We Can Know Only In Part (19/5/06)

I continued reading this great book, How To Hear From God, by Joyce Meyer this evening, after dinner. I came to this inspiring chapter, We Can Know Only in Part and I started highlighting each point and sentences that spoke into my heart. Somehow, I had this feeling that I had to finish at least this one whole chapter before I do something else. So I managed to finish the whole chapter. I ended up highlighting almost every paragraphs. The following (Italics) were all that were spoke to me today.
There may be times when we just can't see through the darkness that seems to be closing in around us. It is in this times of endurance and patience that our faith is stretched, and we learn to trust God even when we can't hear His voice.
We can grow in our confidence level to the point where "knowing" is even better than "hearing"...... We may not know what to do, but it is sufficient to know the One who knows....... Knowing God is faithful and ever true to His promise, and that He has promised to be with us always, is comforting and keeps us stable until His time is right to speak to us more specifically (see 1 Cor. 1:9, Matthew 28:20).
These passages spoke to me again about the step I've taken to apply for the working visa a few weeks ago and also for the volunteer job in the nearby pharmacy. I believe this is what He is leading me to now and I somehow figured out to go for it by faith and to invest into this work and also to sacrifice some of my money into this investement. So far, I still haven't get any reply rom the pharmacy yet, since the last time I send my application in. But I truly believe that God will open up the way for me if this is His will.

Trust is needed in those times when, for whatever reason, we are not hearing from God as clearly as we would like.
Before we ehar from Him, we need to learn to rely on His character, ability, and strength during the times we are not hearing from Him. If we will trust Him during those times, He promises to make clear the way we should go........
But we must learn to trust all situations to the Lord, even when He seems to be silent....

Truth from God's written Word is an anchor to our souls when we become temporarily blinded by sudden storms in life. We can always hear from God through His written Word.... Even if His Word does not speak to our specific situation, it does speak about God's charcter, and it tells us He will always take care of us and provide a way for us.

IS GOD'S TRUTH YOUR SECURE ANCHOR?

HAVE YOU BEEN READING HIS WORDS DAILY?

Conclusion: He wants us to keep our eyes on Him, and follow Him one step at a time. Step by step. Step by step.

This passsage reminded me of what God has said and how He has answered my prayer at the altar call in Pwergen meeting through Brother Wilson. PTL!

God gives us direction, one step at a time..... by trusting Him with the first step. Understanding that His will for you is revealed a step at a time should build your confidence to do at least what you know already to do. After the first few steps, your faith will grow because you will realise there is always sure footing beneath each step He instructs you to take. [Wow! That's truly inspiring and glad for me to hear that. Hehe!]

Faith becomes great through experience. It develops as it is used...... Faith often requires action........ I had to be willing to invest what I had in order to have what God had planned for my future. [Woh...... This one speaks into my heart strongly!] ...... But we can't forget that God required a sacrifice of obedience from Abraham in order to receive that promise...... Even though we had taken step 1 in obedience, we still had to persevere....... We often see more clearly and have better understanding with hindsight than we do when we actually going through things........ As he usually does, the devil took advantage of our lack of experience in these areas and told us regularly that we had made a mistake and would surely make fools out of ourselves.

This last sentence revealed to me devil's work in my mind when I recalled back of my recent days when I felt truly intimidated and foolish (or regretted) to have done what the Lord has placed in my heart to apply for the volunteer job (including the working visa). Now that the Lord has revealed his lies, I should stand firm on what He has placed in my heart and not let it be shaken.

God usually builds slow and solid, not fast and fragile.

DON'T BE AFRAID OF MAKING A MISTAKE

I learned that even when we are in a place of obedience, we often have no way in the natural of knowing for sure whether we are tight or wrong........ We are not going to know for sure that what we are doing is the right thing until after we have done it and then look back to see if God was there to anoint out efforts.

I have discovered that if our heart is right, and we do the best we know to do when we hear from Him, God will redeem us and honour our steps of obedience. If we move in childlike trust to obey what we believe in our heart He has told us to do, even if that decision is wrong, God will take that mistake and work it out for our good.

God simply answered, "..... don't worry; if you miss Me, I will find you." Those words, tucked away in my heart, gave me courage to do what I believed He was telling me to do, and they have necouraged me to step out in faith many times since then.

If you want GOd's will in your life more than anything else, if you've done everything you know to do to hear from Him, then you have to take a chance, step out, and believe.

But God's plan unfolded step by step. Following God is like climbing a mountain. If GOd showed us how high the mountain really is that He wants us to climb, we might be afraid to take the stpe. We might argue that we're not ready, that we're not at all prepared to go all the way to the top. So He covers the top of the summit with a cloud, and all we can see is the step before us.

That first step looks manageable, so we take it. And then we take another step, and another, and another, until one day we find ourselves at the top of the mountain without even realizing where we were headed when we began. Then we are very glad we took the journey.

This picture truly showed me what and where God is bringing me through now. I shall stand firm in the Lord as He led me each day, fiathfully, in His arms of assurance.

You may think that you are not hearing from God because you don't see the whole picture, but trust that He is showing you all that you need for today. Do what is in front of you to do, and even if you are not hearing perfectly, God will honour your obedience and will complete His full plan for you.

In GOd's plan for us, we cannot skip steps that we don't like and move on to other ones. We cannot skip the har steps or the ones that require sacrifice. I repeat: Following God's plan for our life requires investment.

We must sacrifice self-will to have God's will; we must sacrifice our way to find His way.

Freely I received (these words o encouragement), freely I give. Hope this would be an encouragement to everyone who reads it. Do also take the challenge to read the book by yourself too. I believe it will belss you greatly. Make it a great investment to collect such a powerful books like this one. May God gives you His peace and joy as you seek Him with all your heart, with all your mind, and with all your soul.

1 Corinthian 2:9