Sunday, August 30, 2009

Heavenly Directions

I don’t know about you, but even after all these years as a Christian; even after seeing the hand of God work in ways that defy human understanding; even after my faith has seemed to disappear as the morning dew….I am still blown away by the awesomeness and the grace that is imparted to me in God’s heavenly direction.

What do I mean?

Well, I have been jobless (and virtually hopeless) for the past five months as I have diligently and methodically scoured the internet job sites and career boards looking for my next great job (not that my last ones were anything to brag about). I have prayed ferociously for God to direct my steps…to lead me to the place or person or position that He would have me fill ….and I have not so much as sniffed a possibility. I really was getting quite despondent yet trying to remain faithful and patient for God’s direction.

It came last week….in the form of an email and then a phone call from an old friend with whom I once again became re-acquainted. I had forwarded an inspiring email to many of my friends and this dear brother-in- Christ, read that forward. He then went to my blog and began to read some of the daily inspirations posted there….he called and left me a voice mail that gushed with praise and thanksgiving for God’s hand upon my life.. He closed by saying to give him a call; he had an opportunity that he wanted to discuss with me.

I did …and now, starting today, my wife and I are embarking on a new adventure that we believe without a shadow of doubt, God has prepared.

However, there’s a little more to the story that I need to share. Three years ago, when God led me to go to work with a Christian company named SEED AMERICA; He laid upon the heart of one of the directors the scripture from Isaiah 43:18-19 that reads, “Remember not the former things nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.”

Now, I was laid off from SEED AMERICA in July of 2008. In fact, I had not heard or thought of that scripture in the last three years until last Sunday when one of my good friends and his wife shared this scripture with our Sunday school class and remarked that God had begun a new work in their family. I came home and read it several times and knew that God was speaking regarding the new opportunity that He had laid before me.

Yes, the answer to all my prayers and concerns was to trust that God was about to begin a new thing in my life….that if I would follow his leading that He would make a new way for me out of the wilderness of unemployment and despair…. into the light of His mercy and grace. My responsibility was to forget the past, filled with failures and pitiful shortcomings…TO LET GO AND LET GOD…. To make it my chief concern to perceive that He wants to bless me and to make rivers of abundance spring forth where once there was only the desolation of broken dreams and unfulfilled promises.

GOD HAS BEGUN A NEW THING IN MY LIFE….He has set my feet upon a new path that will lead to fulfillment, prosperity, joy and above all else, a closer and more dedicated walk with Him….How do I know? Because God never breaks a promise…He never goes back on His word….He never gives bad directions.

How’s your heavenly GPS working these days? Are your plugged into the one true power source? Is God waiting to begin a new thing in your life but being held up because you are still clinging to your old ways and your former life?

Why not claim these two verses and the heavenly promise they hold and let God begin a new thing in you TODAY?

I promise you will never miss the things of old when you take hold of and claim the NEW THING God is waiting to do in you….

Forgetting the old ways….living in His new thing,

WPQ

Friday, August 28, 2009

SEEKING HIM?

There is a story of a woman who lost her husband of many years very suddenly. She was extremely distraught and very lonely, so at the advice of some friends, she decided to get a pet. She went to the pet store and looked at all the dogs, cats and other animals and finally decided to take home a talking parrot. She was sure that a conversing bird would be just the right fix for her loneliness; but after a week or more, the bird had not said a word, so she went back to the pet store.

The clerk informed her that she needed a ladder for the bird to climb upon and if he had a ladder, he would begin to talk. She bought the ladder, returned home and placed in the cage. Another week or so went by with still not a peep from the bird, so she went back to the store. Seems that the clerk failed to mention that she needed to place a mirror at one end of the ladder so the bird would see himself, be content and then, begin to speak. She purchased the mirror and home she went. After another week of silence, she returned to the store, visibly upset that the bird that she bought for companionship was still not talking. The clerk asked if she have a swing in the cage upon which the bird could perch. Her response was an emphatic, NO! He assured her that if she bought the swing and placed it in the cage, the bird would talk and talk and talk. She bought the swing…..

But, the bird did not talk; rather, IT DIED!!!! So, she gathered the cage and her dead bird and stormed back to the pet store. She told the clerk that she had done everything and bought everything that he had suggested, yet the bird would not talk and now, it was dead. The clerk asked her if the bird ever said anything during the month plus that she owned it. …Her reply, “Well, right before he died, he said, “Don’t they have any food down at that pet store?”

You see, the woman missed the obvious. She was so busy trying to make the bird happy so it would talk that she failed to give it one of the things it needed most to survive...

You and I are a lot like that woman in our daily walk with the Lord. We are so busy trying to “do” for the Lord in service and activity that we miss one of the most essential reasons that we are alive ….our fellowship with the Father.

From the onset of creation, God has been about the union and fellowship that He desires with His creation. In Genesis, chapter 3, verse 8, we read, “And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the evening, and the man and woman hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God in the trees of the garden.”

Now God was not out walking for the exercise; He was seeking to spend some quality time with His creation, but their sin had broken that fellowship and they hid themselves from Him. All that God had in store for them was undone in that act of disobedience.

The same is true for us today. God has so much He wants to give us, so much that He wants to accomplish through us; but that bond…that fellowship must remain unbroken if we are to truly live for Jesus. Christ said it best when He said, “I have come that they may have life and have it more abundantly.”

God wants to give you His best! He wants to know you intimately and for you to know His heart and mind. But, if your focus is on reputation rather than relationship, on activity rather than an aspiration to belong to Him, on situations rather than substance….then, just like our widow in the story above, YOU WILL MISS THE OBVIOUS…..

You were made by God….for God …to serve God …to worship God, and most of all, to belong to God in a close relationship that is found in His Son, Jesus Christ.

I trust you are seeking His face today…I know He is looking for you.

Seeking the Father….Moment by Moment,

WPQ

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

In the story of the Exodus of God’s chosen people, we see them forsake God and turn away from him time and time again. One of the worst examples occurs while Moses is atop Mount Sinai, receiving the Ten Commandments. The people are certain that Moses has deserted them and they petition Aaron to make them new gods to go before them.

Aaron obliges their sinful desires and when Moses returns, God delivers His verdict regarding their worship of the golden calf, “And the Lord said to Moses, I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people. Now, therefore, let me alone that my wrath may burn hot against them that I may consume them.” Exodus 32: 9-10

I believe that we in America have reached that same position as the Israelites did in the scripture above ….and that God’s patience has reached the breaking point with us. We have been given so much; blessed beyond measure with the goodness and favor as “one nation under God”….but that time of God’s favor and blessing upon our great country is coming to an abrupt end as His anger burns hotter and hotter due to our “turning away” from Him.

My wife sent me an email yesterday that had the following poem from a 15 year-old teenager from Arizona attached. After I had finished reading it, I wept openly and begged God to forgive us for our failure to stand as a beacon of light in this dark and devil-infested world.

The America that is portrayed in this teenager’s poem is the America we have left our children…. and WE SHOULD BE ASHAMED…...I know I am!!!!! Let's once again commit to stand for the one true God in today's anti-God culture. The youth of America are still looking at us and asking, "If God doesn't matter to my Mom and Dad, why should He matter to me?"

As our children across America return to their appointed schools this week, I beg you to pray for our children, their schools, the teachers and administrators and for each of us....May we speak the name of Jesus proudly and WALK THE WALK AS WE TALK THE TALK!!!!!

God forgives when we repent….ABOUT FACE, AMERICA…before it’s forever TOO LATE!

WPQ


New School Prayer

Now I sit me down in school
Where praying is against the rule;
For this great nation under God
Finds mention of Him very odd.

If Scripture now the class recites,
It violates the Bill of Rights.
And anytime my head I bow
Becomes a Federal matter now.
Our hair can be purple, orange or green,
That's no offense; it's a freedom scene.
The law is specific, the law is precise.
Prayers spoken aloud are a serious vice.

For praying in a public hall
Might offend someone with no faith at all.
In silence alone, we must meditate;
God's name is prohibited by the state.

We're allowed to cuss and dress like freaks,
And pierce our noses, tongues and cheeks..
They've outlawed guns, but FIRST the Bible.
To quote the Good Book makes me liable.

We can elect a pregnant Senior Queen,
And the 'unwed daddy,' our Senior King.
It's 'inappropriate' to teach right from wrong,
We're taught that such 'judgments' do not belong.
We can get our condoms and birth controls,
Study witchcraft, vampires and totem poles.
But the Ten Commandments are not allowed,
No word of God must reach this crowd.

It's scary here I must confess,
When chaos reigns, the school's a mess..
So, Lord, this silent plea I make:
Should I be shot;
My soul please take!

Amen

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

God’s Training Ground

One of my favorite biblical heroes is Joseph; a young man, who from his very beginnings, had the hand of God upon him. While tending the sheep at age seventeen, Joseph shared with his brothers his unusual dreams regarding the sheaves that bowed down and the sun, moon and eleven stars that bowed down to him. His father rebuked him for his arrogance and his brothers hated him even more….so much that they sold him into slavery.

Now this could have been the start of the whining of Joseph…that “poor, poor pitiful me mentality” that so many seem to have in our society today. But for Joseph, he did NOT grumble or complain; rather, he trusted in God to preserve and protect him in this strange land. Though a slave in Potiphar’s household, he worked diligently and the Lord’s favor was upon him…in everything that Joseph did, he gave praise to God and remained faithful to the Lord.

When Potiphar’s wife accused Joseph of sexual assault and he was falsely imprisoned, he did not grumble or plead with his master; rather, he set out to become the model prisoner and was soon in charge of the entire prison population….and once again, God’s favor was upon Joseph and all of his endeavors.

For thirteen years, Joseph spent his live as a slave and prisoner at the hands of his Egyptian masters….and for thirteen years; he trained himself through his obedience to God to make himself ready to become a ruler of the Egyptian people. God had a position that only Joseph could fill; but, when he arrived in Egypt, he was not prepared to lead. He was placed in God’s training ground to become all that God intended for him to be. Yes, the dreams that he had as a young man did come true, but only after he had committed himself to follow God’s leading without grumbling or complaining.

If we want to reach our full potential, we need to take a page from Joseph’s playbook and learn to be obedient to God ….and we need to stop all our complaining. Joseph was faithful in EVERY situation and God blessed him….and saved a nation.

He is ready to do the same in you and me…He’s just waiting for us to stop focusing on our circumstances and start trusting in our God.

So why not become a Joseph today…..don’t look at your position in life and grumble and complain….rather see that God has placed you in His training ground and He is preparing, improving, motivating, inspiring and undergirding you for the position He wants you to occupy…..

Why not memorize this scripture as your battle cry…”HE WHO IS FAITHFUL IN WHAT IS LEAST IS FAITHFUL ALSO IN MUCH.” Luke 16:9

Go on…trust God to make you into the person He wants you to be…Be faithful in the training ground….God has BIG plans for you just ahead!

Trusting in the Father….Faithful in the tough times,

WPQ