We’re continuing with hearing from one of my favorite people, Mary Johnson. Enjoy today’s post on God’s leading.
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I can never Thank God enough.
How can I begin to thank God for His mercy, His grace, His love?
How great is our God. He alone is worthy of all praise, honor and glory.
13 Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, saying:
“To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb
be praise and honor and glory and power,
for ever and ever!” Revelation 5:13 (NIV)
When I think back on all His goodness it brings tears to my eyes. Where there seems to be no way, He knows how to make a way.
There may be times when you feel all alone but God has said we are never alone.
10 Don’t be afraid, for I am with you.
Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you.
I will hold you up with my victorious right hand. Isaiah 41:10 (NLT)
So I say to Him thank You Father. When you can’t seem to see your way, Jesus has said I am the way. He makes streams in the desert.
19 See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness
and streams in the wasteland. Isaiah 43:19 (NIV)
I find myself looking at all the wonderful things God has created. He made it all for us to enjoy and to remind us He is near. When you feel like life is pulling you in different directions just know He is near, leading us to Him. All this time has been about our drawing near to Him; not about the loneliness or inadequacies or not knowing which way to turn.
Jesus has been drawing me closer to Him. There my refuge would be. In Him would be my peace, my joy, my help- my victory!
So I can say, “There You were Jesus leading and guiding me every step of the way. You were there all the time. Thank You.”
Psalm 23 (NIV)
A psalm of David.
1 The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. 2 He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters, 3 he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths
for his name’s sake.
When I was a young girl living in New York City, I remember there was a toy store not far from the apartment where we lived. In fact, I think if I stood at the front door of our old apartment I could find that toy store, or where it used to be. This toy store had captured me with its displays of beautiful toys. There was an ice cream shop not far from it and I considered it a treat to get an ice cream and walk to the toy store and stare into the display for as long as my parents would let me, at what seemed to me, to be a magical wonderland. I imagined the displays, much like in the movie Toy Story or one of my daughter’s favorite shows Doc McStuffins, would come to life at night. Even after I left the window, my mind kept working, imagining all kinds of scenarios; many of which included me. I “made believe” that I was one of those toys, jumping around in a carefree wonderland.
One year in particular they had a dollhouse in the display that captured me. Everything in it was doll-sized: furniture, clothes, clothes hangers, lamps, a bathtub, and it even had small light fixtures that lit up! I was so captivated by that dollhouse that, in my mind, it became my imaginary home where I spent hours playing uninterrupted in a fairy-tale world where everything was just as it was supposed to be. I spent weeks begging my parents to buy this dollhouse that had captured my affections. “It even has electricity!” I pleaded with every ounce of sweetness that I could muster, but I was always answered with “We just can’t afford it, not now.” My heart was broken for months and I found that the only way I could forget about my dream dollhouse was to stop walking by the toy store, I had to find something else to look at.
As innocent as it was for my heart to be taken by that little dollhouse, it reminds me of how what we allow ourselves to see, influences us. We’ll either be influenced for good or bad by what we give entrance through our eyes and ears which are doorways to our hearts.
Matthew 6:22,23 TLB“If your eye is pure there will be sunshine in your soul. But if your eye is clouded with evil thoughts and desires, you are in deep spiritual darkness. And, oh, how deep that darkness can be!”
What we allow ourselves to see has a powerful effect on us spiritually as well; what we let in is eventually what will come out.
Garbage in = Garbage out
Why are we content to allow our hearts and minds to be used as trash cans when we are designed to carry within us the very Presence of God? I wonder how He feels about those things that He has to share space with in our hearts.
Society tells us, well-meaning friends say that we have the ability to choose how we behave, which is true. What we watch, what we listen to, according to this world, have no bearing on our actions because we can choose not to behave in ways that we have exposed ourselves to by what we see or hear. Indeed, we have the power to choose which path we will take, in fact, God made us with that power to make choices. It’s what we do with that power to choose that will determine the paths that our lives will take (Joshua 24:15).
Whether we like to admit it or not, the choices that we make daily in what we watch, read, see on our device screens all have an influence on us. As an athlete who is training for a marathon knows, performance in the race is undeniably connected not only to the physical training put in before the race, but also to the food that is used as fuel for the race.
How are you fueling your spirit?
Most people like, as with a new diet fad, to have a list of do’s and don’ts to help guide their behaviours. The problem is that God has not designed this life to be lived by law. He has designed life to be lived in relationship with Him as our Father, with us learning how to hear His voice as He guides us along the way.
John 10:27 NLT“My sheep listen to My voice; I know them, and they follow Me.”
Hearing God’s voice, following His will, isn’t something mysterious or something that God wants to keep from us. His voice becomes familiar to us as we grow in our relationship with Him, telling us which way is the right way to take.
Psalm 119:30 NLT“The teaching of your Wordgives light, so even the simple can understand.”
Simply put, the more we choose to spend time with God in His Word, the more familiar His voice will become. The Bible, His written will, becomes real to us as we learn to enter into it and not just read it.
Don’t just wish to be able to hear God’s voice – He’s speaking daily. The question is, will we choose to set aside time to open His Book and listen?
