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WHEN GOD SPEAKS TO MY HEART, I WRITE

VOTE FOR GOD EVERYDAY

8/31/2016

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Recently I had a friend say something that made me think he was questioning the sovereignty of God.  It quickly led into disagreement which ultimately led into anger and frustration for both of us.  I don’t have all the answers and I am certainly not always right.  But some things should be central to those that believe.  I believe in one God.  I believe that He is all knowing and all powerful, and I believe that he is sovereign.  What does it mean to be sovereign?  A few synonyms include:   supreme, absolute, unlimited, unrestricted, boundless, ultimate, and total.  If there is one thing I do know for certain, it is that God is supreme and is in control of everything.  He is sovereign.

When I was praying to God about the situation with my friend He had me turn to the book of Jonah.  I would guess the book of Jonah is one of the most famous books in the Bible.  Many people of the world may think of it as nothing more than a fairy tale about a giant fish but of course Christians know it as a great foreshadowing of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  What a beautiful story it is.

But God didn’t have me turn to the part of the story that most people are familiar with.  He had me turn to the end.  It is amazing to me that we can read the same pages in the Bible again and again and always learn new things as if new things are always being added.  As we ask new questions, God will reveal new truths.  If we seek we will always find.

At the end of the story God provided a leafy plant to grow up over Jonah to provide shade for his head to ease his discomfort from the sun.  But at dawn God had a worm chew on the plant so that it withered.  When the sun rose God provided a scorching East wind that blazed on Jonah’s head; God had provided and then taken away to teach Jonah a lesson.  God sometimes blesses and He sometimes takes away those blessings but in everything God is working to bring about His will.

I shut my Bible after reading a handful of verses in awe.  I had been attacked for believing the simple truth that God is working in everything to bring about His will, and God showed me a great illustration in His word to reinforce this truth.  It’s important to remember that God does not change.  The same God that provided and took away from Jonah provides and takes away from us.  Just because the Bible is already written does not mean that God is any less powerful or finished in His work.  God is always working.   
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God brings the sunshine and He also brings the rain but no matter the weather you can know that God is always working in your life.
Another similar story is that of King Nebuchadnezzar.  Daniel was asked to interpret the king’s dream so Daniel did.  He told the king that in his dream a holy one descended down from heaven and said, “Chop down the tree and destroy it; yet leave the stump with its roots in the ground,” meaning the king would still have his kingdom if he realized that God was ruler over all things.  The king went about business as usual until a year later when he scoffed at the idea that God had brought about his good fortune.  “Is this not Babylon the great, which I myself have built as a royal residence by the might of my power and for the glory of my majesty?”  As he was still speaking these words a voice said from heaven, “King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is declared: sovereignty has been removed from you, and you will be driven away from mankind, and your dwelling place will be with the beasts of the field. You will be given grass to eat like cattle, and seven periods of time will pass over you until you recognize that the Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind and bestows it on whomever He wishes.” 

And it happened immediately just like the voice had said.  After that time King Nebuchadnezzar was humbled and he praised and honored God.  His kingdom was restored to him and surpassing greatness was added to him.  “Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise, exalt and honor the King of heaven, for all His works are true and His ways just, and He is able to humble those who walk in pride.”  God gave, God took away, and then God gave back with even greater abundance to accomplish His will. 

Everything that man has and gets is from God yet time and time again man tries to take God’s place as if man has power.  We can only do what God has gifted us to do.  Can a fish take credit for its ability to breathe under water?  Should the sun receive glory because its rays sustain life on earth?      

The presidential election season in the US is upon us.  I am not sure there is anything that can cause more separation and strife among the people than the presidential campaign.  Even Christians can become agitated, hostile, and argumentative.  I have heard many say, “If this person gets elected we are doomed!”  But are we?  Can man really change God’s will?  Does man have power outside of which God has given it?

When God sent the plagues against the Pharaoh for holding his people as slaves in Egypt, the Pharaoh only did what God had Him to do.  Exodus 9-12 “But the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh, and he did not listen to them” Am I saying that God created Pharaoh and put him in power to make an example out of him and to bring Himself glory?  Yes I am.  Exodus 16 “But for this purpose I have raised you up, to show you my power, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth.”

Whether God appoints the next president or whether it’s left up to man’s freewill is on no consequence or importance.  God’s perfect plan will still take place.  God will use whoever is in power to achieve His perfect will.  Deuteronomy 2:30 “But Sihon king of Heshbon refused to let us pass through. For the LORD your God had made his spirit stubborn and his heart obstinate in order to give him into your hands, as he has now done.”  We see another example in 1 Kings 12:15 “So the king did not listen to the people, for this turn of events was from the LORD,”

Should we vote then?  Of course we should.  Listen to God’s voice.  Vote according to His voice.  But don’t worry about who will win or what will happen.  God already knows who will win.  The story is already written.  Acts 4:27-28 “Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed.  They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen.”

No matter who gets elected God is still God.  Nothing can change that.  Nothing can stop Him from doing what He does.  He is perfect.  He is in control.  He is sovereign.
 

Proverbs 21:1 “The king's heart is like channels of water in the hand of the LORD; He turns it wherever He wishes.”
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.77 CENTS IS WORTH SO MUCH PART 2 

8/2/2016

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If there was ever a blog that I had written that I didn’t expect to have a second part it was ‘77 cents is worth so much.’  Last winter after much anguish in our hearts, my wife and I came to the conclusion that we should sell our newly acquired dream property.  In an effort to hold onto our dream, I often prayed to God that if He wanted us to keep the property, He would supply the money for the payment.  This past March God answered that prayer in a big way by financially supplying 4 different streams of money that came within 77 cents of our land payment.  We were blown away to say the least.

The next few months went by uneventful.  We had peace in our hearts about keeping the property and we were so very thankful to God for the answered prayer.  Then something changed.  Out of nowhere I had the urge to sell the property again only this time the urge was different.  I no longer felt like it was something I ‘had’ to do.  I felt excited about doing it. 

Shortly after having this feeling deep within me, I told my wife what I thought we should do and to my surprise she was in complete agreement again.  But like me, it was different for her this time too.  This time we completely surrendered our tight grip we had on that beautiful land.  There were no mixed emotions.  We had joy and peace about the decision.    Within 3 or 4 days of our discussion that day we called the realtor.

I have seen God do some amazing things in my life so I wasn’t surprised when I heard the realtor say, “There is not a lot of land out there for sale right now,” and, “this is really a great time to sell.”  Sure, realtors are salesman and they like to talk things up but I knew her words were sincere.  I knew with all my heart God had us in that office on that day for a reason. 

Because there wasn’t a lot of land available our realtor suggested we start the price a bit higher than normal.  I felt that we pushed the value a bit when we bought the property a few years earlier so I was a bit hesitant about starting the price so high.  My main concern was that a creditor may not be willing to loan for the amount the realtor was tossing around but after a moment I was at peace with her recommendation.  I settled on a price substantially more than what we had paid and signed all the paperwork.    

When I walked out of her office that day I was all smiles.  It was surreal feeling to know I was giving up so much yet be so happy about it.  The next few days I got more and more comfortable with our asking price because it gave us more wiggle room in negotiations.  If we got a low offer in relation to our asking price there was still a possibility the numbers would work out.

I spent the next few days over at the property tiding things up.  I burned some brush, mowed the grass, and pulled some weeds.  After several hours of hot sweaty work I stopped and took it all in and I couldn’t help but talk to the one that created it.  “What a beautiful property this is God!  Please bring someone to buy it.”  I asked God several times over the next several days to bring us a buyer.

Exactly 2 weeks to the day of listing the property my realtor called to let me know someone was coming to look at the property.  This was the third showing in the last week so we were pretty upbeat about the possibility of making a sale.  After her call I again asked God to help us sell the property.  God was listening.

The following morning I received another phone call from my realtor to tell me we had an offer on the property.  I hung up excited and filled with joy.  My mind started wondering what the offer price would be.  My wife and I talked about it as we drove to the realtor’s office.  We both made guesses.  We were both wrong.         

As soon as we sat down in her office she spoke the most amazing words.  “How would you like a full asking price for your property?”  Although I didn’t say it out loud my inner voice said, “Whhhhaaaat?”  I absolutely could not believe what I had just heard.  Shocked?  Perplexed?  Overwhelmed?  There were just no words that adequately described what I felt.

When we bought the property we offered quite a bit less than the asking price and our realtor  told us at that time that our offer was a good one.  Now we were asking substantially more than their asking price and the buyer agreed to pay 100%?  I couldn’t comprehend or fathom what was happening.  As I sat in that chair I was thinking to myself, “God what have you done?”  I knew right then there was a part 2 to my blog and I even said so to my wife right there in the office.

When we bought the property in 2014 we were selfish.  We had a beautiful property but we wanted another one.  We had a place to hike and a place to play but we wanted more.  How much is enough?  32 acres is a lot of room to play.  Wasn’t I already extremely blessed?  Didn’t I already have more than I deserved?  Sure we could try to justify why we deserved or needed it but none of it would have been the truth.  In Luke 12:15 Jesus said, “Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions. “  Owning more land did not increase our happiness or make our life better.  Acquiring things never does. 

In Exodus 23:22 God sent Moses an angel to help Him on His way and gave Moses instruction.  “But if you carefully obey his voice and do all that I say, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries.”  I believe God is speaking to believers constantly yet we often don’t recognize His voice.  I also believe that the God of the Bible is still an enemy to our enemies and an adversary to our adversaries if we carefully obey His voice.  God is with us always.  When we are disobedient, He will discipline us.  When we are obedient, he will reward us.             

I will be the first to admit I don’t get it right all the time.  I am a weak man holding onto the promise that Jesus dying on the cross is enough.  And I know by myself I could never make myself good enough or righteous enough.  But on those occasions when I do get it right, God is smiling and possibly even applauding.  If I get out of line, He will send people, situations, and maybe even sickness into my life to straighten me out.  If I hear Him speaking to me and carefully obey His voice, He will answer my prayers in big ways.    

As we sat around the closing table you could see a great excitement and joy over the face of the soon to be new owner of the property.  Truthfully, I was excited for him.  He told me that he had looked from one side of the county to the other and just couldn’t find anything he liked.  But when he first pulled into the drive of our property he just knew he had found what he was looking for. 

One of the greatest features of the property is the abundance of wild turkeys that walk on the hillside and field below it.  My wife and I loved to see them and have counted 20 or 30 of them together on more than one occasion just pulling into the drive.  We often have seen them in the woods on the property where we live next door but not without leaving the house and going for a hike.  When I mentioned to the buyer that he would be seeing wild turkeys his eyes lit up.  It seemed to be the icing on his already mouthwatering cake.  Again, I was so very happy for him.

The following morning I woke out of bed and went into the restroom.  I would guess I open the blinds and look out the window maybe 5% of the time and this morning and felt the urge to do so.  When I looked out I couldn’t believe what I saw.  Right in the front yard not 20 yards from our front door were 7 turkeys directly in front of the bathroom window.  As if they were posing for a photo shoot, they walked from the woods across the yard and stopped.  I have lived on that property for 10 years and have never had such an encounter.

What makes this story even more amazing?  We have 9 outdoor cats that patrol that front yard like a highly trained security task force.  Almost daily they are bringing home chipmunks, moles, mice, birds, and baby rabbits.  But during this encounter, they were nowhere to be seen.  Had this been the middle of the day I could chalk it up to lazy cat nap time but this was 8am.  They are always around at that time.

I have seen wild turkeys often when I have been deer hunting.  They have often seen me.  They have amazing eyes and I have been seen up in my tree stand on more than one occasion.  How could we open both squeaky windows in the bathroom upstairs without them even giving us a look?  As if there mission was now accomplished, as soon as my wife took a few pictures with her phone they turned and walked back the way they came and were swallowed up by the thick underbrush of the woods.

My wife and I both couldn’t believe what we had just experienced.  Then my wife said something amazing that I had not thought of.  “Did you realize how many there were?  There were seven of them with two adults and five kids just like our family.”  My eyes must have bulged as I processed what she had just said.  To add yet another wrinkle to it, remember we were .77 cents away from having the exact amount needed for the land payment and I felt there was something special about the number 77.  When I researched it I found 7 often represents God and His sovereign hand.  What a beautiful gift God had given us. 
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THE MORNING AFTER WE SOLD THE PROPERTY WITH ALL THE TURKEYS GOD SENT THESE SEVEN PAST OUR FRONT DOOR.
​If the sun rises it’s because God tells it to.  If a bird flies it’s because God tells it to.  He is in control of all things.  When we stop looking at life like a bunch of random events and know that God is working in everything, we can have a greater appreciation of who God really is.  I am who I am because of God.  You are who you are because of God.  The things you will experience today are because God wants you to experience them. 

I don’t get things right often enough, but when I do God is right there showing me little glimpses of His approval.  He is working in your life too.  Do you see it?  Pray that your eyes will be opened so you can see Him working in your life more.  Pray that He will help you to hear His voice.  Pray that you will obey what He asks of you.               

Father we are weak.  Hear our cries for help.  Help us to be obedient.  Help us to glorify your name.  May we surrender everything to you and allow you to work through us.  May we always put you first and never comprise the truth.

In Jesus name,

Amen
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