This is awesome! It made me think of Matthew 13:10-17 (which includes a quote from Isaiah, ironically). 16-17 say, "But blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear; for assuredly, I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it."
Yes! That verse came to mind as well. When Jesus said to the disciples who were probably grumbling… many people wished to see what you are seeing right now. So good.
I find this post in particular to be extra relatable. I cannot articulate how fascinated and grateful and encouraged I am that you share this aspect of your journey.
This was extremely encouraging to me. I feel like lately I’ve been distracted away from the Bible, listening to teachers who give extra-biblical revelations and have lots of discussions about the supernatural. This all has caused more confusion than clarity. It all sounds too new agey. But I keep coming back to questioning… how does the Holy Spirit really speak and move today? Can we actually hear from God? What am I missing? This was encouraging as it felt like an amazing example of how God speaks. It was very edifying too.
Mallory. This is such a good word. Lots of supernatural stuff, extra Biblical stuff, and Gnosticism that really grabs our attention (mine included). But then when it causes confusion and you're not sure if it's centering our own intuition or the Holy Spirit and Jesus crucified, then it gets really tough.
I've started memorizing scripture because I want to hear God's voice and I know if I have a scripture called up to memory, that is the Holy Spirit. If I can learn the tone and tenor of that voice when it happens, then when He speaks things that aren't His word, I can match the tone. Not sure if that makes sense, but that's what I've been doing.
He brings up a verse to me almost every day and I'm learning the tone of His voice. And so this morning when He spoke, I knew it was Him. Enough to know and publish it publicly.
Yes I do believe that the spirit speaks to us by recalling scripture. That is clear in scripture (John 14:26). I guess what these other content creators make me feel like is there is specific revelation I am missing. But yes I have been coming to the same conclusion that it is Gnosticism. I just have never encountered Gnosticism before so I am learning to discern it. What you said about Gods tone makes a lot of sense.
I'm reading the Bible chronologically and, although it's really good, I'm slogging through the battles, so this was a reminder in due season. So much so that I shared the gist of where you were and what God spoke to your heart with some family members, dear Christian sisters, and my church. Thank you for sharing.
Yes some of those chapters can be really heavy. I'm realizing that if I just take one verse at a time, I do a PaRDeS analysis (you can read about it in my post on Leah here on The Dandelion Report) and it really helps aliven even the densest scripture!
Thank you for sharing. I prayed specifically before I sent it that it would reach the people who needed it. ❤️
Thank you for sharing this Julie. I definitely don't fully realize the wisdom we have at our fingertips these days. And thanks to your post will value it more.
I'm going to remember this next time I read Numbers 😆😆😆
But seriously, I was thinking about this reading the book of Job, and God's answer to Job after he told him why he killed his family and destroyed his possessions. He just says over and over things like, "have you ever made the sun rise?" And "do you know when the mountain goats give birth?" And I was (well, am) not exactly satisfied with His response. It feels like God is snarkily saying "if you don't like my job, why don't YOU do it?" over and over.
But then I read somewhere that if something sounds repeatable in the Bible, it could actually be lyrics to a hymn... and for me as a songwriter, THAT stopped me in my tracks.
I don't know if the passages in Isaiah were meant to be sung or not. I just know that when I'm writing songs, I've got to have a chorus where all the words I mean the most are repeated. And then I might repeat them some more. And some more in the outro. It's the EMOTIONAL effect I'm going for, not the literal.
I used to hate all of the "na na na na"s in Hey Jude. I thought they were, yes, BORING. but then i saw Paul McCartney live, and to sing every single na na na in a stadium of 80,000 people was literally transcendent.
I believe the repetitive nature of the Bible is both to emphasize a point, but also to bring about a meditative state, designed to take us to the place beyond words where God lives.
This is awesome! It made me think of Matthew 13:10-17 (which includes a quote from Isaiah, ironically). 16-17 say, "But blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear; for assuredly, I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it."
Yes! That verse came to mind as well. When Jesus said to the disciples who were probably grumbling… many people wished to see what you are seeing right now. So good.
I find this post in particular to be extra relatable. I cannot articulate how fascinated and grateful and encouraged I am that you share this aspect of your journey.
Continued thanks Julie!
Thank you. Appreciate the encouragement 🙏
Wow, just wow…. He IS listening, He DOES hear!
Yes He does ❤️
This was extremely encouraging to me. I feel like lately I’ve been distracted away from the Bible, listening to teachers who give extra-biblical revelations and have lots of discussions about the supernatural. This all has caused more confusion than clarity. It all sounds too new agey. But I keep coming back to questioning… how does the Holy Spirit really speak and move today? Can we actually hear from God? What am I missing? This was encouraging as it felt like an amazing example of how God speaks. It was very edifying too.
Mallory. This is such a good word. Lots of supernatural stuff, extra Biblical stuff, and Gnosticism that really grabs our attention (mine included). But then when it causes confusion and you're not sure if it's centering our own intuition or the Holy Spirit and Jesus crucified, then it gets really tough.
I've started memorizing scripture because I want to hear God's voice and I know if I have a scripture called up to memory, that is the Holy Spirit. If I can learn the tone and tenor of that voice when it happens, then when He speaks things that aren't His word, I can match the tone. Not sure if that makes sense, but that's what I've been doing.
He brings up a verse to me almost every day and I'm learning the tone of His voice. And so this morning when He spoke, I knew it was Him. Enough to know and publish it publicly.
I hope that helps.
Yes I do believe that the spirit speaks to us by recalling scripture. That is clear in scripture (John 14:26). I guess what these other content creators make me feel like is there is specific revelation I am missing. But yes I have been coming to the same conclusion that it is Gnosticism. I just have never encountered Gnosticism before so I am learning to discern it. What you said about Gods tone makes a lot of sense.
We don't have to know it all, just have to be faithful with what we do know and learn the rest as we go
Yes. Faithfulness to what we do know.
Isn't He wonderful? When you first shared what Chat said, I scoffed. What does a bot know about God?
But when you shared what Father God said, it made perfect sense. I'm ruminating on it now during my study time.
The nice thing is with Chat you can ask it to curate all the commentary ever done and so it’s wild what you can learn about one verse.
I'm reading the Bible chronologically and, although it's really good, I'm slogging through the battles, so this was a reminder in due season. So much so that I shared the gist of where you were and what God spoke to your heart with some family members, dear Christian sisters, and my church. Thank you for sharing.
Yes some of those chapters can be really heavy. I'm realizing that if I just take one verse at a time, I do a PaRDeS analysis (you can read about it in my post on Leah here on The Dandelion Report) and it really helps aliven even the densest scripture!
Thank you for sharing. I prayed specifically before I sent it that it would reach the people who needed it. ❤️
Well done!!!
Thank you! 🙏
Thank you for sharing this Julie. I definitely don't fully realize the wisdom we have at our fingertips these days. And thanks to your post will value it more.
I'm going to remember this next time I read Numbers 😆😆😆
But seriously, I was thinking about this reading the book of Job, and God's answer to Job after he told him why he killed his family and destroyed his possessions. He just says over and over things like, "have you ever made the sun rise?" And "do you know when the mountain goats give birth?" And I was (well, am) not exactly satisfied with His response. It feels like God is snarkily saying "if you don't like my job, why don't YOU do it?" over and over.
But then I read somewhere that if something sounds repeatable in the Bible, it could actually be lyrics to a hymn... and for me as a songwriter, THAT stopped me in my tracks.
I don't know if the passages in Isaiah were meant to be sung or not. I just know that when I'm writing songs, I've got to have a chorus where all the words I mean the most are repeated. And then I might repeat them some more. And some more in the outro. It's the EMOTIONAL effect I'm going for, not the literal.
I used to hate all of the "na na na na"s in Hey Jude. I thought they were, yes, BORING. but then i saw Paul McCartney live, and to sing every single na na na in a stadium of 80,000 people was literally transcendent.
I believe the repetitive nature of the Bible is both to emphasize a point, but also to bring about a meditative state, designed to take us to the place beyond words where God lives.
Kind of like music.
Thank you for sharing.
You're welcome. I am so grateful God spoke so clearly.