Brenna, our first granddaughter, was a frequent flyer.
Wednesday, January 12th; “Here I am Lord, I come to do your will.” Psalm 39
Our Post is Inspired by The Holy Spirit.
The readings today talk about doing the will of God.
In the Book of Samuel chapter eight, the people demand Samuel, who is aging, appoint a king for them in place of having prophets, God, running the country.
Samuel prays to God for guidance, and the response from God has always left a tear in my eye.
The Lord said: “Listen to whatever the people say. You are not the one they are rejecting. They are rejecting me as their king. They are acting toward you just as they have acted from the day I brought them up from Egypt to this very day, deserting me to serve other gods.” Samuel 8:7-8
Isn’t this also true today, as much as it was in the time of Samuel?
The question that was raised in my mind years ago was, how do I get to the point where I want to say, “Here I am Lord, I come to do Your will?”
In my younger years, I worshiped God as long as we were on the same page. When God asked me to do something that I didn’t agree with, I went on my own way, and like the Jews in the Old Testament paid a price for my independence.
Let us make a very important point before we go any further.
God didn’t punish me, as I had believed God did for way too many years, God ALLOWED me to reap the seeds I had sown.
What else could God do?
An example; I started my own business. I called on God when things didn’t go well, God bailed me out, I threw God under the bus when things were back on track, and continued again on my own way.
Notice throughout the above paragraph I and my. Where’s God, we, and us?
God wasn’t needed.
Sad!
Who lost?
Me!
Up until age seventy, I was not in a true relationship with God!
I would determine what I would do and wouldn’t do because frankly, I was afraid of what God would really ask me to do
Before I said yes to doing God’s will, I was stressed a lot of the time, and although I felt I was living in Joy and Peace, it wasn’t until I fully committed to doing God’s will that I found an even greater Joy and Peace, and I now will fight to stay in this wonderful way of life.
God, ALLOWED me to be stressed out to get me back to Them.
That’s how much God Loves us.
God allows us to do our own thing, hoping that the day will come when we find out this is not really what we want.
I have also found out over the years that The Old Testament is not only about the Jews four thousand years ago who didn’t do the will of God, but it was about me, and my journey finding and finally actively working to do the will of God.
Doing the will of God really started when I went into the Cumberland County Jail.
I met men every week who had done their will, not Gods, and were now paying the price, by being locked up, for their independence.
But, this can be a very good thing for the men, if they came to Bible Study.
They would be stuck with us, and we would use part of our time to introduce four totally new prayers to them, three of which we have already written posts about.
The Nine Fruit of the Holy Spirit, Get behind me satan, and Psalm 91.
The fourth prayer is, “Thank you Father for the Difficulty of …………………….. I know you will take care of me.”
A little background, Charlie Pinette, who was also in the jail ministry with me, gave me a copy of a book called Prison to Praise by Merlin Carothers.
On the cover, it said 19 million copies of Prison to Praise were sold. Wow!
Merlin told the story of God asking Merlin three questions. We will ask you the same questions.
God, “Do you thank me for the death of my Son?”
Merlin said, “Yes,” I said, “No.” What’s your answer?
God, “Do you thank me for the nails that were driven into His Hands?”
Merlin said, “Yes,” I said, “No.” What’s your answer?
God, “Do you thank me for the Nail that was driven into His Feet?”
Merlin said, “Yes,” I said, “No.” What’s your answer?
We don’t mean do you sorta thank God for the above three questions. Do you specifically thank God for the above questions?
Now I’m thinking, what’s next?
God then said, “If you thank me for the death of My Son, the nails that were driven into His Hands, and the nail that was driven into His Feet, then I want you to thank me for the DIFFICULTIES I ALLOW in your life.”
I was blown away when I read this, it made total sense to me, as I hope it does for you.
Merlin next said pray,
“Thank you Father for the difficulty of ………Name the difficulty……,
that You have ALLOWED in my life, I know you will take care of me.”
Prison to Praise tells of marriages saved, addictions conquered, family abuse ended, and of many many many healings.
I have had many healings saying this prayer!
Two things you have to keep in your mind as you pray.
1. Your first thought could be that this is the dumbest prayer you’ve ever said, thanking God for your difficulties.
Don’t worry, that’s satan, just say the prayer.
2. I also found you have to say the prayer until you smile, and this, as we tell the men in the jail, is very important, because when you smile you let back in The Holy Spirit.
Satan can’t smile!
One day in the jail I met Lewis, and this was his first day in jail. He was down and didn’t say a word.
I knew we were going after him, and asked Lewis halfway through the meeting, “How is the food? I had never asked this question before, The Holy Spirit working in my life.
Lewis said, “The food tasted lousy and was in small quantities.”
We had him! Lewis finally started talking.
After talking with Lewis and explaining the prayer, we next asked Lewis to pray,
“Thank you Father for the difficulty of the lousy tasting food and the small quantities, I know you will take care of me.”
Lewis said the prayer, nothing changed, he remained in the dumps.
We asked Lewis to repeat the prayer, “Thank you Father for the difficulty of the lousy tasting food and the small quantities, I know you will take care of me.”
No change!
Lewis, “Say the prayer a third time.” Lewis prayed, “Thank you Father for the difficulty of the lousy tasting food and the small quantities, I know you will take care of me.”
Lewis smiled!
This is interesting. Every time we ask the men to repeat the prayer, by the third time they say it, they’re smiling. Only a few make us go further, and yes we do keep pushing the men to say the prayer until they smile.
“Lewis you just smiled, nothing has changed. Maybe you’re letting God back into your life?”
We asked Lewis to say this prayer each day for the next week at each meal.
Next week we asked Lewis if had said the prayer at every meal? Lewis said, “I said the prayer for one meal and that’s all!”
We told Lewis to say this prayer at every meal next week, and say it until you smile.
Lewis said he would this time.
When we came back the third week we asked Lewis if he had done as promised. Lewis said, “He had,” and then said,
“The food tasted good!”
You could have knocked me over with a feather, I never anticipated this answer.
“Lewis, nothing changed, only you, you let God back into your life.
You allowed God to start taking care of you.”
In time I hope Lewis will grow accustomed to God taking care of him and will change his relationship with God by wanting God to continue to take care of him, and then Lewis will say;
“Here I am Lord, I have come to do your will.”
And the very best part of all of this is, we are building a relationship with God!
Wow!
We pray you will grow in the Love, Joy, and Peace of the Holy Spirit by growing in Patience, Kindness, Generosity, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self-Control.
Sidebar:
Because of the length of our post, I will keep the Sidebar very brief.
The pictures we will have at the top of the post I pray will reflect the Love, Joy, and Peace that is in my life, and I pray is also in yours.
Not extraordinary events, ordinary events.
