Hebrews 4:10- For he that is entered into His rest, he also has ceased from his own works, as God did from His.
Who out there is dealing with a constant dripping of concern, anxiety, dilemmas or opportunity? My heart has been so flooded with something that God has placed on my heart to do that I have gotten to the place of anxiety, hoping and praying that it will come to pass. I have toiled many hours of prayer and many days of thoughts concerning this passion. This in itself is not all bad, it has helped me to increase my spiritual disciplines in order to hear from the Lord, however, if I am not careful I can get to the place where I am not resting in Gods ability to do that which He promised.
You see for years I have been believing and hoping that an opportunity would present itself for me, knowing in my heart that God has a plan for me. It has never been more clear than now, why? Because of Gods word revealing to me what His desire is for me! You see we enter into a place of rest ( complete confidence that God is in control) when we hear from God. I have been so busy trying to find Gods will however, because of Gods word I now know it! If you have something heavy on your heart I encourage you to pray that God would speak through His word, through the things of God! When you get this you enter into a time of rest, complete confidence that when God speaks it, it is finished, all you have to do is stay ready for the opportunity. His word is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path, He orders our steps through His word! That's why Jesus could come to the cross without flinching, why Paul stood before kings and persecution, why Mary gave birth to Jesus and Moses stood strong before Pharoh-- they heard from God and they moved forward. Will you begin to hear from God and move forward? I pray you will!
Awesome brother! Im praying for you. Hold fast to Philippians 1:6 -- "Being CONFIDENT of this very thing, that HE who has begun a GOOD work in you WILL perform it until the day of JESUS CHRIST" Have peace.
ReplyDeleteThis actually is encouraging to me as I need it to hear that GOD is with us always and every step of the way. Thanks for sharing and we miss you all!
ReplyDeleteJoimil Valdez
I love you! Thank you for being a faithful child of God, husband, father, and friend. Blessed beyond words for you.
ReplyDeletebest wishes on the new math in your home now.. prisoners face tough daily questions our free SPREAD THE WORD TALK WITH THE LORD program inspires daily talks catch they need your help with first question our blog helps g hubbard po box 2232 ponte vedra fl 32004 http://talkwiththelord.blogspot.com/
ReplyDeleteShawn and Sue ........ good stuff.
ReplyDeleteI read this blog and it just hits home some much to me right now, maybe not in the way intended, but it does nonetheless. I am currently in a situation where I will most likely be losing my job. This situation began a few months back, and is now about to reach its climax with me being relieved of my duties. It has definitely taken its toll on my mental health and confidence for the abilities that I have to succeed in the industry that I work within.
ReplyDeleteI have always held the Lord close in my heart, although I have rarely acted like a Christian in an outward manner. I agree, it’s not the best or right way to live. Over the past few months, and partially because of the situation I am in, I have begun to walk a bit closer to the Lord on a daily basis. I talk with Him on a regular basis now, and surprisingly I find myself not complaining about the situation or demanding answers now, but I tend only to ask for guidance. I know that God has a plan and I am only asking for Him to reveal what he wants me to do next.
A few months back when everything leading up to my current situation started, I went for a run and decided to have a little conversation with the Lord. I asked Him to come run a few miles with me and talk. Of course I did all the talking, just explaining the situation, expressing my fears, throwing out options that I could take, etc… While I do not remember how well of a run I had that day, what I do remember is what I felt like I heard God tell me…. PERSEVERE!!!
So that is what I did. I worked late, skipped lunch, came in early, constantly was out seeing my clients, and after the first month came to an end, I made zero progress. It was like I was working for nothing. Very disheartening. Both my wife and I continued in our barrage of prayers asking the Lord for guidance and wisdom, and the Lord seemed to speak to my wife more than He did to me. She would occasionally hear a scripture that would show us He is watching over us, or she would feel a calming presence come over her when she was in despair, and would hear little statements about how we are not going to be able to figure out His plan for me until He reveals it and that He will take care of us.
continued below...
Now we were approaching December and I love Christmas, so I decided to turn on a local Christian station and listen to Christmas songs through out the holiday season. And one day something the DJ said hit home… The DJ was giving the positive message of the day and it was this: “You don’t need to be afraid of failure because God folds failure into His good agenda for us”. Now I don’t think that little message could have been any more well timed, and it gave me a little more motivation to start working hard for the next month.
ReplyDeleteSo December came and went and throughout everything, my situation never got any better. This was apparently God’s way of telling me, “Looks its over with this company, I’ve got better things in store for you!” But as I currently do not have another job lined up right now, I have been getting really nervous and scared, and yet when that happens I tend to talk with the Lord and find comfort. Not answers, but peace and calming. Anyone who really knows me knows that I need to work on patience, so for me to be able to find peace and calm in this time is truly a blessing and a big flashy example of God at work. Now I know I may sound like a good little Christian but through out all of this time, while I have been able to find peace, it comes when I put my faith and trust in the Lord to take care of me. There have plenty of time where I have questioned why this is happening to me, what I did to deserve this, etc…? Remember, I’m not perfect. I’m human! I have highs and lows like everyone else.
So now I realized I have rambled on for a fairly long time, all to get to today’s example of hearing God’s message and why this blog hit home for me today. I was on my way to a client appointment today, and since I had about an hour drive ahead of me I decided I might as well put the free time to some good use, and decided to have a quick little conversation with God. Again, I asked for Him to help me understand what my next step should be, and to please reveal His plan for my life. I also asked for the wisdom to understand all that is happening and why it is happening. So nothing seemed to be said as I was chatting so I figured the Lord decided it wasn’t time to tell me what I needed to hear just yet. So I said my thanks and Amen and flicked the radio back on to the local Christian station. And there it was… my message from God for the day. It was a song, and it seemed to characterize the general feeling I have had while dealing with this situation, and it gave me just a little more strength to go about my day. The song…. Stronger by Mandisa. I know it may not mean the same to everyone, but at the time that I needed to hear it, that was the best thing for me to hear, and to be honest, I actually began to tear up, which I do not do very often. Let’s just say for as long as I can remember not being a young kid, I’ve only cried/teared up on about 7 instances in the past 25 years. God will speak to you in various ways, and today he used a medium that spoke to me in a very meaningful way.
Sorry for blowing up the blog, but I felt like I needed to get this out. God bless!