Ecclesiastes 11:5
“As you do not know the path of the wind, or how the body is formed in a mother’s womb, so you cannot understand the work of God, the Maker of all things.”
We humans place a lot of stock in our own reasoning and understanding. We think that because we don’t “see” it, or can’t “imagine” it, that the probability is non-existent. I’ve learned a lot of things recently. One of those things is never doubt God or his promises to you, no matter how unworldly, or ridiculous they may seem.
I am completely different than I was. My life is completely different than it was just one year ago.
Sometimes, I just sit and think about where I was in life, who I was in life, and I see why God decided to knock me off my high horse and take me off the road to mediocrity. I write this blog post this morning with a thankful, indebted heart.
This past year has proven to me that there is something bigger and better, higher and greater than I had ever expected. I have seemingly always believed in God. As a child, I would talk to him, pray to him, ask him things. Now, looking back – I believe he was answering me – I just didn’t realize it then. I was headed in the wrong direction as an adult. I didn’t see it because I was so blinded by the business of life and all the things the world had on it’s shelf for me. Now, I crave the peace and quiet. I would rather sit alone in a coffee shop and be at peace inside, watching the world pass by in their daily routes in a tizzy. I was there. I am much calmer now. Much more sure of what life will be, and what God wants from me.
I tried to lean on my own understanding for years. I was so beat down in my circumstances and tied that I never even tried to escape them. I never even prayed for escape. I prayed for love.
Jeremiah 29:11
‘For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.
Love came to me. However, not in the form I had imagined it would. Actually, far from what my prayers intended. Nonetheless, my life was filled with love, and my cup overflowed. I do not claim to undestand. In fact, I still don’t understand what has happened to my life, or the “me” that used to live in it. I no longer desire this world or the things of it – it all seems so superficial, and dim compared to what I have known and seen.
Be careful what you pray for.
I often think that I don’t recognize anything about my life anymore. But I find a peace and happiness in knowing that I am firmly placed in God’s hand. For the first time in my life, I stopped running away from my will, my duty, my path. I fought God, but ultimately he won. Now I am ashamed to think that I even put up the fight. I will never understand God’s love fully. I can’t wrap my human brain around his mercy, forgiveness, and faithfulness. However, I do know that he has given me all those things.
It is well with my soul.
Proverbs 3:5-6
Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight.
Philippians 2:13
for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.
Romans 12:2
And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.
Romans 8:27
and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.
Isaiah 30:21
And your ears will hear a word behind you, “This is the way, walk in it,” whenever you turn to the right or to the left.
Matthew 28:19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit
We weren’t put on this Earth to roll out of bed, moan and groan, barely make it to the coffee pot, get dressed, go to work, make a meager living, make a couple meaningless transactions, draw a paycheck, and go home to do it over and over again.Our life on Earth wasn’t meant to be that way! We aren’t put here to simply exist and go through the motions – though it’s hard to see that at times.
I was thinking this morning about my aunt. I remember years ago, when I would see her (I was a teenager then), she would come over and want to share something about the bible, or about God. Now, me, at that point in my life – didn’t “get it”. I was more like.. “Oh no, here comes crazy aunt so-and-so again coming to share what Jesus did for her! She has gone nuts!”
(laughing in retrospect) I just didn’t “get it”. I didn’t understand then. When I went back to visit my family this past December, I saw my aunt again. She didn’t have that spark anymore. She had nothing really to share with me, and her visits were mute and hasty. In her embrace I felt her loneliness. I never knew you could feel that emotion from a simple hug – you can. She was one of the few that “got it”. Something happened in her life where God was present. Whether God guided her, protected her, or comforted her in times of need, she got it, she understood. I have no doubt in my mind (knowing what I know now) that God had touched her personally. Then I wonder what changed? What happened? Did life get too much for her? Did circumstance begin to rule her? Did she forget where she placed her bible?
John Hagee said this is one of his telecasts, and I never forgot it:
When you see people with a tattered and torn bible, they rarely have a tattered and torn life.
I didn’t get it then, but I do now. Our days are so short. Every breathe we take is one closer to our last. What are we doing here anyway? Do you think we were put on this Earth just to gather treasures? Build a house and drive a gas guzzler? Enjoy a weekend rendezvous anytime the notion strikes? NO! The bible warns us about this!
Matthew 6:19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.
Proverbs 23: 4-5 Do not overwork to be rich; Because of your own understanding, cease! 5 Will you set your eyes on that which is not? For riches certainly make themselves wings; They fly away like an eagle toward heaven.
and rather:
Proverbs 10:22 The blessing of the LORD makes one rich. And He adds no sorrow with it.
We are put on Earth to be the eyes, ears, and hands of God. He can’t touch another life in the ways that we can. Someone may talk to you, but never even dream about talking to God.
- Do you think you were born into your family by accident?
- Do you think you live where you live by accident?
- Do you think your neighbors and friends are by accident?
Each person you come in contact with, offers a chance to minister. And let me just put this in as a side note for some of you…..You don’t have to “minister” as intrusive as: “JESUS LOVES YOU! GET SAVED OR YOUR GOING TO HELL! SEE YOU IN CHURCH ON SUNDAY AND BRING A DISH!”
believe it or not, people do this!
That is NOT how you minister to people.
People never care how much you know until they know how much you care!
It’s time we get into our communities. It’s time we get into our friends and neighbors and find out what makes them tick! Where are they hurting? Where are their needs? Some people may need groceries so they can move from survival mode to actually being able to love and move toward other human emotions. Some people may need someone to talk to over coffee. Some people just need to vent.
We as Christians should be those people who listen. To take time, to minister, to fill the needs. Life on Earth is about the people. It is about saving the lost and guiding the misguided. It’s about telling the truth and shaming the devil. If we can wrap our brains around that one simple truth, we can make our part of the world a little better and increase our treasure in heaven 10 fold.
I don’t know about you guys, but once you get a touch from God, nothing on this Earth can compare to what he can offer you. No amount of money or treasure can give the love, the happiness, the comfort, and the joy that God can. Absolutely nothing can compare.
I pray that you heed this.
I pray it touches you personally.
Afterall, that is what we’re here for.
Amen.
The anointing of God is a very precious thing. When I first started listening to people talk about “the anointing of God” I was completely confused and I will be the first to admit it. anointing seemed (to someone who grew up bapticostal) somewhat like a Catholic ritual. It was only until I started digging deeper into Gods word that the understanding started opening up to me. Since this was a topic that was foreign to me, I thought I could enlighten others. The anointing of God is God’s blessing on your life. For instance, you want to go be a preacher and you are seeking knowledge, higher education,and are cutting your pathway directly to becoming a self-made preacher – awesome. However, the degree is great but the anointing is better. Let me explain…
Have you ever asked God for a certain skill set in your life? Let’s say there was a job opportunity that you wanted so bad, but you knew that you weren’t skilled in it? Well now let’s say that God wanted you to have that job.. Wouldn’t he arm you with everything you needed to get it? Of course he would! God is a God of gifts and blessings. He wants us to live blessed lives and have plenty.
Deuteronomy 12:7 There, in the presence of the LORD your God, you and your families shall eat and shall rejoice in everything you have put your hand to, because the LORD your God has blessed you.
Mind you, I am not targeting preachers here, however I have heard some preaching that made me question the anointing, and frankly their reasons for being behind that pulpit. We are all human, and we can all fall prey to human desires. Some preaching is self serving, some is self righteous, some are selfless and directed purely from true hearts and true teaching that have been revealed from God himself. On the opposite of the spectrum I want to explain something…
The anointing of God can – and has been used for the wrong motives. It can, and has brought trouble onto the persons mis-using Gods anointing and to those who heard the lies or saw one. God is very particular about who gets his anointing and he uses the humble more than the proud for good reason. We can all be a little self righteous…amen? That’s why God tests you before he gives you the anointing. He prepares your heart beforehand and will give you small “God tests” and waits for you to pass. once that happens you can step out and receive Gods anointing and blessings on your life. Gods promises never change. If you feel a certain call on your life, it’s probably not just your imagination. It could be God calling you.
God Bless,
Cherish
Some people have come up to me and asked how God speaks. Now I wish I could tell you that God comes down with this loud earth-shattering voice, the ground shakes and volcanoes spew, but that’s not the case. I wish I could tell you that God led me around like a monopoly game piece (though that is my prayer, thats not exactly how God speaks to me). My prayers every day are “God lead me, guide me, direct me to your path” and I feel like he does that. There are times information is spoken into me and I can sort through the information like a scroll of hieroglyphic images and put the pieces together to make sense of the message. Sometimes I am flooded with information, like someone poured a bucket of liquid words into my soul. Let me remind you that God doesn’t talk like we talk, his verbiage is much faster than we could ever speak or talk. Floods of information. That’s the best way I can describe it. You are left with a flood of information, and only in Gods perfect timing will all the pieces fall into place.
I pray and hope and wish that I would be like a feather in the wind to God. That when the wind of the spirit blew, I would follow without a moments delay. No heavy burdens holding me down, just weightlessly, following my purpose. I guess that is how my walk with God has been this past year. I have been so in tune with the spirit inside me, that I listen. Now you have to recognize the difference between God and his adversary. I know that voice, and I know how God speaks to me, therefore I can discern the two. God will never speak in a condemning or condescending voice, he is the voice of teaching and correction. The devil on the other hand wants you to know you are an idiot and can do nothing right. Just recognize who you are talking to.
God speaks to me in little things. Everyday occurrences like a tree shedding its leaves, a bird soaking up a water puddle, a red light. I know it sounds silly, but it took me a long time that God was speaking to me during some of the most mundane days, and average sightings. Then I started thinking back at all the verses in the bible about how God spoke. It’s pretty awesome just running through a handful of them!
1.Through the Word of God (2 Tim 3:16, Psalm 119:11, 105):
2.Through the inner still, small voice of Holy Spirit (Acts 11:12, Acts 13:2, Acts 16:6-7, 1 Kings 19:12, Isaiah 30:19-21)
3.Through the advice and counsel of men and women of God (Prov 12:15)
4.Through the Audible Voice of God (Acts 9:4-5)
5.Through Dreams (Matthew 1:20-21) – There are many instances in the bible, when God clearly communicates through dreams. Through Visions (Acts 10:9-18)
6.Through Angels (Luke 1: 26-38)
7.By circumstances: There is a danger though, letting mere circumstances run our lives, can be opening doors to Satan. So be wise with regards to your circumstances and expect God to speak to you through them.
8.By Inner Conviction and Peace: It is similar to the inner still, small voice of holy spirit. God can give you deep conviction and inner peace about something.
Yes he was a God of mighty words that shook the earth! Yes he was a God that spoke in dreams subtly! Yes he sent angels to relay messages! He is all of those things. Everyone is receptive to different things. God did so many amazing things. He doesn’t talk in one way for everyone. For instance, some people say that they only hear God when they meditate on God. Ok. Some people only hear God when they read the Bible. Ok. Some folks say that only when they are on their knees and still, will they hear from God. Ok. I am not doubting anybody. I am not calling anyone out. I agree with all of them. This is how God speaks individually to them. That is their own personal relationship.
We can’t understand everything that God does. It’s not meant to be that way. God sometimes sends people into your life to speak a word. How many of you have had a total stranger walk up to you and say something that struck a nerve deep inside you? God told them to tell you something. So if God was trying to tell you something and was incessantly speaking into you but you weren’t getting it – he used another method. That leads me to the other ways God speaks. He will use a person.
So to conclude, God speaks in many many different forms and many different ways. I just feel like I needed to get this out there. When I write these blogs and I say “God told me” I immediately get this frazzled popping eyeballs look and wonder where my white jacket is! But that’s not the case. I’m just in tune enough to God and my spiritual side to receive Gods messages and hear him speak. You should be that way too. I wanted to share this with you because I think they can bless your life and maybe you can start listening a little more intently to the word of God and how he speaks to you. And don’t discredit it because you think “oh, I couldn’t have just thought that…yadda yadda” oh and side note – that’s another way God speaks. If you are thinking about one thing, and immediately your focus and thoughts do a 180 maybe God wants you to think or do something else.
Amen, God bless and I hope God speaks to you today!
Cherish
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