Experiencing God

Chapter Nineteen—God Accomplishes His Work

Question 1. Are you presently waiting on the Lord to fulfill His word to you in some way? How do you spend your time waiting?

My problem is I am waiting for God to act before I do anything. When God invited Moses to deliver the Israelites out of Egypt, God would show the sign that it was from him after his servant to obey. My problem is I am waiting for a sign from God before I act. I should be doing things for God without asking for a sign. I should be doing it because I love and trust him.

Well how do we know if there is a particular activity that God wants us to do? We may get a sense that he wants us to move in a certain direction. We use our own reasoning to decide what he is doing and when he is going to do it. Then when we set out to do what we think that God wants us to do, we run into a dead end.

When it seems that I am at a dead end, I must focus on the love relationship with God. I must wait patiently for him and listen as he speaks. I have to be sure that I understand his directions. He may, after all, have a different plan in mind for me. I must rely on his timing to work out the details. As I complete a task, I must continue to wait patiently until he tells me what to do next.

Even the disciples were with Jesus for some time when he told them, “I still have many things to tell you, but you can’t hear them now: when the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all the truth. For He will not speak on His own, but He will speak whatever He hears. He will also declare to you what is to come” (john 16:12-13).

While I am impatiently waiting for God to speak to me, he wants me to be prepared to hear what he has to say. If he speaks to me in my timing and not his, I might not be ready to respond. Therefore, it is necessary to wait patiently for God.

Question 2. What is something God has accomplished through your life? How did people witness God’s activity as He worked through you? How have you given glory to God for what He did?

The Holy Spirit is part of the Trinity-the Father, the son, the Holy Spirit. Therefore, since God and Jesus is one hundred percent truth, the Holy Spirit is not misleading. When I became a Christian, the Holy Spirit came on me and took up residence in my body. The Holy Spirit is my guide, getting me to do God’s will. It shows me what God’s will is and makes me realize that I must be totally dependent on God. Finally it gives me the courage to carry out God’s plans.

God has allowed me to use my difficulties in life to help other people who have experienced what I have gone through. I have two beautiful daughters and am pleased about the direction they are taking in life. However, imagine my joy that I felt when I found out that my third child was going to be a boy. However, that joy turned into grief when, in 1998, I miscarried him eight months into my pregnancy.

While I never got over losing Edward Joseph, I have learned to cope over the years. It also was a blessing in disguise. My husband and I were on the verge of getting a divorce during that time. We were constantly fighting over one thing or another. The death of our son allowed us to reconcile our differences and grow closer together. I was also able to use my experience to help others who have gone through the same experience.

It is the same with our debt situation. God has always provided for us. He tells me what I need to do each week. He is my guidance counselor, showing me how to be wiser in the future. He uses me to show other people ways they can get out of the debt quicksand.

Well not everybody listens when I say that it is God who provides for me. Some people just do not want to hear it. Some are non-believers. Others have their own gods they worship. Even so, when I am walking in God, people can see it in me.

To give glory in God I recognize that everything is from God and I believe him, even during the hard times.

Reference:

Bible verses are taken from The Holy Bible. New International Version.

Questions are taken from Experiencing God Knowing and Doing the Will of God. Henry and Richard Blackaby.