For years the Lord has ended our daily discourse by encouraging me to “come and keep on coming.” No matter what topic we are discussing, what questions are left unanswered, and regardless of my comprehension level for the day, His closing comment remains, “just come and keep on coming.”

    At times these words comfort my weariness. Other times they silence my demand to know things I can’t yet know. There are times when they are the only words I know how to hear - and so I hear them - and allow grace to bring me back the next day to receive the “more” that awaits. But one thing these words always do is remind me that He is the need that will never go away. He’s not a one time fix; my need for Him is on-going. All my hopes are met in Him on a daily basis. I see now that understanding dawns on me over the course of my lifetime. I keep coming because I desperately need understanding. We all do, for understanding brings rest and peace. It becomes the force that sets us free as it instills confidence and the freedom to move.

    Visionwriters provides a strategy for freedom by creating banks for understanding to flow through. The problem we face as Christians isn’t that we “don’t know,” it’s that we “don’t listen.” We weren’t made to draw from the Tree of Knowledge; we were made to draw from the Tree of Life. These two trees reflect the difference between “needing to know” and “learning to listen.” What we need to know comes to us in relationship with the Father; so rather than acquiring knowledge our time is best spent training our ears to hear and our hearts to receive.

    At Visionwriters we train people to listen and offer a plan that makes it as easy as possible. There’s an old adage, “I hear, I forget; I see, I remember; I write, I understand.” I may hear a message and forget it by day’s end. If I see the message acted out before me I am more apt to remember it. But if I take the time to write down what I hear and see I will not only remember...I will understand the steps that need to be taken. Understanding is our aim, not the acquisition of knowledge. Knowledge does not equate to understanding. In fact, knowledge without understanding is clutter.

    Writing down His personal words helps us to understand their content. He lovingly supplies a daily portion so His words won’t be too heavy for us to run with. In Matthew we’re told not to “worry or be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow has worries and anxieties of its own.” Each day offers a sufficient amount of trouble and a sufficient amount of understanding. To come daily is to travel lightly, holding only the information that is needed for the day. It keeps us unencumbered by the weight of yesterday’s knowledge. When we accept that we’re not in control of the day (much less the world) we will accept life on a “need to know” basis.

    We need His words worked into our lives everyday so understanding can set us free. We are designed to need God. To agree with our design is to move gracefully through life. We wrongly believe we can produce knowledge and solve the problems of the day. In resisting the truth that knowledge is imparted in relationship with Him, we are unable to receive the results that His knowing would impart.

    He helps us understand our need for Him by making our need a daily one. The inability to handle more than our daily portion and the daily portion’s inability to stay fresh beyond a day, work together to cause our quick return to Him. We learn to appreciate our need and find comfort in letting go of our illusion of “control.”

The need for daily bread trains us in discipline. We learn to “come and keep on coming” by virtue of our need. When we stop coming, a lack of real life drives us back to Him so that both “coming” and “staying away” create the habit of returning.

    The need for daily bread also teaches us humility. In returning to Him daily we embrace our weakness until at last we are completely undisturbed by our desperate need for Him. Our need for Him makes it impossible to take credit for our own success. Our attempts at change are vain and awkward. The painful exposure of our inability to produce lasting results apart from Him is intended to show us the depth of our need. Our impotence drives the point home. Even if we employ His principles, yet refuse the acknowledgement of His presence, our results will be limited.

    And so we come and keep on coming - we write and keep on writing. But is He really speaking in our journals? I believe it’s in the nature of the flesh to deny truth. When God speaks He breaks the flesh barrier and reaches the heart of our being - the part of us that CAN hear. We know He is speaking because His repeated words alter our course. True change is set in motion. His handiwork is seen in the consistency of our “long obedience in the same direction.” Our walk may not be perfect but grace and patience allow us to rise one more time than we fall.

    Friends, our need for Him does not make us defective, it makes us whole. We must position ourselves to receive from Him daily, for receiving is our posture for change. Receiving is our way out of bondage. If we will not receive we are destined to repeat our patterns. Just come and keep on coming. Let’s receive our daily bread and gain freedom by embracing our insatiable need for Him.