Holy Spirit Journal-August 8th, 2025

Please note, I recognize what’s happening in the world right now. I feel it in my bones. I do not share this to be insensitive, self-centered or blind to the realities of the world today. Quite the opposite. This is what motivates my desire to share with you all. 

This morning, I said a prayer in my head. I spoke to the Lord about the path that he’s taken me on. I reflected on those things he had taught me to forgive, the behaviors and choices that he’s corrected me on, and the “mistakes” that I’ve made along the way to get to this point. I recognized that, for what I’ve learned, for what he has taught me, about the world, about Him, about myself, about the war, there was likely no other path way that would lead me to these pastures. 

I acknowledged him and thanked him for this path, even though, in all honesty, it has been horrible, terrifying and overwhelming at a multitude of occasions and will likely continue to be so. I acknowledged that through that process, I’ve been delivered from a multitude of things, and continue to be delivered of things rooted deeply in my habits, practices, thinking, spirit and heart; generational curses and patterns of sin unbreakable by human hands, but molding clay in the sight and Power of the Invisible God of Seven Spirits. Recognizing, in the most humility that I can muster, which isn’t much, that I’d fought him every step of the way and that he stayed with me throughout. That he was my God and I was his child. And that is something I now knew and understood with every fiber of my being. 

“So now what?” I prayed to him in my mind. “Where do we go from here?” 

A quiet voice whispered back to me almost instantly, “Open your Bible to page 738.” And so I did. Here’s what I found:

Job: Chapter 5 17-27

“Behold, how happy is the man whom God reproves, So do not despise the discipline of the Almighty. For He inflicts pain, and gives relief; He wounds, and His hands also heal. From six troubles He will deliver you, Even in seven evil will not touch you. In famine He will redeem you from death, And in war from the power of the sword. You will be hidden from the scourge of the tongue, And you will not be afraid of violence when it comes. You will laugh at violence and famine, And you will not be afraid of wild beasts. For you will be in league with the stones of the field, And the beasts of the field will be at peace with you. You will know that your tent is secure, For you will visit your abode and fear no loss. You will know also that your descendants will be many, And your offspring as the grass of the earth. You will come to the grave in full vigor, Like the stacking of grain in its season. Behold this; we have investigated it, and so it is. Hear it, and know for yourself.”

I’ll be honest. Many days, I struggle to believe his promises in a real way. To walk with the faith and the power and the courage and the hope that we are commanded to be in this dark world. Some days, there are no mustard seeds to be found in my often barren garden. 

But then there are other times, times like this morning, when his Presence is undeniable, where faith is effortless, and where His glory and truth wash over me like a spring rain on the shores of the East Bay. 

He is a Mighty God. His eyes dart to and fro, searching the hearts of people like you and like me, testing them in the furnace and refining them like silver and gold. It is a blessing to know his name, and even more of a blessing that he knows yours. I fear Him. I Love Him. I worship Him. 

Amen