divine guidance

almost a week later & I'm finally getting around to post this.

Psalm 87 is truly a Messianic Psalm - a portion of scripture that points towards the coming King of KINGS. last saturday the Holy Spirit not only showed me that but revealed divine guidance in an area I had been laboring in prayer over. I love how my God fulfills his promises: ask & ye shall receive, seek & ye shall find, knock & it shall be opened unto you!

the 3 R's

Luke 15:11-32

(I will not type the whole passage but the synopsis is the prodigal son.)

several months ago the Holy Spirit had me read this passage at the beginning of a trial period in my faith. at that time I was shown something that would get me through the trial. it did, praise the Lord, along with other scripture texts. the trial was directed at my faith, & the devil used the “hath God said” tactic he so clearly overuses. hey, it worked on Eve. by the middle of June I was shown that my loving Savior was carrying me through the trial. I’ve always loved the poem “Footprints” but never expected to be in the poem. one finds they love their Savior all the more when shown that aspect of Him.

onto the topic… once the trial was completed, & yes I passed, I reread many of the passages read at the beginning. lo & behold the Holy Spirit showed me something between the lines! Amen!

in verses 13 & 14 we read that the younger son “wasted his substance” & “had spent all” on riotous living; i.e.: he spent it on pleasure & partying or things the world dupes people into believing will bring joy. but notice verses 22 & 23 where the father replaces all the things his younger son had wasted.

R #1: Replaced. I myself was that younger son. I chose to spend all I had spiritually accumulated on the things that the world duped me into. yes, I knew it would never bring me true joy yet I vexed myself daily in striving to attain what I could never achieve alone. it is only through God’s mercy & compassion that He is giving me another chance to replace what I lost. I truly do NOT want to get to Heaven empty handed! through His grace, it will not happen.

second, in verse 15 we look at how the younger son “went and joined himself to a citizen of that country.” oh the numerous times that I did that! it sickens me! James 4:4 says, “know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God?” I clearly CHOSE to hook-up with the world thus placing myself in the bull’s-eye of God’s Brillo pad (Hebrews 12:6).

R #2: Rejoined. verse 27 tells of the joy when a lost sheep is rejoined safe & sound into the fellowship of the Believers. I praise the Lord for the scourging, purging, rinsing & repeating until He decided I was fit for use. I am by no means finished but from now until death visits me, my Lord is showing me it is better “to be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.” Amen!

lastly, verse 17 tells how he caught a glimpse of himself in a mirror, “when he came to himself.” he finally saw how dirty & filthy he had become. for me it was realizing my hand had been caught in the proverbial cookie jar (see post #23 Journalizing). it wasn’t just on the outside but also on the inside. this caused him/me to seriously exam his/my heart & see that his/my only hope was truly in returning to the Father.

R #3 is Regenerated. verse 32 proclaims how the father lifted up his voice in praise as his son, “was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found.” July 26, 2010 is the date that the Holy Spirit opened my eyes to the fact that I was truly converted. not just outwardly as a show to men but inwardly to my Heavenly Father. of course I had to travel through the trial, endure hardship as a good soldier & yield to my Father’s will to find this out. my sole purpose on this earth is to carry out God’s plan for this life that HE designed long before I was in my mother’s womb (Jeremiah 5:5). ALL GLORY GOES TO GOD!

one thing I must mention: if you are a Believer & still in the hog pen of this world, PLEASE come back before its too late! not only does your Heavenly Father desire the fellowship you both once had but your brothers & sisters-in-the-Lord have been praying that you return. several were praying for me. we will not debate the attitude of the elder brother in the passage, but verse 26 says that a servant told him what the commotion was about! as a child of God we are all servants. please don’t let time run out! yield to the chastening!

LORD thy God

placed throughout the book of Deuteronomy there are 3 words that form a phrase that God has placed within His Scriptures that just seem to jump out at you. Those 3 words are little in length but mighty in speech.

the phrases are "LORD our God", "LORD thy God" and "LORD my God". it is not by chance that God uses the personal pronouns of our, thy and my. one could say they are possessive. exactly! God wants us to be possessive of Him. just as He wants to be possessive of us.

those phrases repeat a total of 294 times. I would dare say that God is trying to get my attention, wouldn't you? even if it has to be repeated 294 times.

the word is redeemed

I was wrong and I admit it. my post on 5/28 was half truth and half false as part of it was me listening to the devil. the section about being disqualified to serve God as a missionary is a lie the devil had me half-believing. if I had chosen to wait one more day, then I would have been able to refute the devil and his lie with a solid portion of scripture (beyond what I already was quoting - I Cor. 10:5).

here is how it went down... at the same time the Father ordered me to do something specific in regards to my call, the devil butted in and tried to mess things up. I'm learning the devil is having to come up with new game plans as the old ones don't work anymore. PRAISE GOD! what the Father was trying to get me to see is that currently I am unqualified, not disqualified, but He will train me to become qualified. every task He gives brings me one step closer to becoming qualified and one step closer to His plan. trust me, these lessons were never taught in Bible college!

this has taught me to be patient even if I don't understand. I admit it was a bitter pill to swallow what the devil was feeding me and posting didn't help. it only made me more tranparent. so now you know for sure I am by no means perfect. again I sincerely apologize to my readers and will make certain that all future posts get filtered through the Holy Spirit before posting.

this testing is more difficult than expected but I know He is right there beside me. one thing I am certain of is that I am able to see my Lord more clearer than ever before. testing is by far the best Spiritual eye-cleanser out there!