MY CONVERSATIONS WITH GOD

Welcome to the OABG Daily Blog and Podcast!

Today the Holy Spirit and I just talked. It started off with mostly me talking and thanking Him. Did you know that when you wake up thanking the Lord for a few things, it can change the entire atmosphere? And the most important atmosphere is the one in your head. I’m talking about your mind. If you wake up thinking vs thanking, your whole day can be thrown off.

I learned this strategy recently. When you open your eyes, thank God for at least 7 things that happened the previous day. Writing them down will document it in such a way that you can always look back and see the hand of God moving in your life, but saying them out loud (as you’re writing them down) immediately puts you in the right mindset. Psalm 100:4 says: “Enter into HIS gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise; be thankful unto him, and bless his name.” So as you are waking up and writing down the 7 things you are thankful for, that’s your ticket into the Lord’s gates. And wouldn’t you rather be entering HIS gates and HIS courts verses anything else? Exactly!

This morning the Holy Spirit told me to KEEP GOING! It was two words and sometimes that’s all it takes when He has given you specific instructions. Just keep going. It’s encouraging and instructional all at the same time.

So I did just that, especially with reading our Scriptural Bible Study. I hope you read Acts 26 yesterday because today like Paul, we are sailing right on into Acts 27. And it’s no coincidence that this chapter lines right up with what God said: Keep Going!

Here in this chapter of Acts, we find Paul is being shipped off to Rome. We know that Paul had appealed to Caesar and in chapter 26 Paul had again given his account to King Agrippa and he too didn’t find anything wrong, but because Paul had appealed to Caesar, he was been sent on to Rome.

While on the long journey, Paul tried to give them some advice because he could see that the voyage was headed for disaster (verse 10), but the centurion ignored Paul and relied on the professional (i.e. the captain of the ship). I love how Dr. Evans says it in the study notes: They were listening to the professional rather than the man with a connection to God. How many times do we rely on a professional rather than the voice of God?

So fast forward on this journey and things are getting a bit cray cray on the ship and they had been without food and the ship was not going in the direction that the professional thought. A storm had come and was tossing the ship to and fro (I don’t know what that really means but it felt right to say). LOL! So they were trying to throw stuff overboard and doing everything they knew professionally to do. But nothing was working. And that’s when Paul spoke up.

He said y’all should have listened to me when I said not to sail from Crete. Now I urge you to take courage, because there will be no loss of any of your lives, but only the ship. For last night an angel of the God I belong to and serve stood by me and said, “Don’t be afraid, Paul, It is NECESSARY FOR YOU TO APPEAR BEFORE CAESAR. And indeed, God has graciously given you all those who are sailing with you. So take courage men because I believe God that it will be just the way it was told to me.” (verses 22-25).

This is a prime example. You can be attached to a prisoner, but when said prisoner is in the perfect will of God, you will be saved too when trouble comes. God had a mission for Paul and he would not die before that mission was completed, nor would the people WITH HIM! Who ya wit? Okay, let me say it right. Who are you with? And can their obedience to God save you because you’re attached to them?

Now at this point, they are listening to Paul, and even after Paul assured them, some nights still passed and things hadn’t changed. The sailors started to panic and fear rose up. It says in verse 29 they thought they would hit some rocks so they dropped four anchors from the stern and prayed for daylight to come. Some sailors even tried to escape the ship pretending they were going to put out anchors from the bow. Paul let them know, unless you stay IN THE SHIP, you cannot be saved.

When daylight was upon them, Paul said, y’all need to eat something. Take and eat this food because this is for your survival. Then Paul took some of the bread, gave thanks to God in the presence of all of them and after he broke it, he began to eat. They were all encouraged and took food themselves. By thanking God in the midst of all this chaos, Paul was showing that God is still good no matter what is going on. And because Paul gave thanks to God in front of everybody regardless of the fact that he was a prisoner, regardless of the fact that the ship was tossing and turning, regardless of all the panic; he was serving as a witness to those who were watching him. Paul was showing that no matter what difficulties arise, God is worthy of our trust.

We too can have courage in life’s storms to keep going because God is faithful to keep his promises.

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Be sure to press play above or listen on the Anchor app to each episode as I always go deeper on audio.

YOUR ASSIGNMENTS

1. What did the Lord God say to you in your conversation with Him this morning?

2. What are 7 things you are thankful for in your life right now?

3. Will you trust God even when circumstances are difficult and life is tossing you to and fro?

   REMINDER: Don’t forget to read the Scriptural Bible Study below and see what the Lord says to you about it.

SALVATION PRAYER

If you’re not a believer and have a desire to be, openly confess and declare with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead (Romans 10:9). When you pray that prayer out loud, you are saved. Get connected with a good, bible-based church in your community and start having a conversation through prayer with God every day. And let me be the first to welcome you to your new life with Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. YAAAAY!!!!! You made the best decision you could ever make! Feel free to email me at info@onassignmentbyGod.com and let me know about your newfound life or if you need prayer for anything.

Psssst! If you enjoyed today’s blog, become a subscriber! I want to help you get connected to me via email on a daily basis so you won’t miss a day of My Conversations With God. Get the blog sent to your inbox daily by signing up here!! Trust me, God will speak to you too! Need to email me? I can be reached at info@onassignmentbyGod.com