2 posts tagged “finding god's will”
It is hard to believe that it has only been one month since I opened this Weblog. It has taken on something of a life of its own - causing me to feel that God is definitely leading in this endeavor.
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I started this blog by journaling some thoughts about how God has led in the past, particularly concerning ministry. As I said before, my experience is that God always answers prayer about ministry and usually rather quickly.
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This morning I walked around my neighborhood, plugged into my radio, listening to a discussion on spiritual gifts. I must admit that this subject has always fascinated me - I have taken numerous "spiritual gift tests" (which are usually personality tests slanted a little by the person or persons who wrote them.) They are fun though, so a while back I found myself thinking, once again, about what my gifts are and how I should be using them.
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In the very act of analyzing my strengths and weaknesses, I felt a strong conviction from the Lord. I needed to stop looking inward and just wait on Him. God has a plan now, just as He has always had a plan, to use me for His purposes and glory. I needed to stop panicking about the shortness of life and the urgency to be useful. God has, you see, given us all the time we need to do His perfect will.
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That strong word from the Lord to my heart resulted in waiting - not idly - for Him to show me what He wanted me to do. In the meantime, I continued to spend extended time in the Word and in prayer, writing in my journal and even taking a step toward a couple of ministry possibilities that both resulted in a closed door.
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August 19, 2007 just seven months ago, I wrote in my journal: "I think my next Bible study goal will be to write a through-the-Bible devotional." As I look back at my journal entries I see that the Lord was putting into my heart a desire to write for publication, after ten years of setting it aside.
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During those years, I read and marked eight Bibles for my adult children and their spouses, giving them as gifts. Now the logical next step was to write devotionals based on the applications of Scripture relevant to each of them - male, female, single, married, with children, with teenagers, etc. - and to me at the various stages when I was marking those Bibles.
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So----I began to write, and I couldn't write as fast as the words were coming. This might not seem so unusual for a writer, but considering the length of time since I had set writing aside, it felt like the Lord was carrying me along, and I was almost sitting back mentally and watching what He was going to do with this. In a rather short time, I had the rough drafts for almost 200 short devotionals from Genesis through Acts.
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Sept 18, 2007 I wrote, "Would it be beneficial to contact the writer's group here in Town? Should I attend the Writer's conference? Give me direction in this, Lord."
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September 28-29 I attended the San Diego Christian Writer's Conference. I wrote in my journal, "a lovely black woman at the snack table turned to me and said, 'If God is in it, consider it already done.' Then she just walked away."
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I wrote also a quote from The Message, "Walk - better yet, run - on the road God called you to travel . . . not in fits and starts, but steadily pouring yourself out." Ephesians 4:1-2 TM "From now on," I resolved, "I am going to give serious time to writing my book. "
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December 5, 2007 I wrote, "Last night I attended our writer's group. I was encouraged to come up with a working title. For now it is THE GOD WHO SEES ME - A Devotional Prayer Journal."
. . . A quote from 1 Timothy: "Do not neglect the gift that is in you ... meditate on these things; give yourself entirely to them ... continue in them, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you." 1 Timothy 4:14-16
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Well, this is already getting a little long to be posted on my blog, I will write more next time on how God has continued to work in 2008 up to the present.
Read Genesis 1:26–3:24
Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness,”… male and female he created them. Genesis 1:26a, 27b NIV
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God created the heavens and the earth and all the living things that inhabited its boundaries. Then He created the first man in the likeness of Himself and He called him Adam. Adam named all the animals and found none among them that could cure his loneliness. So God made from Adam's side a woman, and Adam named his wife Eve, because she would become the mother of all the living. (Genesis 3:20) Both husband and wife were fashioned in the image of the triune God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
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Dear Father, that little word "us" is our first glimpse of the Trinity, all present when You created the first married couple in Your image – body, soul and spirit. Sadly, those first wonderful days together were overshadowed by sin. Thank You Lord, that You made a way to restore the family resemblance we once had to You. Continue to work in my heart, through Your Holy Spirit, and may that transformation be visibly reflected in my attitude and countenance – that others will see Jesus in me.
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"Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will." Romans 12:1–2 NIV
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