SECTION 2
A LIFE GOD GUIDES
IF YOU SEEK ME YOU WILL FIND ME
It says in James 4:8 "Come near to God and He will come near to you." God wants us to seek Him and assures us we will find Him if we do. It also assures us in Jeremiah 29:13-14 of this: "You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart. I will be found by you."
In a Psalm by David he tells of his desire to seek God when he says: "One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple." (Psalm 27:4)
This scripture especially assures us He will guide us: "I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you, and watch over you." (Psalm 32:8) Ask Him to awaken you each morning according to this scripture: "He wakens me morning by morning, wakens my ear to listen like one being taught." (Isaiah 50:4b)
So what do we learn from these verses?
If we do these things, this is what we will experience:
HOW DO WE EXPERIENCE THESE PROMISES
If these are His promises in the Bible, how do we get there? What do we do to experience these things? There are three things that are important for this: 1) Give your life to Christ, 2) Have a daily quiet time, and 3) Attend church
1. GIVE YOUR LIFE TO CHRIST
The first thing is to give your life to Christ and ask Him to be Lord of your life - that means He has control over what you do instead of you. I refer to this in Appendix B where it tells you how to give your life to Christ. If you haven’t done this, and want to, go to Appendix B and follow the instructions in "How To Give Your Life To Christ."
2. HAVE A DAILY QUIET TIME
After you have done that, then begin having a daily Quiet Time. This is a time that you set yourself apart from other things and people and seek the Lord. In this Quiet Time it is good to read the Bible, to pray, to worship, and to give thanks. Look in Appendix B again for "How to Have a Daily Quiet Time" for specific instructions. I like to write in a journal what the Word means to me that day and what the Holy Spirit is impressing into my thoughts.
3. ATTEND CHURCH
Another step in growing on your "Spiritual Journey" is to attend a church which teaches the Bible accurately and has opportunity for fellowship and service for you. This is an important step, so do it prayerfully. I told you the story in section 1 about how God led me to Calvary Baptist Church, then later to CenterPoint Church, and now to Christ Triumphant Church. He knows the place where you can grow and have fellowship that is right for you. Ask Him. If you are not being fed what you need at the church you are currently attending, ask Him if you should stay or change. Then wait for His answer. He wants to guide you. Remember the scripture in Hebrews 10:25 which tells us: "Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another--and all the more as you see the Day approaching."
EXAMPLES OF JOURNAL WRITING IN QUIET TIME
As an example of writing in my journal in my Quiet Time, one day I read Psalm 73 and wrote these things in my journal....
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My scripture reading today is Psalm 73...a psalm of Aseph. Favorite parts of it: 24 "Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory. 25 "Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. 26 "My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. 28 "But as for me, it is good to be near God. I have made the Sovereign Lord my refuge; I will tell of all your deeds." My Prayer: Thank You, Lord, for letting me be near You, for keeping me close to You. Thank You that You are my refuge. Thank You for guiding me with your counsel and thank You that You will take me into Your glory. Earth has nothing I desire besides You. You are the strength of my heart and my portion forever. I love You, Lord. Thank You for loving me! Holy Spirit: I AM with you forever, Joan, and you DO get to come and be with Me in glory when you eventually leave this world. That is the greatest gift of all and it came because, in My love, I gave My life for you. I took your sins upon Me and died for them so you wouldn’t have to die for them and be punished for them. That’s how great is My love for you. "Greater love has no man than this, that he lays down his life for a friend." You are My friend! |
As you spend time with the Lord you grow to know Him better and sense His Presence more. You find His peace about things that concern you. This daily Quiet Time establishes a spiritual habit or discipline in your life which has long reaching results as you continue over your lifetime. We are told in Romans 12:2 "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is - his good, pleasing and perfect will. "
So we can know His will if we allow our minds to be renewed. Reading God’s Word daily helps renew your mind to be like Jesus’ mind.
One day in my Quiet Time I asked this question: "Lord, what do You want us to do...Your people, born of Your Spirit? This is what He put in my mind
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Listen to My Spirit. Seek Me daily, for life is a daily walk with Me. I have a way, and I have a plan. You cannot find My way unless you seek Me. I want you to learn how to do that. Listen to Me, find My way, and walk in it. I’ll not give you the wisdom of man. I’ll give you God’s wisdom. Which do you want? If you do not seek Me, then I will know which you want, and I will let you go man’s way and into his folly. Seek Me until you find Me. Do not give up. I want to be found! If you ask the world for advice, you will get the world’s counsel. If you ask Me, you will get My counsel. Which do you want, My friends? Choose you this day whom you will serve! |
Write down what He impresses in your thoughts as you read the Word and pray. As you read back over these thoughts later, they will be very meaningful to you. I have kept a journal since I was taught to do this in 1977. Now I find great assurance in reading back over those journals. For instance, this message has meant a lot to me and encouraged me when I wonder about my financial provision so I can take the time to write this book. This is what I wrote from the Holy Spirit in June, 2004:
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You have everything that I have, Joan, everything. You do not need to fear not having enough money to live on. I will give/bring you all you need. Your position is to trust Me. I gave you that scripture this morning: "In repentance and rest is your salvation; in quietness and trust is your strength." (Isaiah 3:15). Walk in quietness and trust all the rest of your life. Herein lies your strength - resting in Me. Repent whenever you don’t rest in Me. I want you to rest in Me all the time. Rest in Me this day and you will receive My very best for you. |
Another time I wrote these thoughts from the Holy Spirit:
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Now why didn’t I give you word of your provision plan yet? I am testing you to see if you will continue to depend on and trust Me for your provision, as I have instructed you to do, or if you will take things into your own hands and make provision yourself. I do not want you to do that, but it is your choice. |
One day I wrote down these words He impressed in my mind as I had quiet time:
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Just keep going day after day listening to Me and obeying Me and trusting Me to provide everything needed to accomplish My purpose for you. I will be with you and I will do it all--if you let Me by waiting for Me and trusting in Me...faith. Your faith will please Me and I will act in response to it. Keep having faith. |
Choose your best time to meet with the Lord. The Quiet Time needs to be at a time when you are freshest and at your best. For me that is in the morning because I am a "morning person" and it gets me started out right on my day. If your best time is in the evening, then set apart time in the evening. Start with an amount of time you feel you can commit to and stick with. Perhaps 15 minutes is where you feel you should begin. Then, as your Quiet Time becomes more and more meaningful, you will likely want to add more time, maybe 20 minutes, or 30 minutes, or even an hour.
On special occasions you can have your Quiet Time in unusual places. For example one day I had a Quiet Time sitting on the outdoor porch-balcony of a large meeting hall at a church camp I was attending. It was overlooking a beautiful lake scene. It was all quiet and still as I drew away from camp activities to relax and meditate and commune with the Lord. The scripture it reminded me of is in Isaiah 30:15 where it says: "In quietness and trust is your strength." As I meditated, these thoughts came to me and I wrote them down.
THE REFLECTION
The quieter the water the more perfect the reflection.
The more you know who you are in Me, the quieter your soul is before Me,
the more perfectly you reflect Me!
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Prayer: Lord, quiet my soul before You. Still all the thoughts within me that want to think about worldly things. Focus my thoughts on You. Help me to be a reflection of You to the world, to my friends, and to my family. I pray in Jesus’ name. Amen. |
Next, think of a plan for reading the Bible that suits your interests. If you want to read it through in a year, there are many yearly plans available (see Appendix B). I have used different plans over many years of reading it. Currently I alternate between different sections of the Bible, reading Old Testament one day, Psalms and Proverbs the next day, the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) the next day (so I continually read what Jesus is saying), and the rest of the New Testament (Acts through Revelation) the next day.
If you haven’t read the Bible much before, I would suggest beginning in the book of John and reading it first. Read slowly and ponder what you read. If you have questions, talk to God and ask Him to teach you what it means. When I ask Him (and I have done that many times) I usually discover the answer later - perhaps in a book or in a talk I hear.
Spend time praying (talking to God) then listening for thoughts He gives back to you. Ask for Him to be with you, to guide you, to protect you, to give you favor with others for that day, etc. Pray for your loved ones also. You can ask for guidance for that day based on the scripture in Psalm 119:105 "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path."
Ask Him to be that lamp and light and to give you His Word to show you the way to go. As you put His Word into your life more and more, you will find the Spirit bringing that Word into your mind in situations as guidance.
Remember the scripture which says in Matthew 6:6 "When you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you."
One day in my Quiet Time the Holy Spirit taught me about His purpose in creating me:
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My child, My purpose in creating you was not to do a lot of daily worldly work. My purpose in creating you was to fellowship with Me. That is what I long for, and that is what I put a longing in you for--fellowship together. Come apart with Me, My child. Come apart every morning for a special time of fellowship alone, together, just the two of us...to love each other, to share our love, to plan your day together. Do not let the world mold your day; let Me mold your day--every day. Without this time together, how can I do this? You will not hear Me through the world’s clamor. Our special time must never be violated. It must be your first priority! I love you, My child, and I want to show you My love. You need it! Do not commit yourself to come and "be something" for Me today, just come and be "with" Me. I want your companionship today. Let’s share the day together! |
Spend time worshiping Him--that is telling Him about His attributes such as His loving kindness, His goodness, His faithfulness, etc. This is a good time to worship God by offering your life to Him for that day. It says in Romans 12:1 "Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God - this is your spiritual act of worship."
Spend time thanking Him for all He does for you - for giving you strength for that day, for your health, for the ability to earn a living, for your family and friends, etc. In 1 Thessalonians 5:18 we are told to: "Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus."
THINGS WE DON’T UNDERSTAND
There are times we experience things we just do not understand! That’s when I like to remind myself of the scripture from Proverbs 3:5-6 (which is one of my favorite verses). It says: "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will direct your paths."
Perhaps you have had times also when you experienced things you just didn’t understand. When that happens to me, this verse is a comfort to me. It reminds me that my dependency is not to be on my own understanding of a situation, but is to be on God.
What does it mean to "acknowledge Him" in all my ways? To me that means to say to myself and to others that I am in His hands. It also means that I am to look to him for guidance when I do not know what to do in a situation. I am to thank Him and praise Him each day of my life and acknowledge He is in charge of me.
I am so glad He says in this verse that He will direct our paths. He sees which direction we should go much more clearly than we do. He is all knowing while we know only partly. We can trust in His wisdom and guidance to take us the right way--the best way for us! He gave me three vision pictures of this very thing:
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PICTURE OF A PATHWAY In this picture I was walking on a pathway and Jesus was walking backwards ahead of me, facing me, and holding on to my hands. He let me know that, if I would keep my hands in His, He would keep me on the right pathway and keep me from falling off the side of the road. |
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PICTURE OF A FAN Another day I saw a picture of an opened fan looking like a turkey tail. At the top of each fan section an instruction was written. The understanding came to me that different people in the Body of Christ were to respond to these different instructions according to their giftedness and God’s leading. As they did this all the instructions could be completed--as each one did his part. The piece of fan given to me had this instruction on it: "Follow Me." They follow the Lamb wherever he goes. |
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PICTURE OF A MAZE I saw in my mind the picture of a maze, as if I was looking down on it from above. I saw myself in this maze, letting the Lord lead me each way it went. The thought came to me: How could He really teach me and test me on following Him if He did not lead me in some ways that were different, not logical to me. If He only led me in ways I expected, ways He had led me before, that would not really test and grow my ability to follow Him. Even if He said, "Do nothing," I was to follow that. That might be the best for me at that time. Then I wrote these words from Him: I am leading you, like in a maze. You do not see each turn or see to the side. Just keep following Me moment by moment. It is a lonely path but I am always with you. I will always show you the way to go. |
KEEPING YOUR SPIRITUAL FERVOR
As you journey in the world remember to "Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord." (Romans 12:11) How do you keep spiritual fervor and zeal in your day? I have found it comes by continually stirring up interest in spiritual things by what I read, what I talk about, what I watch on TV, how I use my free time, etc. For instance, after my Quiet Time in the morning, I continue to "talk to" the Lord throughout the day as things come up. I "practice His presence" as mentioned by Brother Lawrence in his book Practicing the Presence of God.
During my lunch hour at work I would read material that was inspiring (see Appendix C for a list of good books, fiction and non-fiction). After dinner in the evening I would watch Christian television which I taped during the day (e.g. Joyce Meyer, Praise The Lord show, Benny Hinn, The 700 Club). Before I retired at night I often tried to read something uplifting like a story from Guideposts Magazine.
A STORY OF GOD’S GUIDANCE
A story about God’s guiding me came about in what I want to share with you next. It is called "A Tremendous Substitute." Did you know that sometimes we can be fooled into thinking we have God’s guidance when an opportunity arises and it seems an answer to our prayers? This story will explain how that happened one time in my life.
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A TREMENDOUS SUBSTITUTE As I arrived home from church that Sunday evening the Lord spoke to me to turn on the TV. As I did, I heard a pastor in the middle of his sermon say something which I immediately knew I was to write down. The idea he gave was this: "Just before God is ready to give you His very best, Satan often offers a tremendous substitute." The idea of a tremendous substitute was a new one for me, but since that time I have often found those words to be true. It applied to my life one summer when I knew I needed to find a part-time job by September of that year because part of my financial provision would stop at the end of that month. As I took this need to the Lord in prayer, He gave me a picture of a door set before me. That door was open and behind it was bright light, so bright that I could not see what was there...but I knew it was His provision. He told me to keep walking toward the "door" in September, and He would have something for me at that time. So I walked, in faith, and kept the picture before me. I had to fight battles with anxiety as the time drew closer and I still did not have the financial provision I needed. By August I expected the Lord to bring me a job at any moment. Just at that time a friend called and invited me to lunch. She told me of a ministry position open at her church and asked if I would let her submit my name. She knew I had a call to ministry, and this looked good in so many ways! Could this be what the Lord had planned for me? I knew I must pray about it and give it serious consideration. As I pondered it there was one thing which bothered me about the job. If I took this job I would have to leave my church "family" of many years duration where I had friendships which were close and meaningful to me. Only with the Lord’s help could I do that. So I sought Him in prayer. I have learned over the years that if I really want to hear the Lord’s will I must first give up my own. This was very hard to do! I wanted the job the Lord had for me, and I needed the money soon, but I did not find peace about leaving my home church. So I prayed until I could say, "God, whatever You want for my life, that is what I want too. I am willing to pursue this job if that is what You want." Then He revealed to me that this job was a "tremendous substitute" which He had warned me about. It had seemed so perfect in many ways. That is often the way a "tremendous substitute" seems - perfect in many ways. It is hard to tell it from the real thing except as you seek God and listen to Him. I chose not to pursue that job, but to wait longer. One day, in mid-September, two weeks before part of my financial provision ended, I walked into a Christian bookstore to buy a card. As I chatted with the owner, he casually mentioned, "By the way, you don’t happen to be looking for a job, do you? I have one available." With those words the Lord began the process of bringing me the "real thing." For years a desire in my heart had been to work at a Christian bookstore because of my love of reading and sharing Christian books. Now, in the Lord’s perfect timing, He fulfilled that desire. In the process He showed me another of His Marvelous Deeds! The picture of the door with the light on the other side finally became a reality! I walked through it with joy and thanksgiving! I am the Lord; |
A LESSON ON GOD’S TIMING
One day the Lord gave me a lesson on His timing. Here is what He taught me: "After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed: ‘Father, the time has come.’" (John 17:1) Then the Holy Spirit said and I wrote down:
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Remember when I would talk about time and how it was or was not the right time? My timing is very important to seek so you can follow it exactly. Satan knows enough to keep trying to steal and thwart My timing. He works on man’s impatience and lack of vision to try to alter it. He often will try to anticipate what I am going to do and make a wonderful looking substitute--just before I bring My best into the picture. You can always watch to see if this is happening! |
Another day He taught me on the scripture from Isaiah 30:15 (KJV) which says: "In quietness and confidence shall be your strength." This is what He said that day:
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I am coming soon, My child. Remember, in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength. Face each day and each moment with quietness and confidence, knowing I am with you always, and have an answer for every question, every decision. I am your quietness. I am your confidence. I am your God. I am your Lord. I am all in all. I am your provider. I am your source. I am your sufficiency. I am your power. I am your strength. I am all you ever need. |
GUIDELINES FOR DAILY LIVING
There are some great guidelines for daily living in the Bible in Romans 12:9-21. I will list them here for you to read and ponder:
TEACHING US
One of the lessons God has taught me is that He loves us by teaching us. He teaches us lessons in the different situations we face each day. As we learn the lesson, He takes us on to new ones. If we don’t learn the lesson, He repeats it.
Here is an example of that process from scripture from Exodus 16:4 when God gave manna to the Israelites while they were in the desert: "I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions." Some people didn’t follow instructions and their bread (manna) became spoiled. They had to learn the hard way to follow God’s instructions to get good results.
Later in Exodus 16:17-18 it says: "The Israelites did as they were told; some gathered much, some little. And when they measured it by the omer, he who gathered much did not have too much, and he who gathered little did not have too little. Each one gathered as much as he needed." The Holy Spirit impressed me with these thoughts:
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So don’t fight against what I am doing; cooperate with Me. I will correct you as we do this together. I have a plan, an idea, of how I want this to be and I will lead you on that path. |
Another thing the Holy Spirit has taught me is about sowing seeds. It says in the Galatians 6:7-9 (TMB) that "What a person plants, he will harvest. The person who plants selfishness, ignoring the needs of others--ignoring God!--harvests a crop of weeds. All he’ll have to show for his life is weeds. But the one who plants in response to God, letting God’s Spirit do the growth work in him, harvests a crop of real life, eternal life. So let’s not allow ourselves to get fatigued doing good. At the right time we will harvest a good crop if we don’t give up, or quit."
Therefore think about what seeds you are sowing with your life and what kind of harvest you want to have. If your seeds are good, you will reap good; if they are bad, you will reap bad. If we sow deception, we will reap deception, etc.
To give you another story illustration about how God gave specific guidance to someone, I want to tell you a story about my sister-in-law, Jean, when God gave her guidance during a stressful time of relocating to a new city and finding a new house there.
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SAWMILL God sometimes shows His Marvelous Deeds in our lives when we are in great need and we cry out to Him for help. That is what happened in the lives of Jean and Jack at the stressful time of a job change which involved a move to a strange city. Jack had just gotten a new job near Columbus, Ohio, which was a much larger city than where they lived in Indiana. At the time of this story Jack was already in Columbus and Jean was preparing to drive there to meet him. Together they planned to choose a house to buy so the whole family could move. Jean felt overwhelmed with the task before them. How were they to find a house in that large city which was just right for their family? The day before her departure to drive alone to Columbus, she was especially concerned with what lay ahead - the decision about the right house. Jean was a Christian and knew God could help her. So, in her need, she cried out to Him, "God, will You show me a sign to help find our house?" That night, as Jean slept, God gave her a dream. Although she awoke not remembering exactly what she dreamed, she did remember a strange thing about that dream--the word "sawmill" kept being repeated in the dream. When she got up she did not think too much about the word "sawmill" because it did not mean anything to her. But - it did to God! She started out on her trip to Columbus and things went along quietly for her. As she neared Columbus she began to look for the exit she was to take to meet Jack and the realtor. Her thoughts were about where to turn off the highway. As Jean says: "Then all at once I saw it--a sign along the highway said SAWMILL!!! Immediately bells started ringing in my head, and I praised the Lord for His sign to me!" When she finished her journey and met with Jack and the realtor, she told them about all this. The realtor was really surprised because one of the homes she was going to show them was in Olde Sawmill Addition. Yes, they did buy that special house in Olde Sawmill and they knew they had the house the Lord had chosen for them! God had just performed another of His Marvelous Deeds in their lives! I will praise the Lord, who counsels me; |
I think after this experience Jean could agree with the scripture in Psalm 40:3, 5 which says: "He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God....Many, O Lord my God, are the wonders you have done. The things you planned for us no one can recount to you; were I to speak and tell of them, they would be too many to declare."
Here is an example, a story, in my own life where God specifically guided me. After following His guidance, then I saw the wisdom of it. But I had to be obedient to His guidance before I could see it.
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I KNOW THE PLANS For several months the thought had been slipping quietly into my mind--the thought that someday I would move from the house I owned at that time. I would glance briefly at that thought and then let it slip by, feeling the move would come at least one or two years in the future. I had good reasons why I should wait that long to move--logical reasons.. They made sense to my mind. But that was not the Lord’s plan. It was Friday, June 23, and I was having my Quiet Time. The Lord spoke to me in my thoughts saying He wanted me to place my house up for sale. In spite of all the previous thoughts about this, I was still surprised. I had not given much thought to actually doing it. I wanted to be sure this was really God’s will before I acted on that word. That would be a big step for me to take by myself. I had never sold a house by myself before! So I waited. On Saturday, June 24, He said the same thing to me again in my Quiet Time. Since the word was reinforced, I began to look at it much more seriously. On Sunday, June 25, as the Lord spoke the same message to me, I was convinced I needed to act on it. So, on Monday morning, in my Quiet Time, I agreed to put my house up for sale. Then, with His guidance, I carefully outlined the steps I would take and the approximate times I wanted to take them. At first I thought I would place the house on the market in September to give myself preparation time. But He said I should plan so the new family could move in before school started. So I made plans to close on the sale during the third week in August, around the 21st if possible. I planned to begin renting my new home on August 1st so I could have three weeks to move my things, have a garage sale in the old house, and have time to clean the house I was selling before completing the move. I believed these plans were from God, and yet, what amazed me was this only allowed one month for God to sell my house! At that time many houses were sitting on the market in our city for 6-12 months without selling! On Wednesday, June 28, my prayer partner and I prayed about this, and the advice that came was: "Call the realtor right away and set this up." What Godly advice this turned out to be! The realtor and I met on Friday, June 30, one week after the Lord spoke to me to sell my house. I shared with her about the Lord’s instructions, so we were both excited to see what He was going to do! It was scary to sign my name on that document to sell my house while not knowing what lay ahead. I was agreeing to a huge transition without knowing its far-reaching effects. But what enabled me to sign was the assurance this was from the Lord. I wanted the multiple listing realtors to tour my home on Wednesday, July 5, during the following week. Therefore my realtor said she would have to put it on the computer on the following Monday, July 3rd. I agreed to that, thinking I would have the 4th of July holiday to thoroughly clean and prepare the house for showing before Wednesday, July 5. Little did I suspect what God was already doing even as I made these plans! On Monday, July 3rd, my house listing was placed on the computer system. A realtor saw it on the computer and came over that very afternoon. That evening she brought her client to view the house, and they wrote a contract on it that same night. I had not even cleaned it yet! That extra special cleaning was not what the Lord needed to sell my house. He just needed my obedience to list the house at the exact time He told me to. He did the rest! God knew something which I did not know when He said I should list my house for sale. He knew there was a buyer who wanted a house just like mine and wanted it in my neighborhood. He knew she would make an offer on a house just down the street from mine during that first weekend in July just before my listing was put on the computer. He also knew she would miss buying that house because someone else made an offer just prior to hers. She was eager and ready to move as soon as possible. God was already at work in the situation. He just wanted me to join Him in what He was doing! And guess what! The closing date she wanted was August 21st! In fact, God worked out every detail of the schedule we set that Monday, June 26th, when I said "yes" to His request and we set the plans. He even helped me find a lovely home to rent beginning August lst as we had planned. Once again in my life God revealed Himself, His purposes, and His ways by displaying one of His Marvelous Deeds! "For I know the plans I have for you," |
RENEWED EACH DAY
As I read the Word, pray, and write the words the Holy Spirit brings into my mind during those special Quiet Times together, I am renewed each day to keep on going...not in my strength, but in the strength He puts in me during these special times. One day I wrote in my journal this very special promise scripture from Isaiah 43:1-5 (NCV): "Now this is what the Lord says... "Don’t be afraid, because I have saved you. I have called you by name, and you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you. When you cross rivers, you will not drown. When you walk through fire, you will not be burned, nor will the flames hurt you. This is because I, the Lord, am your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior...Don’t be afraid, because I am with you." Then I wrote these words from the Holy Spirit:
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This means to you that I am with you (and your children) at all times, and I save you in all situations. When you drive cars places, I am with you. When you take airplane trips, I am with you. When you walk places (like in corporate parking lots) I am with you. "Don’t be afraid, because I am with you." And if I use that situation to allow your life to be snuffed out, then it is because it is time for you to come and be with Me in heaven. I know that special time (and it is truly special) for each person. But I have promised you that you and your children will be kept safe on the earth right up to the Rapture, and I WILL do that. Trust Me for this. |