You look at the sign and it reminds of danger, but you see the wonderful sea across the sand. It takes courage to step out across the sand and to reach the sea. There may be sinking sand but you may also reach the sea and feel that wonderful renewing that comes when you are in the presence of the Lord.
Lately I have just realised that I used to dream with clear detail and sometimes it took a while to re-centre myself back into this world when I woke up. But my life has been affected by dreams and it is perhaps only lately that I am accepting that God does use this medium to send me messages. I do not however throw away my use of logic, because I could also have a dream which is just the brain clearing itself for the day ahead so I have to use discernment.
We can only go places with God that we are prepared to go, to take risk. If God knows we will never step out for Him, why would He ever want to equip us with the power to change to do truly marvellous works of God.
For instance – I was exploring healing as this is a a gift that I have been exploring. Feeling the compassion and sadness when people are not feeling well and are sick and wanting them to be well is clearly what Jesus modelled in his life. From my viewpoint it seems that the people being healed;
- Always made that step to prompt him to act.
- Jesus always healed them completely without any compulsion to follow him.
- He told us we would have the authority to unleash the Holy Spirit as Jesus did, and more.
But unless we are able to step outside our comfort zones and engage rather than just preach to people in the street which I personally don’t think works, then God will never usually equip us with this power (I say usually because I will never limit what God will, or can do as that is dangerous!)
example;
I was out on the street eating a corn on the cob and just killing time observing people when I saw this man sat down with his wife and immediately a word came to me saying “Heal him, his stomach” – the previous day I had a message about a stomach and a man. Okay so I am not the best at randomly running up to people to pray for them, but I am learning.
“Okay God, if you want me to pray for him then they are going to have to make the first move as I am covered in this corn on the cob!” – you notice I tried to actually argue my way out of this prompt. How stupid does it sound arguing with the creator of the universe? Why wouldn’t I want to heal people? Well, that is clearly my old sinful self, trying to influence me. Well God heals and the only reason I tried to argue as this is new to me and I am still at the fear of failure stage. So I was there and I turned my back on this couple. A moment later the lady came over and asked: “excuse me do you know any quiet cafes we can go because my husband is not feeling well”. This confirms to me that God is at work. The couple were nowhere near me but came out of their way to ask me out of all the people in the street. So I tell them a nice cafe but ask is it his stomach and I ask could I pray for healing and they agree and so I pray for him and then very embarrassingly I wish them a blessed day and depart feeling like the Holy Spirit is running through my veins.
This is one of many encounters I am starting to have and many times I fail. I wish I could be more like Jesus, fearless for success, but I think that even though God may use me for healing that my real gift is seeing the unseen. I love observing life, people, my dreams are clear and intense and inform me of how I should act or how to solve problems. I have visual images during the day and night, I think in pictures and images, I love drawing, art, music (which can seem like colours winding through the air as I play the trumpet), composing new music and being in nature is just pure joy.
2 Kings 7:3-5 ESV
Now there were four men who were lepers at the entrance to the gate. And they said to one another, “Why are we sitting here until we die? If we say, ‘Let us enter the city,’ the famine is in the city, and we shall die there. And if we sit here, we die also. So now come, let us go over to the camp of the Syrians. If they spare our lives we shall live, and if they kill us we shall but die.” So they arose at twilight to go to the camp of the Syrians. But when they came to the edge of the camp of the Syrians, behold, there was no one there. For the Lord had made the army of the Syrians hear the sound of chariots and of horses, the sound of a great army, so that they said to one another, “Behold, the king of Israel has hired against us the kings of the Hittites and the kings of Egypt to come against us.” So they fled away in the twilight and abandoned their tents, their horses, and their donkeys, leaving the camp as it was, and fled for their lives.
This story really hit home to me that even if you think you are on your last legs, or there is not much health in you, God can use you to do miraculous things, wondrous things, if only we would step out. These lepers thought they were going to their deaths and yet they still stepped out and tried to do something to better themselves, to gain some food as they were previously begging at the gate.
Truly they would have been treated ill at best, if the army hadn’t of ran in terror from the supernatural sounds of an army God had sent. The lepers ended up dining in abundance, even if they didn’t get supernaturally healed.
Elisha prophesied, he took a step of faith.
The lepers were willing to do something to better themselves.
God acted.
We too can take that step of faith and do something to bring heaven to earth here and now, we only have to stop sitting by the gate and get up and do that thing.
Philippians 4:19
19 And my God will meet all your needs according
to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.
So may God meet your needs,
as you will step out in the faith of Jesus Christ.
Amen
365 Exhortations 