The paper recently reported that a minister of the Reformed Churches had fifty calls. How can you then find God’s way? He said, “I lay it prayerfully in God’s hands. He will put one of those congregations in my heart.” Often, we are not used to thinking this way. We make our own choices much more. And yes, ministers are in a different position where they have to make decisions based on calling. But is that true? Why, as Christian, would you keep God out of all kinds of everyday things?

Sharing Everything With God: Really Everything?⤒🔗

Major decisions: buying a house, marrying, beginning a new job — you place those things before the Lord. But the everyday or material things? Do you just go ahead and buy whatever you want, or do you lay it before the Lord? Isn’t that indecisive and exaggerated?

But, you can also turn it around: why wouldn’t you involve the Lord in it? Why would you keep him out of it? The question which lies behind this is: what do you expect from God? When you pray, do you expect an answer, a sign? No, not a voice directly out of heaven which says exactly what you must and must not do. Some Christians do expect that. It would be wonderful if it was that simple. Or perhaps not; isn’t it wonderful that God gave so much personal responsibility to people, room in which to make decisions without always having a ready-made word from God?

Yet, I do not want to sweep this question under the rug; what do I expect from God when I pray? Do I also seek the quiet time to be able to listen to the voice of God? The quiet voice of God’s Spirit in me, who truly does lay things in my heart?

Haven’t we minimized the presence of God in our lives to too great a degree? God is for Sunday. God is for the moments of crisis in your life. Isn’t it possible for the idea to slowly seep in that you do not truly expect anything from God? We do pray, but do we do that in the expectation that he will truly make it clear which choice you should make? Do you believe that he really leads us?

Also, if someone truly has this trust, don’t we, too quickly, question it? Who says that your decision is given to you by God? It is true; you can also say too quickly, this or that comes from God. But, in the same way, you can say too quickly: I cannot know God’s will. That is also not true.

The Spirit As an Advance←⤒🔗

In Romans 8, Paul speaks extensively about the curse on life. All of creation suffers under futility (Rom. 8:23). Everything and everyone are in bondage under God’s curse over this world. His good creation is polluted by sin and death. The devil dwells in it and evil assumes grotesque proportions, for example, the Olympic games in China on the backs and bodies of innocent citizens. That is the world in which we live. The world, God’s creation, sighs and is burdened by it.

What about us? asks Paul. Yes, he states, we also suffer from it. We also carry a cross in our lives, and he actually means: even we! In other words, you would not expect that. Haven’t we received the Spirit? Even we, who have received the Spirit, go burdened under the brokenness. Also people who live through the Spirit (the first part of Romans 8) feel much of God’s curse over this wicked world. And yet, God has made a new beginning. The gift of the Spirit of God is an advance. Earlier on, it said pledge, a guarantee. We cannot yet experience the full riches of Christ. Still, that which he does give is already very much — an advance, a sort of prepayment.

You will receive an inheritance, but you do not have to wait until later; no, you are already receiving an advance now. When you think about how great that inheritance is, then the advance is already significant! God’s gracious presence does not have to be pushed away to the far future. Neither may you regard it as something small, as if it does not actually mean anything yet. No, God already wants to be with you now, in your life, here and now in this broken world. The kingdom of heaven has come close to us in Jesus Christ. Through his Spirit, that kingdom is already here and you can enter it by giving yourself over to him. Therefore, you may also be full of expectation of what God will give. The kingdom of God is not yet present in its fullness, but there is something: God’s Spirit, in person! That is tremendous riches and power! An advance from the full inheritance.

What May I Expect?←⤒🔗

Romans 8 makes it very clear that God does not promise you a life without dents, scratches, and bruises. Paul even says that we are like cattle meant for slaughter. Mass murders are committed in this world, as if the lives of people are nothing. No one escapes; at times death are close on our heels. The advance that you receive from God, his Spirit, does not immediately change that. When the Spirit of God dwells in you, you are not yet freed from your mortal existence, from pain, suffering, and sorrow. But it is a beginning, the beginning! It is not a guarantee of healing from sicknesses, of recovery from handicaps. The advance is not directly associated with renewal in our earthly existence. It is the guarantee that God himself is with you. With his love, his Spirit, and power, he is, in person, present in your life!

Therefore, Paul says in verse 37 that in all this we are victorious: “in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.” In all this suffering, although we are and remain as sheep to be slaughtered, vulnerable, and subject to suffering and pain, God’s love is with us. We are as people who stand at the beginning of a race, in the starting blocks. But you already know the outcome of the race; we will win. And that is then the advance: that God himself is with you! Note, the great God of heaven and earth is with you, in you! You may live in the fellowship of God himself! You may be intimate with him in the middle of this broken existence!

God is present, here and now. That is the “advance.” That does determine your expectations, because that means that you are not firstly focused on all that God gives you in blessing and gifts, but you become more and more focused on God himself! What do I expect from God? I must look at my expectations through the question: is my expectation truly focused on God himself? This longing is beautifully expressed in Psalm 27: “One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life.”

That is what it is all about — that longing, opening yourself for and reaching out to God himself, who will fill your heart. God wants to dwell in you with his love. Like a bridegroom, he wants to capture the heart of his bride. And that bride needs to do only one thing; open her heart for that loving presence, entrust herself to him.

Entrusting oneself — that is associated with struggle. When we do not truly know and experience God’s loving presence in us, is that not because we close ourselves to it? Is it because we do not dare submit ourselves to him? You may have all kinds of reasons for that, often also subconscious. We often have built thick walls around our hearts. We often resist the intimate presence of God within ourselves. It is too threatening, too all-encompassing. Then I must surrender myself completely to him. My proud heart resists this. But why am I so afraid of it? I can just fall into the arms of my Bridegroom Jesus! And discover how safe I am there!

When I do that, the barriers fall away automatically. Then that disconcerting distance is no longer there, that reservation on my part. Then I want to share everything with him — absolutely everything. I get focused on hearing his voice, the quiet whispering of his Spirit in my heart. Then you become a person who goes through life listening, alert for the directions given by the fingers of God. Then you will even see his hand in your life!

Isn’t that the basic foundation of every Christian, that you let yourself be led in this way in decisions, in choices, in your battle against sin and the devil? Shouldn’t we then learn to have a less suspicious attitude towards this? No, that does not take away your responsibility. And you must also stay humble. You can make mistakes. You remain a person with other voices in you as well. There is also the voice of the old man, who aims to fit everything into your own desires. You meet those people who now have received the message from God that they should do this or that. They are so sure of it! And they will easily give everything up in order to follow that one thing. However, others around them see other motives as well. There remains much “flesh and world” in us. But meanwhile, do not knock the other person down. Know that God’s Spirit can give you wisdom, as God himself promised (James 1:3), that he will give you words from the Bible which you can apply in an amazing way to a situation or person. Assuredly you may call it a gift, a prophetic inspiration, God’s leading, his loving hand giving you a shove, supporting you, stimulating you. Do not hesitate to share that with other trusted Christians; do not make it a thing exclusive to yourself, because then you will get carried away with it, run away with it. Together within the communion of saints you may prayerfully seek the will of God.

In this way he can be present in your life. In the middle of a world of brokenness, a brokenness which you also experience in your own life, you will experience his loving leadership and gracious presence. The Spirit as advance — already a bit of heavenly life on earth. You may reach out to it. You may taste it and enjoy it.