Butterfly Kisses | Roma Waterman

[00:00:01] Speaker A: Welcome to the Numa church podcast. Wherever you are in the world, we are so glad that you've joined us. Our prayer is that this message will reveal more of who our heavenly Father is as we grow deeper in intimacy with Jesus. Enjoy the message. [00:00:18] Speaker B: Active listening what is going on around you? You know, a lot of people say to me, I'm not hearing God, he's not talking to me. I actually think he is. He's probably just speaking in a way that you haven't heard him speak before. Look around, look up. It's so exciting. The Lord is speaking all the time. Another way that you can engage in active listening is by asking God questions. Now, this is a real big thing for me right now. I think that we're scared to ask questions. We think it's being disrespectful sometimes. Have you ever been taught that in church culture, don't ask questions. But actually the whole way that Jesus operated on the earth was all around asking questions. God is not afraid of your questions. Asking questions is not a sin. Even not agreeing with God. You can do that, you can go, God, really? Could that really happen? I don't know. What do you think about this, God? Or if he says something to you? I mean, am I the only person that's done this? The Lord's gone, I'm calling you to do this and you've gone, I can't do that. Do you really think I can do that, God? It's okay to have those kinds of conversations. What does Matthew seven, verse seven say? Ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock and it will be open to you. God loves our asking. He loves our persistence, and we see it right through a I thought of Nicodemus coming in the night and asking, Jesus, the Pharisee, the ruler of the Jews. He's learned and a leader. He probably's never asked anybody any questions. He's probably the one that's getting questions. What does he say in three, verse four? John three, verse four. How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born? He was asking questions. Jesus Template as a teacher was to ask questions. If he's our model, then he's fine with us asking questions too. I'm thinking of the first time in scripture where we hear of Jesus asking questions and I have a little giggle because it's when he was twelve and he was with Mary and Joseph in Jerusalem in the crowd where every year the Jews go all across the land. They would come for the feast of the Passover. And we read in Luke 246, after three days, they found him in the temple. What was he doing? Sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. In Matthew 16, when he's asking the disciples to reveal, when he wants to reveal himself, he says to Peter, who do you say that I am? What do other people say? Question first. Next question is, who do you say that I am? And you know, when Jesus asks questions, it's not because he doesn't know the answer, is it? It's actually because he wants to draw an answer out of you. The kingdom of heaven is within you. And so as he asks you questions, he's revealing more of the kingdom on the inside of you. So what happens when he asks that question and says to Simon, Simon Peter, he says, who do you say that I am? He reveals more of himself. We go to verse 18. I tell you, Peter, on this rock, I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. It's just beautiful. Questions is how we work things out. I love what Charles Proteus said. This is a quote. There are no foolish questions, and no man becomes a fool until he has stopped asking questions. So don't be afraid. Don't be afraid to ask questions of the Lord, but also to wait in that space actively. The next point, my final point is, how do we do waiting? Well, so we learn to listen, but the next point is we learn to linger. This is one of my favorite words at the moment. We learn to linger. Lingering can feel like standing still. You can feel like there's no traction. And, you know, in seasons of revival, in cultures of revival, it's very fast. Things move very fast. And when you're not running, you can sometimes feel like you're missing it. But actually lingering is the goal. Abiding in the father. There is so much power in that. And in some ways, I'm going to say something shocking right now, maybe, but I think we've idolized movement in our culture. It's like if you're not moving fast, there's something wrong with you. I think we've idolized destiny. It's become its own idol. God's going to do something great in your life, and so all you're doing is running to this thing and you're not stopping and lingering and saying, my goal is abiding with the father. So my question to you today, I get so excited when I think about this. What if lingering is the goal? What is the Lord trying to teach you about pausing in this season of waiting. And I had this picture when the Lord was sharing this with me of a sentence, a beautiful sentence that I love to read. And a sentence is interesting when it's got lots of beautiful words in it, but without a full stop, what is being explained flows into the next sentence and then it doesn't make any sense. What if God is saying, learn to linger. Let me put a full stop here in your life, just for a moment, so that you can make sense of the story and so that other people, when they read the story of your life, can make sense of the story, too. Because actually that's very important, is that your life is a legacy. This isn't just about us, is it? Someone's going to read the book of your life one day in some way or another. And if there's no full stops, it's not going to make sense. And there's something about staying still that grows you in strength. I've had lots of those seasons in my life. I'm going to have a lot more. I'll be honest with you. The first time I ever prophesied in a significant way was 15 years ago. And it went badly. And I shut down my prophetic voice for two years. And then I went into a cave for ten. Not joking, not exaggerating. Didn't like the prophetic, didn't want the prophetic gift. Thought I was terrible at it. Went and hid in a cave. But there was something beautiful that happened in that cave, something so precious. I love the cave. The Lord taught me how to sit still. He taught me how to grow roots in the ground. He made me just like what Isaiah 61, verse three says, an oak of righteousness and not a pot plant. Let me read Isaiah 61, verse three. To bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness. A planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor. Wow. Your planting displays the splendor of God. Your lingering displays the splendor. Your pause stops people looking at you and goes to where the action of the Lord is. And that gets me excited that he is growing us into solid trees. So if you're feeling like you're in this space of waiting, I want you to know it's not wasted time, it's not dead time. There's still things I'm waiting for and believing for that haven't come to pass yet. But I just go, there's something special, there's something precious that happens in that holding pattern. You know what happens? You become satisfied. You realize you don't need all the things to be happy. You come back to the basics. You become present. You sit here. I love this quote by John Mark Comer about the importance of lingering. He's quoting Walter Adams, the spiritual director to C. S. Lewis, and this is what he says. To walk with Jesus is to walk with a slow, unhurried pace. Hurry is the death of prayer and only impedes and spoils our work. It never advances it. Listening and lingering. Let me come back to that story as we end of butterfly kisses. Maybe like Bob Carlisle, you're thinking that your best years are behind you. Well, that you missed it in some way. You haven't found this place that you know you're meant to be in. I want to encourage you that the Lord's saying today you can be faithful in the waiting, doing what you know how to do, and that the Lord's going to bring you into a new, you know, just like Bob Kylisle. You might overlook it because we're looking inside, rather looking at all the things around us. But if you pay attention, you won't miss the moment. And just like butterfly kisses, it's the story that matters the most. It's not even about the song. It's the story. So in the waiting, listen, wait with him, not for him. Lean into him, pay attention and linger. Be okay with the pause. [00:11:29] Speaker C: Thank you for joining us. We hope that you enjoyed today's podcast. Now we realize that not everyone has had the opportunity to respond to the good news of the gospel. And for this reason, in all of our services and platforms, we want to extend to you the opportunity to follow Jesus. The Bible teaches us that we have been created for a relationship with God. However, sin, which is essentially disobedience, independence and disbelief, or are simply missing the mark, entered the world and separated us from God. Romans chapter six, verse 23 says that the wages of sin is death and a debt was owed. And the Bible tells us that he, Jesus, demonstrated his love for us, that while we were still sinners, he died for us. Jesus paid the penalty for our sin. John 316 says, for God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. God so loved the world that he gave us Jesus, that whoever believes in him will be saved. All that is required of anyone is that they believe in Jesus. The son of God who came, lived died and rose again so that we could be forgiven, made right and given the right to become children of God and to have life forevermore with him. Today you can begin a relationship with Jesus. To believe in him is to simply to respond with faith in our hearts and confess with our mouths that he is Lord and we do that through a simple prayer. Follow along with me dear Jesus, I believe that you are the son of God. I thank you that you love me and came to forgive me of my sin. I repent from my old way of life and I turn to follow you. I receive the free gift of eternal life and I ask that you fill me with the Holy Spirit so that I can live a life of following after you. I thank you that I am born again as a child of God and that I am a new creation in Christ Jesus. Amen. If you prayed this prayer for the first time, we would love to connect with you and connect you to your next step and the local church in your area. You can contact us on our website at Numa church. Thanks for listening.