This word by Lyn Packer of New Zealand is so good and I believe it will awaken something inside of you as you read through it.
Yes, I think sometimes when we get too comfortable, we can lose our sense of wonder...AND God wants to awaken that in you!
As you read through Lyn's word, let a new wonder for the things of God working in and through your life be awakened again! (To Subscribe to the Elijah List subscribe here.)
Sometimes God speaks to prophets through unusual things. Recently I was reading a Facebook post when God interrupted it by speaking to me as I read. The post was about a man who was holding a conversation with the person seated next to him on a plane. As he asked the person about his life story, he was amazed at how interesting the man's life had been. He kept asking the man questions because as they talked, the man seemed to just gloss over parts of his story that, to the listener, were fascinating. During the conversation he realized that this person who had an amazing life story, had somehow lost the wonder of how amazing his life was. He had surrendered the sense of wonder in his life story to familiarity.
As I read, I felt the Lord say to me, "It's time for My children to reawaken and rediscover their sense of wonder. It's time to replace familiarity with wonder and to be astonished again by life and by Me."
| "Allowing a state of wonder to lead you to curiosity and questioning is a vital part of wonder. It is critical for creativity and problem solving." |
As I talked more with the Lord about wonder and the reasons that we need it in our lives, I felt a familiar stirring again of the questions that lead to discovery. Here's some of what the Lord showed me as I processed this word through with Him.
Why Wonder?
Wonder is obviously important, otherwise the Lord wouldn't have created us as beings who sense wonder. So why is that? What makes wonder important? Wonder operates on three levels in our lives – the sensory, the cognitive and the spiritual.
• Wonder is sensory – in moments of wonder our senses are heightened and engaged, often causing a momentary intake of breath and widened eyes as we take in the wonder we're presented with. It causes a release of feel-good chemicals and hormones into our body and brain.
• Wonder is cognitive – it causes us to wonder, to be curious, to think about things that are beyond our current understanding.
• Wonder is spiritual – wonder is an encounter with something that touches us on a spiritual level. It goes beyond the mere physical senses and emotions, beyond cognitive reasoning. It goes to our spirit and heart being engaged in a way that causes us to experience reverence and awe, both for the creation and the Creator (both man and God). Wonder was given us to point us to the ultimate Creator and His part in our lives and our world.
The ability to sense wonder is hardwired into us as a part of being human and is an essential part of our humanity. Part of the reason for this is that we were created to be "fed" or "ministered to" by wonder and beauty. Wonder works in our lives in wonderful ways – it ignites our sensory, cognitive and spiritual senses, releasing essential energy to us; it sparks gratitude and feel-good chemicals and hormones. Wonder is a critical part of curiosity, creativity and problem-solving. It sparks our curiosity, and is often a doorway which leads us to a pathway of exploration, discovery and sometimes invention.
Areas Where We May Have Lost Our Wonder
We must have wonder in our lives; without it our soul and spirit become jaded and we enter a place of depleted energy; we lose joy, and sometimes even become depressed. If having a healthy sense of wonder is this important then we need to value, nurture and protect it. Some of the areas we may have lost our wonder in are:
• The wonder of God being a part of our lives, our journeys, our stories. The amazing, almighty God has chosen to have a personal relationship with us. How awesome is that? Yet sadly, it's easy for us to lose our sense of wonder about this. Or maybe we still have some sense of wonder about the relationship, but it's dimmed. If either of these are true of us, then it doesn't have to stay like that. Our sense of wonder in our relationship with the Lord can be restored. It's important that we keep that sense of wonder because the story of God in our lives is our testimony. If we lose the sense of wonder at His involvement in our lives, it will affect our testimony; it will affect the way others see our relationship with the Lord.
• The wonder of love. It is very easy to slide from wonder into a place of familiarity with those we love – our family and our friends, and even our workmates. Remember...(continue reading)
