I have a difficult job in leading the Renewal of America Movement and I’m putting in long problematic 18 and 20 hour days six days a week. Sometimes it can be frustrating and sometimes very rewarding. As with any major project there are always widely varying opinions on how best to achieve the goals, or even what those goals should be. Yesterday was a most difficult day in that regard, and I wasted much of it responding to critics and naysayers and those who think they see a better way.
Every day I receive e-mails and messages from people all over the nation and the world who tell me they are praying for me. It is very encouraging to receive them and it lifts my spirit considerably and greatly offsets the input of the naysayers.
This morning I got a text from a Godly Pastor friend in Ghana Africa. He and His church pray for me every day and though he is half way around the world, he is like a brother to me. His name is Pastor Daniel. He is about five feet nothing tall, blacker than midnight and his brilliant white teeth contrast beautifully as he constantly smiles that huge wonderful smile.
He is one of the most Spirit filled prayerful people I know and he loves God with all of his heart. He has an unmistakable deep baritone voice that is filled with optimism and my friend affectionately calls me “Pastor Willy”. He is coming to see me in October. I can’t wait for his visit. Last night he wrote:
Dear Pastor Willy,
We have prayed for you from Ghana. “When you know your purpose revealed in prayer by the Spirit and you become DILIGENT in fulfilling it, you allow nothing or no ONE to block your way of accomplishing it”. Proverbs 22:29. It’s all about God’s mercy and grace finding and trusting in a man. What do we live for? Him!
Prayerfully watch the people around you. They can be the air you breathe to either enhance or abort your convictions revealed by the Spirit in prayer.
Pastor Daniel . . .
Hmmm . . . “The people around me can be the air that I breathe”. Some folks are like a breath of fresh air, and some are like a smoggy day in Beijing. God made the air to be clean and refreshing, but mankind often pollutes. I suppose we should surround ourselves with Godly people and stay away from the polluters in order to remain refreshed and healthy.
I believe that the Holy Spirit has revealed to Pastor Daniel while in deep prayer in the bush of Ghana Africa that if God’s purpose for your life has been revealed to you while in deep prayer, then don’t allow anyone to block you from accomplishing it on His behalf. (And you might want to watch your back . . . )
I think one of the most difficult things in life is to understand your purpose. Do you know why God created you? God states that he has a wonderful purpose for each of us. Eph. 1:11 – In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will . . . If you earnestly pray and seek Him He will reveal the purpose that He had in mind for you when He created you.
Once He reveals it to you, go back to God once again in earnest prayer for confirmation which will be in the form of knowing deep peace and contentment.
Once God has spoken to you and affirmed, then take action, gather the troops, begin your task, and stay strong: Ezra 10:4 – Arise, for it is your task, and we are with you; be strong and do it. Always remember it is the King that you serve and not men. Col. 3:23” Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men . . .
So will you encounter a bed of roses? Ah-Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha – Not likely my friends; you will most surely be tested by fire. But don’t lose heart; the testing is good; it is transformational and allows for discernment of God’s will. Romans 12:2 – Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
A leader told a large group of his prison ministry volunteers that “God kills whiners!” I looked at my buddy sitting next to me and grinned and he looked back and did likewise. We thought our leader had lost it.
Undaunted he then used the example of the Jews wandering the desert. He boomed out: “After God got tired of the whining, He made them wander in the desert for forty years until He killed every last one of the whiners off one by one, and He refused to allow them into the Holy Land – only Joshua and Caleb, non-whiners, were allowed to enter”.
Geez not only did God kill all of the whiners, but he tortured them by making them wander in the hot desert for 40 long years.
Yikes! I want to make it clear that I’m not whining about naysayers or anything else. And I’m not gonna whine! As for me I’m just gonna put my head down and keep working with a big smile on my face. No whining from me . . .
Matt. 28:19
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
July 24, 2014 – Click here to listen