As for me, I shall behold Your face in righteousness;
I will be satisfied with Your likeness when I awake.
Psalm 17:15
I am currently reading a book by Charles Stanley, Handle With Prayer. It has been an amazing teaching tool. I don’t think we can ever stop growing in the area of prayer. I know that I am always needing growth in that area. I can easily get lazy here and just choose to “rest in God’s sovereignty” in an “I know I could work but it’s so much easier to do nothing and let the government send me a check” kinda way.
Sometimes its easier to just pray, “LORD let Your will be done. In Jesus’ name. Amen” And then just accept that whatever happened was His will to begin with and that was that… but what if that was not that? Yes, I believe in God’s sovereignty. Yes, I believe His will is always accomplished. Yes, I believe no thing and no one can stop His purpose, but what if I just blew an opportunity to be a part of it?
I must confess… my prayer life has felt a bit empty here lately… which I know now is one of the reasons I have felt so defeated and tired and scattered and lost and so spinning in circles-ish and chasing my tale-ish.
He humbled you and let you be hungry,
and fed you with manna which you did not know,
nor did your fathers know,
that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone,
but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the LORD.
Deuteronomy 8:3
Yes, He did it.
One of the quotes in the book by Charles Stanley was, “Instead of complaining, we need to ask God why we are defeated; then we should be quiet and listen”
I have been guilty of doing a lot of complaining to God about why I feel this weight on me… but I have not stopped to find out why He has allowed it. I have read Scriptures and promises that have held me up during it. I have searched Scriptures to help me rebuke it. I have searched out my heart for sin and confessed it… but I have yet to ask why God has allowed it.
Even defeat has a purpose.
I know there is something that God is teaching me, that God is asking of me, but I can’t put my finger on it quite yet. I don’t know if the burden I carry is mine, or if it is for someone else…
When they led Him away, they seized a man, Simon of Cyrene,
coming in from the country,
and placed on him the cross to carry behind Jesus.
Luke 23:26
I just know that some burdens are an honor to carry…
And some burdens were never meant to be carried by us at all…
Say, therefore, to the sons of Israel,
‘ I am the LORD,
and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians,
and I will deliver you from their bondage.
I will also redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments.
Exodus 6:6
As I type this out now… I seek His face. One of the things also quoted by Stanley in this book, is that if something keeps coming up over and over in your mind… that it is from God… even if it is from your past.
So many times when our past comes up to haunt us we automatically rebuke it as condemnation from Satan… but maybe, just maybe, we need to ask ourselves, we need to ask God… why this thing?
Why can Satan still use this against me?
How can this still be used by him to bring me condemnation?
There are things that Satan tries to throw up at me… and well it doesn’t hurt. It only causes me to praise and thank my Jesus… but there are others that well… still hurt.
Maybe they hurt because God is not through with that in me. Maybe I need to do something about that area… I may be forgiven, but have I forgiven?
Charles Stanley shares in his book that even though we are forgiven… many times there is restitution still to be made. If something keeps coming up over and over and over… it is indeed from God. If it from God then it is time to stop. Be still. And listen. It is time to find out why and what God wants you to do about it. Because He does indeed want you to do something… but you have to let Him tell you and then you have to obey Him.
One thing that has been coming up over and over again with me is whether or not I should keep my Proven Path Ministries FB page. It keeps coming up. So today I am taking action. This will be my last post on this FB page. I am deleting it. All those who have “liked” it are welcome to subscribe to my personal FB page… but this page I will be deleting in obedience to my God.