I have had many encounters with God and witnessed His activity in and around my life over and over again. But sadly my memory is short. Over time the awe and wonder dim. Most likely you also struggle to remember God’s goodness.
God knows us so well. He knew we would tend to forget His miraculous works. That’s why He shows us a helpful tool in Scripture: Spiritual Markers.
My favorite example of a spiritual marker in the Bible is when Joshua led the Israelites across the Jordan into the Promised Land (Joshua 3:14:17, 4:1-24). When the priests stepped into the water carrying the Ark of the Covenant, God stopped the water upstream from flowing. All the people crossed over on dry land. Another miraculous provision from God for His people!
After they crossed, God told Joshua to have one man from each tribe pick up a stone from the riverbed and use them to build a memorial. Joshua told the Israelites, “In the future when your descendants ask their fathers, ‘What do these stones mean?’ tell them ‘Israel crossed the Jordan on dry ground.’ For the Lord your God dried up the Jordan before you until you crossed over.” (See Joshua 4:21-23.)
God wanted His people to mark and remember this event. He wanted their children and grandchildren after them to know and remember it too. So He gave them a visual reminder, a physical memory prompter. The memorial was to be a permanent reminder to God’s people and the nations of God’s power – a spiritual marker.
What is a “spiritual marker?”
A “spiritual marker” is a tangible, physical object we deliberately choose to represents God’s significant presence and activity in our life. This “God event” could be a spiritual encounter, a clear call to service, a specific time of divine direction or intervention, a miraculous act, or more. This object will serve as a permanent reminder of what God has done in our lives or a time that He taught us something new about who He is or how He works.
I have a print that portrays Jesus with the one lamb that wandered away from the 99 others (Luke 15:4-10). My husband bought it for me to mark a glorious season we spent on the front row of God’s activity. We were blessed to witness and participate in Him drawing dozens of lost people to Himself through an adult Bible study we led when we lived in Alberta. This print hangs in a prominent place in our home.
The Value of Spiritual Markers for You and Your Family
Do you have any spiritual markers? Should you have a few? There is great value in working to purposefully remember what God’s done in our lives. Here are three specific benefits:
- They provide opportunities for you to tell others of God’s might acts – The presence in your home of these physical markers will give you the opportunity to tell their story. Answer the questions people ask and purposefully use them to start conversations.
- They help pass your family’s spiritual stories to the next generation – The physical spiritual markers and the stories connected to them provide a way for your children and grandchildren to be “involved” in God’s past activity. Your story becomes their story.
- They show the context of God’s ongoing activity in your life – Past spiritual markers can help you discern God’s future direction for you, like signposts on your path. Reflecting on God’s past work in your life can help illuminate His current or future direction for you.
Determining What Should Be “Marked”
How do we know what activity or event we should connect to a physical spiritual marker? Anything that God does in or around your life that impacts you in a significant way is “marker worthy!” But if you need a few guidelines…
- Mark things that only God can do like the lost come to faith in Christ, a heart changed, or a miraculous event.
- A time when you learned something new and significant about God.
- A period when God worked through your life to accomplish His purposes.
- Anything that is simply too important to forget.
Remembering what God has done also helps us to give Him all the glory He is due! What do you need to remember with a few well-placed markers?
I will remember the deeds of the LORD; I will remember your miracles of long ago. Psalm 77:11
Let’s chat! If you have any spiritual markers, please share about one you have. If you don’t yet have any, what is one “marker worthy” event you mark now?
Kathy encourages women to live an unshakeable faith for life by standing firm on our rock-solid God no matter the circumstances. The author of six books, Kathy also has a Masters in Christian Education. She has taught the Bible for over 25 years and speaks regularly at women’s events.
Kathy and her husband live in the Houston area. They have three children, two sons-in-law, and one grandson. Find out more and get discipleship tools and leader helps at her website: www.kathyhoward.org.
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