25. LESSONS I HAVE LEARNED.

“The steps of a good man are ordered by The Lord.” Prov 16.9. I have recently turned another year older and am surprised that it’s taken me this long to understand, acknowledge,and accept the simplicity of God’s word. To know that He says exactly what He means, without us putting our own spin on it. Or if situations don’t quite suit us making changes; blaming the culture, language or ignorance of Biblical times, etc. God is God and I believe He knew then and still knows what He was and is saying and doing. Also I believe, If one professes to be a Bible believing Christian, that should mean they believe the entire Bible, not just the pieces they are comfortable with. For instance:-- there are those who don’t want to believe in Hell, . Yet it says quite emphatically, in several places, (look it up, Google it) that Hell is a specific place, and warns us against heading in that direction. Angels is another point some people seem to have their own opinion about, but Scripture mentions them as real messengers sent by God, on particular errands and some even get mentioned by name. eg Gabriel and Michael. Of course these people have a “field day” in the book of Revelation, and put it all down to John’s extended years or his inability to accurately describe what he saw and thereby resorted to fantasy. The Bible has hundreds of prophecies in it, most of which have already been accurately fulfilled except those pertaining to the book of Revelation therefore there is no reason to think that this prophetic book will not also be fulfilled to the letter in God’s timing, In fact, God’s written and spoken Word is being fulfilled everyday as we live through this final generation. I find it difficult to understand why some people can’t take The Holy Bible as the Word of Almighty God and accept it as it is written. There is no place in Scripture that says it is going to be easy, convenient or comfortable, but, it is the only true path to Heaven given by the Creator of the Universe Himself, and He should know. Most of us these days have a gadget in our cars called a GPS. It is a clever little thing that shows us the best, but not always the quickest way to reach a given destination. It tells us when and where to turn. When we are exceeding the speed limit, even if we are heading for a potential accident, some I’ve heard, will tell us how far it is to the nearest Service Station. No guessing, no problems no confusion, all sorted. Recently I have come to the realization that I have my very own built in Devine GPS “The Holy Spirit.” If we allow Him, He will choose our destination, the route and the timing of our mission, by listening to Him I have learned four valuable lessons, which I’d like to share with you… . 1 Faith and Trust;--This was the most difficult and took the longest to learn. But, without it nothing else works. I had to learn to believe, trust and depend on God even in contrary circumstances. If we have prayed and asked God to show us His Will in a given situation, we must not doubt. Even if it doesn’t make sense. I had to learn to trust His Word, keep praying and believing. God honours our faith and perseverance. In this way I learned patience (which is not one of my strong points) to depend on God rather than on myself I found it extremely difficult. I assumed I knew all the twists and turns of life which made me act without consulting God. Like Samson I reckoned I had figured out just how the system worked and when Delilah sold him out and the Philistines bound him with ropes a third time, he thought he would handle things as he always had “I will do as before and shake myself free.” he said, but he didn’t realise his arrogance had caused The Lord to leave him (Judges 16.20) The most valuable lesson I learned here was, if I wanted to live a victorious life, I had to humbly, take God at His Word. In (John 15.5) “Without Me you can do nothing.” If you believe and act on that Word, you will be victorious. 2. The second lesson I learned was—I had to change my perspective. I didn’t always look where I was going, but I always ended up where I was looking. This cost me dearly. So what was the answer? As It slowly became clear, I found I had to start looking in the right place, or I would end up like David who, after paying the price for following his own lower impulses changed his perspective and prayed in Psalm 141.8 “My eyes are fixed on You Lord” I am convinced that unless our perspective is on The Lord we run the very serious risk of our choices and direction in life going completely astray. Our perspective always determines our choices and direction in any area of life. So keep looking to The Lord, listening for His leading. 3 The third Lesson I learned was –The secret of prayer, there is no substitute for Prayer, I had to learn about keeping in communication with God I used to feel lost in unfamiliar territory, uncertain of what my next move should be, but God used those times to get my attention, to call me back to Himself, to encourage me to talk to Him, I gradually learned to lean on Him, to regard Him as my unfailing source of strength and wisdom rather than trying to figure out everything myself. In Jeremiah 33.3 God tells us “Call to me and I will tell you things you don’t know and I will answer you.” So I’ve learned to take my problems to The Lord and ask Him for the solution. He hasn’t disappointed me yet. Also James tells us “The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.” That means always saying, doing and thinking the right thing, check your motives, remember, God knows and sees everything about you, we can’t hide anything from Him. That’s not as easy as it sounds, why? because the right thing is not the first thing that comes into our minds. You see, human nature says “Keep out of trouble, blame someone else, hide the truth, plead ignorance. The Word says “Bare one another’s burdens, take the blame to save another, show kindness while standing up for the truth, making sure no one gets hurt or damaged. No! it’s not easy, in fact sometimes it’s very hard but, True Christians are required to take the high road which leads to Glory. 4 Patience---I had to learn The power of Patience, this was not easy for me to achieve and I don’t think Ive mastered it yet. Whenever The Holy Spirit puts a goal or dream in my heart, I want to be quick on the trigger and have it happen overnight. I had to learn that timing is crucial, it is in God’s hands and under His control not mine, I also had to learn that waiting for God’s timing is not a waste of time, it is essential to develop two qualities in all of us which nobody can have too much of, and only God can give, they are Faith and Hope; Romans 8.25 tells us “If we hope for what we don’t yet have we wait for it patiently.” So while I am learning patience, God is at work arranging things on my behalf and at the same time producing Christ-like qualities in me. The psalmist said his hope was in God. So I have to constantly ask myself what or who is my hope in?.. My Family, Good Luck, the Economy, the Doctor’s Prognosis?... As long as my hope is in anything other than God’s unfailing love and goodness I will wrestle with uncertainty for the rest of my life. So what’s the answer? Mine is found in Psalm 112.7“My heart is steadfast and trusting in The Lord.” I hope you don’t take as long as I did to learn the above lessons, they have changed my life greatly and I wish I had learned them earlier, they would have saved me a great deal of time, blood, sweat and tears.!!! God bless and teach us all something new today. Phaline. --------------------------