It also really illustrates that God does indeed mean it when He says “come as you are”. If we had to be perfect to come to God, we wouldn’t need God because we would be perfect. But since we are not perfect, it is through His boundless grace that He takes us in, regardless of what we’ve done in the past or what we’re doing now. The first step is simply to acknowledge the fact that we need God and to make that first step… to come to Him with all our problems and baggage and pain intact. He will work with us and in us after we take that first step; we don’t have to do any more than simply admit that we need Him more than anything.

Please pray for the work the Dream Centre and other similar ministries are doing. It is of vital importance to the people that go through those doors every day.

I just saw my wife already shared this, but I have to share it too because, although it hasn’t impacted me as much as it has her, it has still had a profound impact on our life and family.

Back in July, my wife was diagnosed with an auto-immune connective tissue disease. This could have been one of a half-dozen things, rheumatoid arthritis among others I can’t pronounce, much less spell. She had a painful lump on her wrist, and blood work from the doctor indicated it was most definitely a connective tissue disease and that the specialist would tell us which one, and what we needed to do. Of course, this was shocking and terrible news… health is a vital concern, and it hit all of us quite hard.

The specialist appointment was made for October 4th, so we had a long time to wait. That time could either be spent in dread of the news to come, or in proactive prayer and proclamation of the goodness of God. We chose the latter, and the first Tuesday we could after we found out, we were at the church prayer service to have her prayed over. Within two days, the painful lump on her wrist was gone. Over the next few months, she was prayed over at the ladies group, and responded to an altar call for healing at the church evening service this last Sunday. We were digging in as deep as we could!

Yesterday we went to the specialist. She was in the office for 20 minutes. When she came out, I had no idea if we were coming back for more tests or whatnot, but she came out glowing! She said the doctor looked at her like she was crazy as he poked and prodded at her finger joints and her wrist. He then told her that her wrist was perfect, that she most definitely did not have a connective tissue disease, and that he would likely never see her again.

Praise God, He did a wonderful thing for our family! I don’t know if her disease was healed after that first Tuesday prayer, if it was sometime in between, or if it was last Sunday. And it doesn’t even matter when it was, all that matters is she is healed, God is faithful, and His tender mercies have touched us.

You know, other answers to prayer can sometimes lead to doubt. If you pray for a job and then get one, is it because you prayed or because you put out a few hundred resumes and applications? Sometimes we rationalize away the great thing God has given to us. But with healing, especially for a disease, you can’t rationalize it away. It is a miracle. There is no science involved. God got involved because we asked Him to, and He was faithful to hear, and merciful to heal. Thank You Jesus, so very much, for this beautiful gift you have given to us. I pray that we never forget it, never belittle it, and use it to share Your love with others that need it and to be drawn even closer to You. We owed you EVERYTHING before this, and now You have beggared us yet again by giving us even more. Thank You!

Here we can see God’s direction played out, and Joash’s obedience to the Word of God:

“And Elisha said to him, ‘Take a bow and some arrows.’ So he took himself a bow and some arrows. Then he said to the king of Israel, ‘Put your hand on the bow.’ So he put his hand on it, and Elisha put his hands on the king’s hands. And he said, ‘Open the east window’; and he opened it. Then Elisha said, ‘Shoot’; and he shot. And he said, ‘The arrow of the Lord’s deliverance and the arrow of deliverance from Syria; for you must strike the Syrians at Aphek till you have destroyed them.’” (2 Kings 13:15-17, NKJV)

Joash obeyed everything that Elisha said, and Elisha gave him detailed instructions. This clearly shows obedience. Yet the following verses, while showing obedience, also show a lack of passion, zeal, and enthusiasm — which are things that God wants from us as well:

“Then he said, ‘Take the arrows’; so he took them. And he said to the king of Israel, ‘Strike the ground’; so he struck three times, and stopped. And the man of God was angry with him, and said, ‘You should have struck five or six times; then you would have struck Syria till you had destroyed it! But now you will strike Syria only three times.’” (2 Kings 13:18-19, NKJV)

Obedience is important, absolutely! If Joash had not obeyed the Word of God through Elisha, he would not have struck Syria at all, and God’s deliverance would not be evident whatsoever. Yet, even though he was obedient, he was not zealous about what God had said. He was not given the specifics of what striking the ground would produce, yet his lack of response ultimately meant that God did not respond as fully as He wanted to. God wanted to give Joash complete victory, but the king’s response limited God. And as a result of that limitation, complete victory was not attained.

We can, and do, limit what God can do in our lives. The above illustrates this clearly. It is also spelled out quite plainly in the Psalms:

“How often they provoked Him in the wilderness, and grieved Him in the desert! Yes, again and again they tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel.” (Psalms 78:40-41, NKJV)

If you want to release the full victory and blessing of God in your life, do not limit Him. Do not hold back in your worship, in your prayers, in your intercession before the Holy One of Israel! Be obedient, yes, but do not hold back! Let the outward be an expression of the inward, abandon yourself and be passionate for God, be zealous and enthusiastic. Paying lip service to God, doing the prescribed works without love, loyalty, passion will get you somewhere, but it will not get you what you want, or what God wants to give you.

Abandon yourself, lose yourself, in worship. Let holiness and righteousness consume you, set a fire in your heart, to strive for and hunger after the Presence of the Almighty God. Prayer, worship, studying and consuming the Word, losing yourself in love and adoration to our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ — show Him that He is the first and foremost in your life! Couple that with obedience to His Word, to His commands and direction, then you have a potent mix, a formula for victory and success in whatever it is you are crying out to the Lord for!

But, we’re also called to do the work of God, because while God has called each of us to a particular occupation at a certain point in time, He has also called each of us to ministry. No, he has not called all of us to be preachers or evangelists or full-time ministry workers, but we all have a ministry. The trick, then, is to balance. Do we forsake God’s work for the sake of a natural occupation, or do we forsake the natural occupation for the sake of God’s work?

I believe the answer is neither. God has called us to be good stewards — both of career and calling. We are to be faithful in our natural work, and faithful in our spiritual work. So the real answer is there needs to be balance (unless, of course, your career is also your calling, such as with full-time ministers).

I believe that, even as Paul preached and did miraculous things, yet still worked, we need to do the same. The key is balance, but before someone thinks this is a message about balancing TV and prayer, or balancing video games and reading the Word, I think when it comes to worldly pursuits of recreation (sports, games, TV, whatever), there is no call to be balanced. You can completely forsake those pursuits, or enjoy a game of golf, or go to a hockey game, etc. and still be unbalanced because you’re feeding on the Word, praying, and going to church — that is a healthy unbalancing. This isn’t supporting “balance” in terms of going to church on Sunday and staying home to watch the hockey game on TV instead of going to church Sunday night (i.e. “honey, we’ve been to church already so let’s stay home and watch the game… we need balance after all!”). Not at all. This is strictly talking about balance of calling (ministry) and career (occupation) because God wants us to work. We weren’t created to have recreation, we were created to work.

The first thing in the Bible that tells us about the nature of God is that He works — He created the heavens and the earth. As early as Genesis 1:3, God is working. God created man with a “dominion mandate” or a call to work:

“Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”” (Gen 1:28, NKJV)

The first words out of God’s mouth to Adam and Eve were that they should work!

“So, because he (Paul) was of the same trade, he stayed with them and worked; for by occupation they were tentmakers. And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and persuaded both Jews and Greeks.” (Acts 18:3-4, NKJV)

Here we see two interesting things: Paul clearly worked, and he also clearly taught people about the gospel. I think if God wanted us to forsake all for the gospel (and He has asked us to forsake much, but not work), then I don’t think Paul would have been making tents as well.

It reminds me of the parable of the talents found in Matthew 25:14-30. This is often interpreted as speaking of the spiritual, but I believe it speaks of the natural as well. The basic premise of this parable is that a man (Jesus) travelled to a far away kingdom and left his servants (us) in charge of his affairs. There are three servants: one received five talents, one received two talents, and another one talent. As an aside, isn’t it interesting that this form of currency is called a talent? The first servants put his talents to work, and when the master comes, he has ten talents. He has worked with that was entrusted to him. Likewise the second, who turned the two talents he was given into four. To these, the master says:

“His lord said to him, “Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.”” (Matt 25:21, NKJV)

The third servant, however, buried his talent. He did not use it, but hid it away so that it would remain “safe” — not losing it in risky ventures or putting it to work, but keeping it so he could restore exactly what was entrusted to him. Of this, the master says:

“But his lord answered and said to him, “You wicked and lazy servant, you knew that I reap where I have not sown, and gather where I have not scattered seed. So you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming I would have received back my own with interest.” … “For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away. And cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”” (Matt 25:26, 29-30, NKJV)

The master was given back exactly what he gave out to begin with and yet the servant who had done this is called “lazy” and “wicked”. God looks for increase! In the spiritual, this means spreading the gospel and reaping a harvest, doing God’s work. But we can look at this in the natural as well, given God’s first mandate to man — God looks for increase in the natural as well. As can be seen here, it is God’s desire to bless us, but we need to work in order to receive that blessing. Hiding your talent, whether it be your faith or natural talents, will get you in trouble with God!

When we “work” our faith, doing ministry, we work for God. Yet the Bible also clearly says that when we work for man, we must also work as unto Jesus:

“Bondservants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh, not with eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but in sincerity of heart, fearing God. And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ. But he who does wrong will be repaid for what he has done, and there is no partiality.” (Col 3:22-25, NKJV)

The message can’t be any clearer! Work as if working for God. This ties very closely to what I spoke about a few days ago, about Giving God our best. If you are distracted at work, you’re not working heartily. It doesn’t matter what the distraction is — excitement about an upcoming concert or game, going on holidays, or being busy with ministry outside of work. We need to be diligent, “faithful servants”, working as hard as we possibly can for the glory of God in our workplace, for the sake of Jesus who lives within us, rather than for the sake of pride or to please our boss. There is a clear warning here as well: if you do wrong, you will be repaid in kind and despite being a Christian, there is no partiality. So if you’re slacking at work and you get reprimanded, that is your reward. If you work hard, consistently, your boss will notice and you will be rewarded (whether it’s a simple thanks or a raise or promotion, or blessing from God in some other area (peace at work, at home, or increase in ministry, etc.) you will be rewarded). But the pre-requisite of actually doing the work is required. This is simply common sense as well — if you work hard at work, you get noticed, you get promoted, etc. But it is a Biblical principle as well.

Finally, there is the matter of being a witness, a living example, of Jesus living in us. What kind of witness are we for Christ if we do not work with passion and focus? If we are more than willing to share the gospel with co-workers, but then don’t do the work called for us to do in the workplace, what kind of witness does that show them? Does that show them a legitimacy in the gospel, or does it show them that we are just like everyone else? I don’t care if you’re running a company or scrubbing toilets, if God calls us to do our job heartily then that is what we should be doing. Why? Because that is what God tells us to do, and also because we become a more effective witness to those around us.

I know this is perhaps a hard thing to do, but think about it. Nowadays, especially among so many young people, there is such a lack of ambition, of striving, of working hard. I’m not sure what it is, but in this time more than anything we can absolutely shine as witnesses for the Hope that is within us, by being patient, faithful, diligent, and hard working at our natural jobs. Do the work eagerly and with joy! We have an asset that no one else has, and when things get tough then step back and pray to God for His peace and strength. He is faithful to grant it! We need to be the “peculiar people” that is noted in the King James translation (Titus 2:14, 1 Peter 2:9). We need to be strange, not just because we’re Christians and the world counts us strange, but because we have joy in the midst of the daily grind — something that most others do not!

I honestly don’t think there is a more effective witness than this. If your work suffers because you’re too busy with the gospel’s work, then you are being a bad witness, and a bad steward of what God has entrusted you with. Whether it is work, ministry, family, relationships — God has called us to be a good steward, a faithful servant, of the things we have been entrusted with. Forsaking one for the sake of another is not being a good witness. Giving more weight to one than to another is not a good witness. We were called to be a faithful people, faithful in all things, in all areas of our life… not just the ones we like most.

Finally, this part of 1 Timothy 3 is very valuable. 1 Timothy 3 talks about the requirements for bishops (overseers, elders, pastors) and deacons. These are qualities we should all strive for, but this one verse stands out in particular because I believe it speaks directly to being a good witness to those outside the church:

“Moreover he must have a good testimony among those who are outside, lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.” (1 Tim 3:7, NKJV)

We need to have a good testimony to those outside — of course we need to have a good testimony among our brothers and sisters in Christ, but we also need to have a good testimony, a good reputation, among those who are not in the faith.

The bottom line is we need to be faithful to what God has given us, not neglecting any one thing for the sake of another. Whatever the struggle may be: being faithful to God Himself, faithful to others (i.e. being honest, trustworthy), faithful to family or spouse, faithful to our ministries, or faithful to work, we can and need to take it to God. God is faithful to those who sincerely ask and trust in Him. He will provide us the strength and direction we need to fulfill His calling in our lives, whatever and wherever that calling is, spiritual or natural.

I was just listening to an interview with Andrew Strom and about how and why he left the so-called “prophetic movement” that has led to things like the Lakeland Revival and he made a statement that really spoke to me. He was talking about true revival, and how it would come, but how it was all about repentance and not “signs and wonders” which these big “revivals” are all about. He said that there was an unwillingness to wait, for these meetings, for real revival, and that people blindly pushed forward with things that did not seem Biblical because they wanted something and they wanted it now. Then he said something that really caught me: he said it was like Ishmael (Abraham’s first son). Ishmael was conceived because they (Abram and Sarai) were unwilling to wait. The story is in Genesis 16, so let me briefly recount the story.

In Genesis 15, God is giving Abraham (then Abram) an amazing promise. Genesis 15:2-3 is Abraham telling God that he has no heir that would come from his body, and Genesis 15:4 is God telling Abraham that he will have an heir from his own body, and:

“Then He brought him outside and said, ‘Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.’ And He said to him, ‘So shall your descendants be.” (Gen 15:5, NKJV)

Taking the story up in Genesis 16, Sarah (then Sarai) went to Abraham and told him that she had no children (obviously Abraham had just finished recounting God’s promise to him). And instead of waiting for God to do His thing for them, she gave to Hagar to Abraham, her maidservant, in the hopes that Hagar would give Abraham a child. Abraham agreed and Ishmael was the result. But this was not the child that God had promised to Abraham! Ishmael was not the child of promise! Isaac, born later to Sarah, was the child of promise, the heir that God had promised to Abraham.

Instead of waiting for God to provide what He Himself had promised, Abraham and Sarah took it upon themselves to fulfill God’s Word to them their way. Not God’s way.

The interesting thing here is that Ishmael is the father of the Islamic nation whereas Isaac is the father of the Israelite nation. Thousands of years after their birth, Ishmael and Isaac still contest for the inheritance of Abraham! For a Christian, we know that the Muslim faith, Islam, is a counterfeit religion and is not of God. The counterfeit came first (this is the point that Andrew Strom was making regarding this “revival” movement).

So it got me thinking… if God promises us something, He is faithful to deliver. If we go out of our way to hurry God’s Hand, to fulfill a prophecy or vision by our means (despite good intentions!), and do not wait for the appointed time that God in His Sovereignty has dictated, we can go one of two ways: His favour is withdrawn and we fail (and then doubt that this was ever from God), or we produce something that is wrong and counterfeit, that will war with the latter thing that is of God.

I believe there is a real warning here. God doesn’t operate by our timetable. We have to be obedient and operate by His timetable. God will let us know when the time is right for whatever it is that He has purposed for us to do. I think back to prophetic meetings and prophecies spoken over people and yes, some were confirmations of things going on right then, but some were for things that were not revealed for years or decades to come. No matter how much we desire what God is showing us, want to do God’s Will, want to jump on the vision He has given us, sometimes we need to temper ourselves and understand that God knows the timing. I believe He shows us things that He has planned for our future, but we are currently not equipped or ready to perform the duty in a way that maximizes its benefit and maximizes God’s glory. This is a promise from Him to us, just like He promised descendants more numerous than the stars to Abraham who at that point had no physical way of realizing that outcome (being childless).

If we try to rush what God is telling us He has planned for us, we have to then look in the mirror and ask ourselves: are we rushing this for God’s glory, or our own? Do we presume to know better than Almighty God the when of what He has shown? Are we prepared, or does He have other things planned, or are there other things that need to be accomplished before what He is planning for us can really be the thing He desires for us?

God is patient, man is not. It takes faith and trust in God to understand that just because He shows us something now, it doesn’t mean that what He has shown us is for now. He knows the timing, and it is up to us to be obedient and wait.

The Bible is full of passages that tell us to wait on the Lord:

“Wait on the Lord; Be of good courage, And He shall strengthen your heart; Wait, I say, on the Lord!” (Psalm 27:14, NKJV)

“But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint.” (Isaiah 40:31, NKJV)

We should be quick to do God’s Will, when it is asked of us, but if there is nothing specific in terms of timing, then I believe we need to wait. Wait in His Presence. Waiting doesn’t mean sitting idly by. It means resting in the Lord, in His Presence, in His Word. It means training ourselves up, because we don’t know when God wants to use us, or even how. It means preparing, getting things ready. Don’t go back to things of no consequence, because the Word of God (the Bible) is for the now, and in all things we need to be obedient to the Word before all visions, prophecies, dreams, or hopes — and all of these things need to be tested by and lined up to the Word to begin with. Those things (visions, etc.) will come in God’s timing, but His Word is for yesterday, today, and tomorrow and we need to be obedient to it, study it, learn it, and know it for now while we wait on God to reveal the when of what He has promised us. God isn’t into instant gratification, and neither should we.

I believe that as humans we get impatient to see God act, and do our own thing. We need to temper ourselves so that we don’t get ahead of God. We want to walk side-by-side with God, be partners with God, not fall into walking ahead of God (how can He be the light to our path when the light is behind us?), or becoming independent of God. The Bible calls those independent of God “sons of rebellion” or “sons of disobedience”. That’s a far cry from being called a “good and faithful servant” which is what should be the desire of our hearts!

The last five months have been… interesting, exciting, wild, stretching, and growing. God has been moving in amazing ways and I believe it all turned around because we were obedient to Him and did what He asked of my wife and I. This is a bit of a long story, but to give some background, my wife and I had gone through presbytery four years ago and had an amazing and somewhat frightening/exciting Word spoken over us. For those that don’t know what presbytery is, it’s when you fast and pray and seek God and have prophets speak God’s Word over you. For some, it provides life direction, for some it gives insight into the future that God has planned for you, for some it’s just plain old encouragement. If you’ve never been to a prophetic meeting like this, it really is something to behold. The Holy Spirit moves in ways that can’t even be described. Re-reading the word spoken over us still brings tears to my eyes and chills down my spine.

Without getting into it overly much (because there is a lot), the main thrust of the word was that we were going to be deeply rooted in the House of God, and that we would be involved with people. We would have a heart of evangelism, and a hunger in our spirit to see God’s Will done in the earth. That we would go up against the enemy and not be afraid and, just as importantly, have a God-given power over the enemy. That our home would be open, that we would get involved in discipleship and mentoring and getting involved in people’s lives. That we would have a spirit of outreach.

These are beautiful things to hear, but for someone who doesn’t really like people, this wasn’t really what I wanted to hear. I’m not really a people person, and I’m also very cynical and critical of people; part of that has to do with my personality, and part of that is due to my job and its lack of social interactions. My passion for God was most definitely there, but my passion for people was… pretty lacking. My wife is the complete opposite. She loves people, but being told we would be coming up against dark kingdoms really concerned her. I’ve had a past that dealt with spiritual warfare, so I can’t say I was comfortable with it, but it wasn’t scary because I know how powerful God can be in those situations.

So for four years this prophetic word has been remembered and forgotten, ignored and cried out for… but all things are in His timing. And just before last Christmas, He brought us to a whole new level of faith, passion, worship… and looking back now, we can pin-point to exactly when He started unfolding His plan for us.

It began with our nephew, who was 18 and leading a life not at all pleasing to God. He was not living at home, and he was involved with a girl that we had been told was being abused at home (she was 17). We had them over for dinner and were trying to help them, encourage them, and speak to them; he was looking for work and was going to get an apartment so he could take care of her and get her out of her (abusive) home. I had such a strong feeling that we needed to bring her into our house, but I didn’t say anything about it. I told God that if this was from Him, it needed to come from my wife. Well, a few weeks later we were talking about the kids and what was going on, and she brought up the idea of her staying with us, and then I told her what I had been feeling. And she talked to her mother, and she also said that she was thinking the same thing but didn’t want to suggest it since it wasn’t her place.

After that we extended the invitation. Keep in mind that at this point we hardly knew the girl and had no idea what we were getting into. We only knew that God wanted us to do this, and we prayed and sought His Will and everything we prayed that would tell us this was from Him came to pass. This was going to be a major disruption to our small family unit, but we wanted to be obedient. As the date was fast approaching, talking with my nephew, we knew there was some serious spiritual baggage here as well. She was adopted at a young age (four or five) and was given up by a mother who was into witchcraft and paganism. She saw her birth mother occasionally and received crystals and other new age items from her. And a witch’s spellbook.

At this point, I started praying overtime because I did NOT want that in my home. However God wanted to ensure it didn’t get into my home, I was praying that it would stay out. At the same time I confessed that the book had no power in my home, so if it did make it in there, it would be dead words with no power. At the same time, I wasn’t supposed to know about this book, so I didn’t want to call her out on it. I had to trust that God would do what was right for our family.

After about a week we were talking about Christianity and alternate religions and she mentioned that she had a spellbook, and this was where I tensed. But, praise God, she said she had left it at her parents’ place because she didn’t feel it would be appropriate to bring it here (she very much knew we were Christian). Hallelujah!

We were prepared to have her as part of our family for a long time to come. We didn’t have overly strict rules, but having a young daughter — there were things we just could not permit. Sadly, the living situation only lasted for a month, at which point we had to ask her to leave due to certain behaviours and the poor choices she was making. At that point I can’t say she was better or worse for having lived with us, but I believe we were planting seeds and speaking into her life, and we still pray for her and talk to her; she’s not out of our life entirely. But for the sake of our daughter, she couldn’t stay with us. Now, I know God uses these things and can bring it to remembrance in the future for her benefit. We planted seeds, and the Holy Spirit will water them in His timing. I also believe that He was testing us, to see if we were ready to walk out in what He planned for us. Did we pass the test? I don’t know, but He is unveiling things in us, and changing us, and stretching us in ways we cannot imagine.

If you told me a year ago that I, in particular, would have a heart for people, I would have said you were nuts. I don’t like people, and I don’t like talking to people. But now my home has become a whirlwind of activity, of visits from people. I’ve reconnected with a friend I grew up with, watching his baptism, seen how God has changed his life and set him on fire for God. We now see each other every week for bible study; sometimes two or three times a week. I believe God brought him to us to set US on fire, like he is, and that we were brought to him to make him accountable to someone, and to be strength for him and his family. God is blooming a relationship there in a huge way, and I’m so grateful for it.

I’ve run into a friend from 16 years or so ago whom if you told me he would be going to any church, let alone my church, I would have said you were cracked. Sadly, he has some odd ideas that are not biblical, so I don’t know if I’m here for correction and mentoring as well, or just to pray for truth and sight for him. Time, and God, will tell. But he’s another person back in our life.

There are other people in dire circumstances that are reaching out to US for prayer. We’ve known these people for years and yes, we’ve talked to them and we like and enjoy spending time with them, but I’ve never seen myself as a witness or example for them, or someone I would think that THEY thought they could talk to! Relationships are building there as well and just today I felt led to fast and pray for their circumstances, pleading before God to do a mighty work in their lives.

My sister-in-law and her boyfriend, whom we’ve been praying for years to get to church, have started coming to church. Praise God! Relationship there has been strained for a few years and by the Grace of God it is rebuilding as well and I just pray that the Word sinks in and brings life and conviction and a personal relationship with Jesus.

I took my daughter to the young adults worship service last night. She’s far from being a young adult, but my little girl was praising with her hands high and on bended knee, kneeling before her King. Praise God, it was a sight to bring tears to my eyes! So now I’ve been told (by her) that we’re going every Monday night! I can’t even describe how awesome that is.

My prayer life has gotten deeper, more intense. I am a watchman on the wall. I am standing in the gap for my brothers and sisters in Christ. I bought a whiteboard the other day that is our prayer board and already there are over two dozen names and circumstances on there that will be prayed for daily until there is breakthrough.

Would all of this have come to pass if we hadn’t been obedient to God five months ago and brought this girl into our home for a month? I don’t know, but I don’t believe it would. I think you need to prove to God that you are ready to be responsible with what He wants to give you. If God purposes for you to have an abundance of finances, but you squander what you have on foolish things, well guess what? He won’t give you what He wants to because you are irresponsible with it. Read the parable of the Talents (Matt 25:14-30). You have to prove to God you are ready.

My wife and I always dreamed about having a big home and how we would have people over and have youth group things and whatnot there. How we would be all evangelistic if God blessed us with a large home. Well guess what? God would never give it to us since we weren’t using the home we currently had for His work and His honor and His glory! We could sit there and say “if” until the cows came home, but if we weren’t prepared and willing to use our home now, as modest as it is, for His work, no way were we going to get something better!

I love this quote… I have no idea who wrote it, but:

“If not me, who? If not now, when?”

Well guess what. It is US and it is TODAY! There is such an urgency and a burden in me now to do God’s “thing” (whatever it is!) that I’m taking that leap of faith and letting Him put or pull me wherever He wants me. That is what birthed this site. That is what is birthing vision for great things of what God wants to do in me, and my family, and those around me.

Being obedient WILL change your life. I’ve traded what was unimportant for what is of the utmost importance. So I don’t watch as much TV. So I don’t play video games as much. So I don’t spend as much time doing recreational things. So what! None of that lasts. TV and video games and other recreation is all stuff for the moment… it doesn’t last. It’s not making me a better person. It’s not serving anything or anyone but me, in the “now”. What God is steering us towards is everlasting and of immense consequence. And I know this is just the start of it.

Greater things have yet to come and greater things are still to be done!

I just love what God is doing and how He’s turned my life from being a person willing to give only “so much” and only to certain people, into someone who is shouldering burdens for anyone who asks. And I love seeing this prophetic word start to unfold and if I look at it, I know there is so much more to come. All I have to do to experience it is to humble myself and be obedient, and this is something that my wife and I are sold-out to do.

“But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” (Joshua 24:15b, NKJV)

Amen!!

“No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life; as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you nor forsake you. Be strong and of good courage, for to this people you shall divide as an inheritance the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. Only be strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go. This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.” (Joshua 1:5-9, NKJV)

These five versus are so full, we really need to break it down to fully understand what God was saying to Joshua, and is saying to us now. We know that He is saying this to us, today, because He is the same today, as He was yesterday, and will be tomorrow. God does not change (Mal 3:6a).

First, God is giving us a promise that no one will be able to stand before us, because He will be with us as He was with Moses (and God and Moses were tight; Moses was in God’s Presence all the time, he spoke with God face to face). There is a condition here, however. If God is going to stand with us, as He did with Moses, we have to be like Moses: obedient, willing — no, eager — to spend time in His Presence, seeking Him out, living solely for Him.

Second, He says that He will not leave or forsake us. How true this is! When we feel God’s displeasure or we feel alone, we need to look at ourselves and see who’s fault it is. Did God pull away from us, or did we pull away from Him? Did we allow the world — it’s lusts, temptations, cares, worries — to replace God? Every time I have felt overwhelmed in life it is because I had pulled away from God and decided to do my own thing. God didn’t leave me, I left Him.

It takes strength and courage to fully trust in God. Humans do not trust easy. Trust has to be earned. How many people would jump off a building with only the word of a stranger telling us that we’ll be caught and no harm will come to us? No sane person would do this, yet this is the kind of trust God asks for. We need to ask for His strength and His courage to fill us, to allow us to fully and completely trust Him, to cast our lives on Him. He is our Rock, our sure foundation.

Twice here it mentions to be strong and courageous. This is a very important thing — God knows that life is not easy, and that trials and tribulation will come. The amazing thing is that He tells us how to be strong and courageous: the Book of the Law; the laws that Moses gave to the Israelites were the laws that God gave to Moses. He tells us that if we obey His Word (the law), and do not turn aside from it (don’t turn away from it, don’t twist it to suit our own needs, don’t cherry-pick what we want to get out of it), then we are given the promise: that we will prosper wherever we go.

So we have the condition (fully obey God’s Word) and the promise (that we will prosper). This is mentioned twice. Note God’s emphasis here! This isn’t mentioned twice in different parts of the same book, or even in different parts of the same chapter, but is noted twice back-to-back. This is a point we cannot afford to miss! God’s Word is to be our constant companion, it “shall not depart from your mouth” and it is meant to be meditated on day and night. That word “meditate” doesn’t mean to simply read, but it means to contemplate, to think deeply or focus for a period of time upon, to think deeply or carefully about. God means for us to get involved in His Word, to really know it, to have His Word readily available to us in every situation because we haven’t just read it, but we know it.

And finally, for the third time, He tells us to be strong and of good courage. This is truly something that God wants to impress upon us!

If we can grasp this, truly grasp it and take hold of it, there are promises here that have amazing implications. But don’t be confused about the use of the word “prosper”… this doesn’t mean that God is out to make a bunch of millionaires. The dictionary describes being prosperous as to be financially successful, yes, but also to flourish physically (grow strong and healthy), and to make successful. I believe that this does not apply only to the physical, but to the spiritual as well (if not even more). God prospers us spiritually when we meditate on His Word and obey His commands. When we do this, we receive strength, and courage, and boldness. We can face trials, tribulations, temptations — we can weather the storms of life. When we build our lives on God’s Word, on the Rock, we have a sure foundation and we will not be moved.

The importance of God’s Word can’t be missed here. Nor can the importance of relying on Him, of being “strong and of good courage” which only really comes by fully trusting in Him. This is what I would call a hard teaching, particularly because trust is such a precious commodity. It’s easy to say you trust someone, but it’s another thing entirely to actually do it. God wants us, desperately, to trust Him like small children trust their parents — fully, implicitly. I struggle with this a lot — it’s hard to hand the steering wheel over to someone else when you’ve been driving so long. But, as can be seen by this very loaded scripture, the benefits of giving up that control, of standing strong in the Lord, is well worth the sacrifice.

To contrast the “bad news” we see around us, we can always look at the “good news” in the Bible. Many times in the Bible it says to “be strong and of good courage”, a few examples of which include Deut 31:6-7,23 (three times in one chapter, when the Israelites were preparing to enter the Promised Land) and a number of times in Joshua as they were making their way into their inheritance: Josh 1:6,9,18 and Josh 2:11, as well as Josh 10:25. Again a few times in 1 Chronicles: 1Chr 19:13, 22:13, and 28:20. In the Psalms: Ps 27:14, Ps 31:24. We are also told to “fear not”, a few examples of which include Gen 21:17, Isaiah 41:10,13-14, Daniel 10:19, and Joel 2:21.

Fear is one of the worst things we can face. Fear attacks the mind and emotions; it can quickly tear down faith and hope. Fear, if we let it, can prevent us from doing so many things and from succeeding where we can so easily succeed. I believe this is why the Bible says over and over again to “fear not” and to “be of good courage”. If we are steadfast in our beliefs, obedient, and faithful to God and His Word, God will be with us and answer us.

God meets us in our time of need, but only if we are obedient and we take those first steps of opening up to Him and getting close to Him. James tells us:

“Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.” (James 4:7-8, NKJV)

As an example, not so long ago I was given the poor news that my employment with a company I had been a manager in for eight years would come to an end within a month. No reason was given other than “restructuring” and cost-cutting; the CEO had been relieved of duty and a new CEO was in place that would save the company money. My job was on the chopping block.

Upon receiving the news I did the natural thing: I freaked out. How would I find a new job so soon? How would the mortgage be paid? My wife’s income was not enough to cover expenses. Speaking of my wife, how was I even going to tell her? Fear and anger raged in me. But it only lasted for a short time before I was on my knees in prayer and giving the situation completely to God. He knew what was going on better than I, and I simply wasn’t capable of figuring it out on my own. A peace and determination filled me, and I immediately set out to emailing contacts I had in the industry I was in to see if anyone knew of a company that was hiring.

Within two hours of that horrible news, a few things had happened. One, I was at peace knowing this was in God’s hands. Yes, I was nervous about the future, but I put my hope and trust in Him. Two, I had received three tentative job offers each from companies that were prosperous and respected. Third, the CEO of the company I was currently with, phoned and told me that my name had been put on the list of cuts by mistake and that I was not to be terminated after all. Amazing! In the span of two hours my world had been turned upside down, potential job opportunities presented, and I still had my old job!

Believing that everything happens for a reason, I turned down two of the job opportunities and pursued the third. Every step of the way I prayed that God would reveal His plan for me, His will for my family. If He wanted me to have this new job, things would turn out and if He wanted me to remain where I was, then the interview process and subsequent steps would fall flat. Again, instead of fearing the future, I put my trust in Him.

After a series of gruelling interviews, the longest and most involved I have ever had, I got the formal job offer and I sent my resignation to my then-current employer. Within two months of the initial news that my job had been terminated, I was working for a new company — and on God’s terms. I did not have to relocate, I did not have to take a pay cut, I was blessed beyond measure and had taken a step up in my career. The process was a little nerve-wracking because I didn’t know what was going to happen, but I wasn’t scared of the future, not worried about finances. I believe God wanted better things for me and I was in a position at my old job where I was comfortable and would never have looked at different opportunities, even if it meant better things. God shook up my world for a brief time and moved me into something better.

It would have been so easy to be afraid, frightened of the future. Instead I went on my hands and knees many times before God and asked Him to reveal His will for my life. Daily I pray that He keeps me and my family on the path He set out before us, and this was just one fulfillment of those prayers. I put my trust and hope and faith in Him, knowing that He alone knows the entirety of my circumstances beyond what I can see, and that “good courage” paid off.

Just like it paid off for the Israelites who inherited the Promised Land despite the obstacles they would face, with the giants and fortified cities laid out before them. So it can be with you, if you humble yourself and submit to God’s desire for your life, and take your fears to Him. He will take your fear and give you “good courage” instead.