Abby and Eason,
I loved writing you the letter yesterday. Talking to Jesus is one of my favorite topics. So, I decided I would write you a few more letters on the same topic. I think that learning to talk to Him is so important, and I hope that these letters encourage you to spend more time with Him.
So, I thought I would share another one of my favorite ways to talk to Jesus. Of course, there is a story about how this way emerged.
As you know, I had a lot of inaccurate beliefs about Jesus before I became a Christian. If I am honest, I was scared of Him. I was okay with God, but Jesus was a man and men scared me. So, mostly, I just focused on God.
A friend challenged me to read the book of John (which I had read before and just did to appease her). She said she had read it when she questioned if Jesus was real. I read it and for the first time, the words came alive. At the end of the book, I spoke out loud statement after statement of what I had read in John. I said I believe that Jesus … I went through all of the stories of who the book of John said He was and declared that I believed them. It was that night that Jesus became my Savior.
And, I wanted to get to know Him better. Over the next year, I read the gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) over and over and over. I didn’t want to read anything except those books. I wasn’t interested in what any author, except for God, had to say about Jesus.
As I read them, the names of Jesus became very interesting to me. I wrote them at the top of the pages of my Bible. I wanted to know Jesus in every way He was described in the Bible.
And, that is where I began to talk to Jesus the way I want to share with you tonight. I would read a story about Jesus the Healer. I would thank Jesus for being the Healer. And I would sit with Him quietly and ask Him to show me what it meant that He was the Healer. I would read the scriptures. I would imagine the story. I would ask Him questions. And, I would praise Him that he was the Healer.
I fell in love with praising Jesus through the names that the Bible said He is. I learned to love to tell Jesus stories He wrote in the Bible.
I found myself telling Jesus that I thought it was so cool that He went out of the way to meet the Samaritan woman. (John 4) I would go on and on about all of the things that I loved about Him in the story. Then I would ask Him questions I didn’t understand. What does it mean to worship in Spirit and in truth? (John 4:23)
The intimacy of these encounters taught me how to celebrate and worship Jesus the Healer.
The gospels are full of names of Jesus and things He did. I wanted to know them all. I wanted to know who Jesus was. It was really important to me that I learned from Him. I didn’t want to just believe another person’s words. I wanted to know Him, to talk to Him, to hear from Him. I wanted to be with Him today like the people of the Bible were with Him when He walked this earth. Sure, it’s different. He is in Heaven. The Holy Spirit is here with me as we read scriptures. But, the intimacy of being with Jesus is the same today.
I encourage you to read the gospels. Read them really slowly. Talk to Jesus about all of the verses. Celebrate Him for who He is. Rest with Him. Ask Him what His word means. He shared parts of Himself with us so that we can do just that – get to know Him, spend time with Him, be changed by Him. He tells pretty amazing stories!
I love you both so much!
Mom