On the road to Emmaus
How does God communicate with you?
How does God make His will known to you?
This is an important question for each one of us as we are all seeking the way ahead with the Lord.
God speaks and makes His will known to us in many ways.
Firstly, the Lord speaks through the words in the bible e.g. You shall not steal.
Also, God can speak through the still small voice of the Holy Spirit saying, ‘This is the way walk you in it.’
Sometimes the Lord gives us a check in our spirit, where we just know not to do or say something or to go someplace. Remember Paul was forbidden by the Spirit of Jesus Christ from going in to preach the Gospel in Asia but rather received in a dream the Macedonian call.
God sometimes speaks through circumstances; you ask God for something and you do not get it, the door is closed etc., sometimes this is because the thing requested is not God’s will for you. However, we must be careful that it is not the enemy holding back God’s answer causing us to give up too soon.
There are probably other ways that God will speak and make His will know to us e.g. seeing His blessing on something or receiving a supernatural confirmation (I had a dream one night of the pastor’s wife sending me a parcel in the post. It arrived at my door the next morning!).
Today we are going to look at two men who were beaten, disappointed and downtrodden. Two men who did not know just what to do next. All their hopes were dashed, where could they possibly go from here.
Luke 24:13 And, behold, two of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem about threescore furlongs.
14 And they talked together of all these things which had happened.
15 And it came to pass, that, while they communed together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near, and went with them.
16 But their eyes were holden that they should not know him.
17 And he said unto them, what manner of communications are these that you have one to another, as you walk, and are sad?
18 And the one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answering said to him, are you only a stranger in Jerusalem, and has not known the things which are come to pass there in these days?
19 And he said to them, What things? And they said unto him, Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people:
20 And how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death and have crucified him.
21 But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel: and beside all this, today is the third day since these things were done.
22 Moreover certain women also of our company made us astonished, which were early at the sepulchre.
23 And when they found not his body, they came, saying, that they had also seen a vision of angels, which said that he was alive.
24 And certain of them which were with us went to the sepulchre and found it even so as the women had said: but him they saw not.
25 Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken:
26 Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?
27 And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.
28 And they drew nigh unto the village, whither they went: and he made as though he would have gone further.
29 But they constrained him, saying, abide with us: for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent. And he went into tarry with them.
30 And it came to pass, as he sat at meat with them, he took bread, and blessed it, and brake, and gave to them.
31 And their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight.
32 And they said one to another, did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?
33 And they rose up the same hour, and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven gathered together, and them that were with them,
34 Saying, The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon.
35 And they told what things were done in the way, and how he was known of them in breaking of bread.
36 And as they thus spake, Jesus himself stood amid them, and saith unto them,
Peace be unto you.
Sometimes when the Lord is communicating with us, our hearts are burning within us, even though we do not recognise that it is the Lord who is speaking. The two disciples recognised retrospectively that it was Jesus who had been speaking to them. When they sat down to a meal, Jesus blessed the bread and gave it to them, then their eyes were opened, and He vanished before their eyes. But what happened next? They somehow understood that they had to go back up to Jerusalem to be with the other disciples.
But what has this to do with us today?
Well, we are going to have a communion meal with the Lord today. Jesus has given us true bread and true drink. Jesus has been speaking to us all the way (over the last few weeks and months) and maybe our hearts have been burning but we did not know why. Perhaps as we meet with Jesus in communion today our eyes will be opened to the Lord and his will and then we will know what to do next.
In closing, my idea is that yet another way for the Lord to reveal His will to you and I, is to give us burning heart, producing a great enthusiasm, and thus showing us what to do next for the Lord.
Amen
Prayer: Lord God, give us a burning heart and a great enthusiasm to do your perfect will today and to find the way ahead in every area of our lives, we ask in Jesus’ name. Amen