Who Moves Who?

  Last week I was painting the outside of a house on the other side of the lake, and I was praying while I painted, when the LORD asked, "Why are you always trying to move Me?  Did it ever occur to you that I am trying to move you?"  Then a gust of wind came at that moment...I was three levels up on scaffolding at the time.  :)  I had just read that God rides the wind.  Then the LORD said, "Pay attention."  
     For any of you that know me well, you know that I don't pay attention.  I am always in my "own little world".  But I began to meditate on what God said, and I began to pray, "LORD, teach me to pay attention and to understand what it is that You want me to do."   Now you already know that the LORD had already revealed to me that He is at the "head of the column of the enemy army" (Joel 2).  That changed my life.  I then began to think about everything that happened, "LORD, what is Your purpose with this?"  So my prayers changed.  I no longer went straight to, "LORD, heal this person or set them free," instead I would start my prayers with, "LORD, open his heart to Your Spirit.  LORD, if there is anything in his life that opposes You, I ask that You would reveal this to him.  And LORD, send a spirit of conviction and a spirit of repentence into his heart that he may turn and live."   So I was already heading in this direction, but now I began to meditate on every little thing that happens.
     Last year I listened to a teaching series by John Bevere.  In it he said that God pulled him over one day (he was driving down a highway at the time) and said, "Did I not tell you to pray without ceasing?"  John said, "Yes."  God then asked, "Is this a one way conversation or two?"  John said, "Two."  Then God said, "If I want you to pray without ceasing, does it not tell you that I want to communicate with you all the time?"  Now meditate on that one for a while.  Then my mind went to the book THE HARBINGER.  It was fascinating the lengths God went to to get His message across.  He is into minute details.  That book blew me away.  Then my mind went to Psalm 139 where it says that if you could number the thoughts that God thinks about each one of us everyday, it would be more than the sand by the seashore.  Wow!  He thinks about me that much?  If that is true, then it goes to reason that He has plans for us, plans to prosper and not to harm, plans to give us hope and a future, and He is continually trying to move us toward those plans.  We just don't realize that each obstacle, each person who opposes us, each "no", each closed door, each broken plan, each....the list goes on forever.  Our God loves us and He is trying to move us toward Himself all the time.  Wow!  All we have to do is pay attention, fix our eyes on Him (get our eyes off of the problem), guard our heart (make sure our thoughts line up with His), and in everything give thanks. 
     So who is moving who?  I don't think I want to try to move the "hand of God" any longer.  I want to join Him in what He is doing.  I want to submit my will to His.  I want to rejoice in every minute detail of my life because I know that my God is orchestrating something wonderful...even if it doesn't feel that way at the time. 
     Blessings to you, my friends.  May you, too, choose to be moved by the mighty hand of our God, and may you find joy in the process.

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