Walking In His Will

Walking in God's will for our lives isn't always the easiest thing to do. Often times understanding what He is asking us to do can be challenging, and even when we are sure we know what we're supposed to do, we sometimes have to push past our desire to either do it our way or ignore His instructions completely and run the other way. 

Sometimes when God asks me to do something I struggle with surrendering my will to Him. Even though He has shown me time and time again how much He loves me; yet for some reason, I believe that I know more about myself than he does, which is ridiculous!  I'm certain he says to himself daily, "Oh, Lori, What will I do with you?" 

These days so many people live their lives enveloped in noise; stereo and television, or from behind a computer screen; noses firmly planted into social media, totally penned into the thoughts of others. Those thoughts become our thoughts and before we know it, we miss His thoughts and His plans for our lives. 

Instead of staring blindly at the poster after poster on Facebook, inventing our own interpretation of the wisdom they carry, we forget to put everything past Him; and forgetting that anything we read or see, should align with His word or be discarded. The best advice I was ever given concerning the word of God was simply, "Don't read books about The Book, read The Book. 



When we over think things; something which I have done so many times, and believe most of us do instead of turning to our maker for advice, we miss out on spending time with him as well as his wonderful advice and even the gifts He has for us.  

Remember Abraham? Although He was madly in love with God and desperately wanted a son, he was very skeptical of God's promises, which was infuriating to both his wife, Sarah, and God.  
Maybe, he was afraid that God's promises were a mistake, maybe God was confusing he and Sarah with a different, younger couple. Or maybe he didn't think he was qualified for Gods plans at all, after all, he was older and had made mistakes in his past. 

The truth is, God loves us in a huge way, and there is nothing we can do about it! Running from Him and His will for our lives changes nothing, it only prolongs our discomfort and His. 
He is our 'Good, Good, Father, and He loves us more than any really great earthly father ever could, and that's a lot!

He knows what lies ahead for us, so He has already made plans and prepared a few different ways for us, because He knows we never take the easy route. His plans are always always better than any we could ever make for ourselves. So knowing that, why do we run and why do we ever worry?   

Matthew 6:34(ESV)

34 "Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble."

Five years ago the Holy Spirit began prompting me to 'Go home.'This came at a strange time in my life; my mom had just died, so there was really no reason for me to change my entire life around and move back to a place I hadn't lived in nearly forty years. It made no sense at all. Despite my own reluctance,  I soon found that the desire of the Holy Spirit was firmly planted within me. I was going. There was no getting around it. Although my friends and family couldn't understand this sudden desire on my part to change my life so drastically, I felt like I was being pulled by my umbilical cord to the place where I grew up. I have since learned that when I am walking in His will for my life nothing or no one can prevent things from going the way He wants them to go.

Isaiah 43:18(ESV) Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. 19. 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. 

As with all of us, there seems to be no end to a change of seasons. Franklin Graham says it is always "one thing after another." and that is the truth. 
When I try to handle things myself, I only seem to muddy the waters. When I try to run, there is no escaping, He catches me up in his huge loving arms and makes me all the more thankful for his mighty love for me. He has a way of reminding us and making us cognoscente of the fact that we can do and be nothing without him, at the same time, we can do all things with him! He is always a gentleman, incapable of lying, a gentleman who watches over his flock and always keeps his promises. 

The move back to my home town has meant a great deal of independence for me, and some very interesting moments embracing my growing up years. I have had the opportunity to revisit and remember many people, places, and things.
I have experienced joyful moments as well as some painful and very difficult ones. 
Jesus has been with me through each and every one of them; encouraging me, coaching me and giving me instruction and the words to say many, many times. 
My relationship with Him is like none I have ever experienced in my life. 

In spite of all of the hardships, I have obeyed him and I consider each and every moment, no matter how wonderful or difficult it has been, a great blessing to me. He shook me up, opened my eyes, and placed me in the loving care of people who have tutored me in His ways. He has displayed His sovereignty for me to see with my very own eyes and He has whispered things to me that only He could have known. It has been an amazing and overwhelming five years of my life. Five years I wouldn't trade for anything in the world. 

If there is anyone reading this who doesn't have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, I urge you to reach out to him, talk to him. He will hear you and He will listen. 


John 20:28-30(ESV) 28 Thomas answered him, "My Lord and my God!" 29. Jesus sad to him, "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."  

  
Walking in His will may be difficult at times, but the rewards & adventures are priceless. What are you waiting for? 

That Tiny Voice is Your Best Friend.

"How in the world will you ever hear God talking to you if you don't turn down the noise? "

That is a very good question for most of us. The first thing we do when we wake up in the morning is to grab our phones so we can see if we missed out on anything while we were sleeping. 
Then we drag ourselves out of bed and before too long we are engaged in some other form of media. Facebook, music, the news; whatever it is, it is a distraction and it is preventing many of us from hearing His Voice. 
By His Voice, I am talking about the voice of God. The Holy Spirit, who is not a figment of our imaginations. He is real and he wants to talk to us.
The Holy Spirit was the departing gift to mankind from Jesus when He ascended into Heaven.
The more we pray and praise and the deeper we develop our relationship with God, the more active He becomes and the more He shares with us.
 
 1 Corinthians 2:14  The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. 

Learning to use discernment when listening can be difficult, especially when you live in a world where negativity flows like water. Where people are afraid to have Faith and talk about it and where people are being murdered because of it. Some are afraid that in talking about it, they may upset someone or say something that is not what others may consider Politically Correct. For some, revealing their relationship with the Holy Spirit has had negative results. People have thought they were using drugs, gone off the deep end mentally or were just strange, even though the Bible clearly says that His sheep hear his voice. Our all knowing God knew we would struggle in this area and prepared us through Matthew.


Matthew 7:6 “Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you"  

Encouragement and enlightenment are desperately needed to overcome this fear and lack of knowledge and fully receive the gift God gave all of us. Those who are on fire for God realize the importance of not only reading their Bible daily but also, taking part in Bible Studies frequently with others and getting into a habit of praying as much as possible. It is through prayer that we encourage and obtain a strong connection with God. We must be open to listening to the things God speaks to us. 
Be Brave, for when we choose to ignore this gift, we are conveying to Him that we don't believe in Him, we don't have faith in Him and basically that we don't trust Him.

Hebrews 10:15-17  And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us; for after saying,¹⁶ “This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws on their hearts, and write them on their minds,”¹⁷ then he adds,“I will  remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.”

We then miss out on forming a deeper bond with Him and we miss out on things He will tell us that will make our lives easier because this is the kind of relationship that He planned to have with all of us. The Holy Spirit was Gods gift to His people when Jesus ascended into Heaven. It was kind of a  down payment on our heavenly inheritance, which Christ secured for us at His death on the cross. Because of this, we are assured of our salvation. No one can break the seal of God.

2 Peter 1:21 ^"For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit."

There are many different names for the Holy Spirit, most denote some function or aspect of His ministry. The Holy Spirit resides in the hearts of God’s people. He directs, guides, comforts, and influences us, as well as producing in us the fruit of the Spirit. He provides the intimate connection between God and His children. All true believers in Christ have the Spirit residing in their hearts. The Holy Bible was literally "God-breathed," by the Holy Spirit, God was the author and inspiration and it was through His words that it was written. The writers of the New Testament were moved by the Spirit to remember and understand the instructions Jesus gave for the building and organizing of the Church, the doctrines regarding Himself, the directives for holy living, and the revelation of things to come.

 2 Timothy 3:16-17  ¹⁶ All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, ¹⁷ that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
 

Galatians 5:22-23 

²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness, self-control; against such things, there is no law.

 The Holy Spirit is also known as the Comforter / Counselor / Advocate. All of those words are translations of the Greek parakletos, from which we get “Paraclete,” another name for the Spirit. When Jesus went away, His disciples were greatly distressed because they had lost His comforting presence. But He promised to send the Spirit to comfort, console, and guide those who belong to Christ. The Holy Spirit also “bears witness” with our spirits that we belong to Him and thereby assures us of salvation. Before Jesus left, He said things that confused the disciples and they said to one another...

“What is this that he says to us, ‘A little while, and you will not see me, and again a little while, and you will see me’; 'because I am going to the Father’?” John 16:17  

Jesus had to make his disciples understand that, He was the Son of God and therefore they were sinners. He does this through the conviction in our hearts that we are not worthy to stand before a Holy God, and that we need His righteousness because judgment is certain and will come to all men one day.
Jesus promised that the Spirit would teach His disciples “all things” and bring to their remembrance the things He said while He was with them.Those who deny these truths rebel against the conviction of the Spirit. This prompted some to refer to Him as the Convector of Sin. 

Romans 8:26  Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words, from this He has been referred to as the intercessor. 

Romans 8:14-17¹⁴ For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. ¹⁵ For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” ¹⁶ The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, ¹⁷ and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow-heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. 

Don't be afraid to make Jesus #1 over all other people, places, and things. Listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit with the knowledge that His words are only words of Love, guidance, and reassurance...never mean or unkind. Mean and unkind words come from spirits of the underworld who act as impostors and are sent to destroy your Faith in God and yourself. Find pastors that you can be fed by and be a sponge. Respect yourself and Love others the way Jesus called us all to do.

Blessings For A Spirit Led Day!