Have you ever had one of those days when Jesus just drops a thought, word or message into your spirit so significantly that you remember that moment with clarity the rest of your days? And before you know it, that word or thought changes your life? I’ve had a few and I treasure them in my heart.
I remember one day as I was leaving the church where I had been a pastor for about 10 years. I distinctly heard the Lord say to me, “If you will take care of the depth of our relationship, I will take care of the width of your ministry.”
It struck me so that I’ve pondered it over and over. It has indeed shaped my life. To put it in perspective, the Lord had called us to start a missions ministry to the nations. In fact the Lord specifically gave me (that’s a story for another day) Jeremiah 1:5,7 “I ordained you a prophet to the nations… you shall go to all to whom I send you, and whatever I command you, you shall speak.” It was in the shadow of this revelation that I wondered “how does one go to the nations?” I was only slightly acquainted with one person outside the USA and I hadn’t heard from him for a couple of years. I reminded the Lord of this and just kind of scratched my head and wondered how He would bring this to pass. However just as He has done numerous times in my walk with Him, God arranged the way. The only guy I knew outside of the USA suddenly called me. Within a very short period of time I had an invitation to Uganda, Africa, and it was from this trip that the Lord opened multiple doors to show us the way.
Recently I returned to this phrase and began to once again pour over the meaning of it. Then I looked up the word “width” (I thought the meaning was clear but Webster’s Dictionary seems to specify the meaning of words I already know. Wow who knew!). It means the “horizontal measurement taken at right angles to the length also known as BREADTH … or, largeness of extent or scope.” The word “depth” means “a part that is far from the outside or surface.”
Obviously God is calling us to go beyond the surface into a deeper relationship with Him through Jesus Christ! THEN, we don’t have to wonder about the extent of our ministry to others on behalf of Him, He takes care of that! So as I continue to return to this phrase I realize it looks a lot like what I read in Matthew 6:33, “Seek first the kingdom of God and all these things will be added to you.”
Doesn’t that just feel good? To focus on our relationship with God, and then He takes care of the rest! I just wanted to remind us all that if we take care of the depth of our relationship with Jesus, He takes care of our needs and even our desires. I heard someone, somewhere say that, “if you don’t take time for friends, you won’t have any…”. Makes sense doesn’t it, even with our Lord, to go deep with Him means spending time, valuable time, simply being with Him as our Friend and Savior. Why not try just sitting and listening to Him instead of asking Him to do a lot of stuff (good stuff) for us?
Go deeper, I promise you it will stretch you and widen your horizons.
