. .

 

A Day of New Beginnings

Due to the pandemic, like many of you, I was furloughed from my job.  If you have ever lost your job, you know how this feels and the potential negative effects upon your psyche, finances, and maybe even upon your reputation. 

Today Is Different

This time is different because I feel God’s presence so close to me. I have been hearing His voice speaking reassuring and comforting words deep in my spirit simply to trust Him. For the last several weeks I have been literally RUNNING toward the Lord Jesus, my Savior – calling upon His Name, falling down before Him in worship and praise, fasting, praying, and seeking His face.  And what have I been hearing back in my spirit?  The Lord reassures me that the passage in Romans 8:28-30 is still true:

 

“Moreover we know that to those who love God, who are called according to his plan, everything that happens fits into a pattern for good. God, in his foreknowledge, chose them to bear the family likeness of his Son, that he might be the eldest of a family of many brothers. He chose them long ago; when the time came he called them, he made them righteous in his sight, and then lifted them to the splendor of life as his own sons.”

This job loss is one of those “All things” that are working together for good in my life.  Losing a job does not seem that it could work together for good to us. However, I have experienced in my own life when I lost a previous job – that within a few months I had another job that paid over twice what I was making. So, I trust God!  He is in control. He sees the future. He loves me. He loves you, too!... more than we both know.

So this time, as I emptied myself and became broken before Him, I felt His loving arms reaching around me (as it were) – His really strong, loving arms holding me, caring for me, loving me. I need His presence. I long to be in His presence. But sometimes we cannot feel Him near us, yet thankfully, He is near, and today I feel Him near - comforting, encouraging, letting me know "It's All Going to Be Okay."  

Pressing Into His Presence

More and more as we press into His presence and call upon His Name, and as we break the power of our earthly desires and simply ask Him to give us and impart to us His desires – His plans, – the burden actually lifts from us.  

What burdens?  The financial pressures mainly, but also the feeling that I want to be useful to the Lord and find that place where my skills, talents, and abilities are valued. So, when we don’t know what to do, I heartily recommend pressing into God, worshiping Him, praising His Name – giving a sacrifice of praise  - the fruit of our lips giving thanks. Not seeking God for a handout, but just to be in His presence worshiping Him, thanking Him for His blessings, for we truly are rich in Him.

I don’t know about you, but there are times when I feel like the world, the cares of life, even our jobs and daily responsibilities seem to take so much of our time that God is pushed out a bit from the rightful place He deserves in the daily routine of our lives. It's not something we overtly do, but sometimes we just become too busy. 

Well, for right now - at least for these past few months, I have had time to spend time in His presence.  This has been a time of humility, a time when I feel needy – yet this is a time when I am beholding Him, His beauty, His faithfulness, His joy, His rest, and His peace.

As A Little Child

I come before Him empty, needing Him as a little child – with no power of my own to pull myself up by my own bootstraps. I am utterly dependent upon the Lord. And I am finding that He is faithful– just as He promised He would be.  How can this be? Because God has given to each of us a measure of faith.  My faith in Him probably could be stronger. I recall the scripture passage in Mark 9:4: "Lord, I do believe! Help me to believe more!" WE version).  For I am human, but I do have faith. We all do. And at this time in my life ONCE AGAIN, God is reminding me to USE my faith to literally SEE WITH the eyes of faith HIM ANSWERING my prayers.  And with my own words, I speak forth BY FAITH (which sees the answer in the Spirit-realm before it happens in the natural realm) that I HAVE A NEW JOB... NO, I have that new HIGH-PAYING CAREER that God has for me ... and JESUS receives all the praise and glory for it.

My Ministry As a Paraclete

I also feel God calling me into having a ministry of my own. For decades, I have been a paraclete called alongside others in ministry.  What is a paraclete, you ask? One who serves as an advocate, intercessor, comforter, helper, exhorter, who enables others. But now the Lord is saying that He has invested much into my life. And I have much to give out. He wants to use me directly to minister to others from the "well of salvation" He has placed within my life.

You know, it is possible that what I had been doing – where I had been working – was only meant to be just for this season. It has been a season of growth and provision. But looking back on it, it has been a time of preparation, too.  Now I am looking unto Jesus more than ever – the Author and Finisher of my faith.  The Passion Translation reads this way the verse in Hebrews 12:2:

 “We look away from the natural realm, and we fasten our gaze onto Jesus who birthed faith within us and who leads us forward into faith’s perfection.”

If and when my faith seems small, I latch on to Him and His faith. I pray and seek His face, and I He finds me right where I am and comforts me.  For Jesus will not despise any who come unto Him IN FAITH; and I am a Believer just like you are. We are not doubters; we are Believers ---  a whole new species through which the Lord will perform His good and perfect will. He will do this for you and for me so that our lives bring Jesus glory and honor.

Of course, there is that scripture in Deuteronomy 12:28 that tells us:"

“Be careful to obey all these things I command you, so that you and your children after you may prosper forever, because you will be doing what is good and right in the sight of the Lord your God.” (HCSB)

We are to observe all these words that He commands us today, that it may go well with us and with our children after us – forever. So, when things do not seem to be going our way, we certainly do need to consider, and if need be – REPENT for any known sin, and ask God to redeem and DELIVER us… and He will.  We need to become teachable in areas where we are going 'round the mountain again. Frankly, I am tired of it. I am ready to move forward, and I am asking the Lord to teach me and train me, then to do a new thing in my life.

Yet, meanwhile, we can’t give place to the devil and allow our enemy to beat us up over simply being human.  All of us make mistakes. We are all learning and growing and maturing. We must be confident of this very thing that He which began a good work in us is FAITHFUL to COMPLETE IT!  ~~ Philippians 1:6.

So, we take our hurts, our failings, our disappointments, our losses, our burdens, and all offenses - choosing to forgive others, and we cast all this care – all these things of the world upon the Lord. He is big enough to take it. Jesus died to pay for worry, anxiety, and the cares of life. He will work out our situations and circumstances that seem to be negatives – FOR OUR GOOD.  Amen! Hallelujah!

Redeemed: How I Love to Proclaim It!

Jesus is my Redeemer! Yours, too! He said that in everything (that means EVERYTHING) by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving we are to let our requests be made known unto God. Then He will give us His peace that He has not only heard us, but that He is on the scene answering our prayers. ~~ Philippians 4:6. Because if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us, and if He hears us, then we HAVE the petitions we ask for by faith! ~~ 1 John 5:14-15. So right now, I RECEIVE the answer to my prayers, and God gets all the glory.  

So, we will see what God has in mind at this time in our lives – for that new season that is just ahead. We will see God’s faithfulness. We will have a fresh, new lease on life – a clean slate of opportunity, for His mercies endure forever.

God is a businessman.  Here is the great exchange... Our lives for His. Remember Saul of Tarsus? He thought he was doing God’s will – maybe just like us. But God arrested Him – got his attention, and in Saul’s brokenness, God restored him, changed his name, gave him a fresh vision, a hope, a purpose, a mission, and prepared him for a bright new future as an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ.  Saul’s response to God was, “Lord, what would you have me to do?” ~~ Acts 9:6.  

Lord, what is it that You want me to do?

This is the prayer of my heart today. And He will show me, and when He does, I purpose to obey. I will do all I can. When He speaks, I will listen, and whether it is something I feel I can do or something that seems so impossible, as long as it is the Lord speaking, I know God will accomplish His perfect will through me.  Amen!

I hope this has blessed you. I am walking humbly with my God. My life is like an open book. I desire that others who follow will see that it pays to serve the Lord to walk in covenant with Him. Hallelujah! And we all will see a miracle taking place in each of our lives when we put Him first. Matthew 6:31-33 (JBP) says:

“So don’t worry and don’t keep saying, ‘What shall we eat, what shall we drink or what shall we wear?! That is what pagans are always looking for; Your Heavenly Father knows that you need them all. Set your heart on the kingdom and his goodness, and all these things will come to you as a matter of course.”

We truly are rich already. And the Lord desires to give us even more because He is all in all. Praise the Lord.

I am praying for you to be continually and abundantly blessed. My God shall supply all of our needs – your needs as well as our needs. Many of you have shared your needs with me, and now I have shared mine   ----- my deepest heart cry with you. We are in agreement that God MEETS all our needs.  This is a time for miracles ----- for God to show Himself strong. We are already rich in Him. We have exchanged poverty and lack for His riches. We have exchanged sickness and disease for His health and wholeness. He never leaves us nor forsakes us. His ways are beyond and above our ways. 

Now we use our faith and speak forth that the answer COMES NOW, in the authority of Jesus' Name! We have our breakthrough. We see it by faith. God's answer is on the way. He is Jehovah Jireh, our provider. The Lord is El Shaddai, the all-sufficient One Who has seen ahead and placed provision for us on the road of life EXACTLY where we will be so that we will connect with that provision when it is needed. And in it all, He is the oasis. He is the refreshing. We look to the Lord, not to what we perceive to be the answer.  We keep our eyes on our Source.

Surely our checkbook and bank accounts, our stocks or mutual funds are not our source. Our jobs are not our source. Our own selves, our physical strength, our own abilities are not our source. We must look continually to the Lord! He is our Source. We trust in Him.

Thank You, Jesus, that You know our hearts and are making a way through the wilderness for us to follow. We receive Your answers to these our written petitions, and we thank You in advance and rejoice in You! Amen!