared this word of life and simplicity of "living in Christ".bob also returned to northfield by private invitation to share with the growing grace group in our church and also with some from one other church in town that had come to some of the meetings with bob.
mary grew stronger in her faith and i grew more in my determination that this was what i was looking for even though i couldn't quite figure it out in my head how it applied to me and how it was really different from the way we had tried to live before.i just knew somehow,it was different.
in september of 1999,bob again returned to northfield for a time of ministry at the alliance church here in town.one of those in the"grace group" had become youth pastor over there and had arranged for bob to come up and minister.mary and i met bob at the airport to bring him to town and bob introduced a brother named tony norman to us.bob said"dave,i know i'm going to be busy ministering at the alliance church so i brought brother tony to hang out with you".i didn't quite know how to take this tony being a complete stranger to me but figured what the heck,how can it hurt...
so began a busy week of meetings,hanging out,and drinking coffee at the local coffee dive"Goodbye Blue Monday".it was one afternoon there while sipping coffee with tony and mary that my neatly arranged spiritual world changed forever.
tony is also an avid reader and student of the Word. he was sharing some things with us and finally in frustration i said,"tony,i wish i had your desire and interest in studying the bible.i mean,i can read secular books and get all involved in the who what why where,wanting to look up how things happend,getiing out maps and reference material etc... but i read the bible and it's just words on paper.i mean i know it's the Word of God but it is not alive to me like it seems to be to you"
he said to me,while turning to epesians 1:17-18"look at this,the apostle paul prayed the same thing for the church in ephesus". "I have not stopped giving thanks for you,remembering you in my prayers,I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ ,the glorious father,may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation,so that you may know him better.i pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you,the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints,and his incomperable great power for us who believe." tony went on to explain that spiritual revelation was a gift from God,that he gives it to us so we can know his Son better."i still didn't get it but i mumbled ok and tony went back to what he had been sharing before in romans 7 about being free from the law.
as he began to read romans 7:1 "do you not know brothers..."i began skimming ahead in the passage,after all i had read this several times and was pretty sure i had a handle on it. at that moment,something began happening to me.i don't quite know how to explain it, but it felt as if warm honey was being poured on my head and running down my body.the room got quiet and my attention was drawn back to romans 7:1"do you not know...and it is almost as if the Lord spoke audibly to me "dave you have thought you knew me,but it was in your head, i am going to begin to reveal myself to your heart." i said Tony,stop!something is happening to me.as i explained what had happend,he got excited and said,dave,the Lord is revealing himself to you.and i knew that it had to be true.
i KNEW that all i had learned and tried to do in the past was nothing compared to this wonderful revelation of Him.i had actually had the" eyes of my heart opened so that i could know the hope that i was called to.."it was real.and he did it for me, a gift from Him.
well,i couldn't wait to share with others what had happend.i breathlessly told bob and he said"brother,that's it!you will never lose this gift".one interesting temporary side effect of this was i couldn't read the Word faster than a 1st grader would .for almost a month i......could.....read.....no......faster.....than......this! when i read the bible,i sensed the spirit telling me basically,this is as fast as your baby spiritual mind can handle it:)it was pretty funny but frustrating and thankfully temporary.
what bob said that day about this gift changing me forever and not leaving has been true.there have been many trials and testings,mary and i ended up leaving that church,and then another,we have gone through sickness and even death,but that revealing of jesus has not diminished in fact the certainity of it grows daily.it is a precious gift and not just for the privelged few.it is for us all.that is what paul was praying that the " Lord would give the spirit of wisdom and revelation....so we can know him better".what a precious gift.