Getting "Back to Basics"

Author: Mark Virkler

What are the “basics” of Christian living – the most foundational activities and disciplines that God wants in our lives? For a long time, I believed that Bible study and memorization, prayer, fasting and attending church were high on that list.

Then the Spirit reminded me that He had revealed His primary priorities for man in the first few chapters of Genesis. In the Garden of Eden, God Himself established daily dialogue with Adam and Eve. Conversations with Him were to be the norm – one of the basic activities of daily life – as far as God was concerned.

Does God Still Speak?
Is that still true today? Is daily dialogue with God still supposed to be a part of my life? Some people have said God no longer speaks. Others asserted that if I fasted long enough and read enough Scripture, He would speak to me. The mystics told me that there would be “dark nights of the soul” when God would withdraw His presence even from those fortunate few to whom He had revealed His voice. And yet, deep within me I sensed that unfulfilled longing for the relationship God established with man in the Garden.

What Did I Hear?
Gradually, the Lord taught me to come to Him as a child, simply quieting my own thoughts and seeing Jesus there with me (because He surely is). As I ask Him what He wants to say to me, I begin to receive spontaneous thoughts lighting upon my mind which are His rhema words to me, and I write them down.

“Mark, hearing My voice is this easy. My children have made it hard. Church, come back to Me! Come back to ‘My basics,’ where we share our lives together in the cool of the day, day by day! Let all of life come from this time which we spend together. This is my plan! This is My will! Come back to me, My Church! Come back.”

God does, indeed, still speak to us and desires to have conversations with us. This is not just something for a few people who lived long ago. We can hear the voice of God today if we just quiet ourselves and take the time to listen. Communication with God is one of the basics of our daily faith and should be a regular part of our daily lives. Have you spoken with God today? He’s waiting.

About the Author:
Mark Virkler is with Christian Leadership University. CLU is a Christian University and Online Bible College offering Christian education including Christian counseling and Christian theology seminaries and offers certificates, undergrad, Masters, and Doctorates in the various Christian colleges of CLU.

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