Withdraw and Pray To Receive God's Deposit for the Day!
WHAT DID MY LORD GOD SAY TO ME THIS MORNING?
My Daily Conversations With God
What a great day to be alive! What a great day to be waking up and seeking God first thing in the morning!
As I made my way to the prayer closet this morning, I couldn’t help but to notice how my timing has been later in this last week. At one point, the Lord was waking me up in the 4 a.m. hour, now I wake up to my alarm at 5 a.m., but I don’t jump right up. At first it was bothering me. I would feel like I was late to my appointment with God. But then the Holy Spirit reminded me that when I surrendered my life to Him, I gave Him permission to do shift changes. It took me a minute though to see it because I was letting my old perfectionist character rise up a tiny bit. See I was of the mind set that I need to maintain how I began, and the Holy Spirit said, you won’t always be IN THIS SPACE OR THIS PLACE!
To be honest with you all, I also have been feeling stalled a bit. And I know. You can’t go based on feelings. But I am just telling y’all like I told God this morning. I feel a bit stalled. I feel a bit tired. And that’s when the Holy Spirit encouraged me this morning with this:
Don’t get distracted or down when things aren’t SEEMINGLY moving.
You are STILL on assignment.
Consistency is absolutely necessary for My kingdom agenda.
Keep praying.
Keep being patient.
Keep on keeping on.
As I was listening and writing down what I heard the Holy Spirit tell me, I flipped open my Bible and landed in Luke chapter 5 for the Scriptural Surprise. And before I even read the scripture, there was a pull-out feature story on the left side of the page entitled: “When God Doesn’t Make Sense.” I read the story and got encouraged even more. Dr. Tony Evans told the story about Peter catching all the fish after getting instructions from Jesus to “Put out into deep water and let down your nets for a catch.” (Luke 5:4). What Jesus was asking Peter to do didn’t make sense, and Peter even told Jesus what he had already done to catch fish. But Dr. Evans shows in the story that there are two clues we will see in our lives when are in the vicinity of receiving something very special from God.
Clue #1: God is not allowing anything YOU DO to work.
Clue #2: God is asking you to do something that doesn’t make sense.
As I read that story, it really did encourage me because often times I will try to forge things to happen in my own strength or my own way and guess what? Nothing happens. The whole point is that Peter had to follow God’s specific instructions to see the reward of an over abundance of fish.
As I kept reading in Luke 5 and 6, there were two verses that stood out.
Yet he often withdrew to deserted places and prayed. Luke 5:16
During those days he went out to the mountain to pray and spent all night in prayer to God. Luke 6:12
Pray for those who mistreat you. Luke 6:28
What word do you see that I kept seeing too? PRAY! The Holy Spirit said it to me and then backed it up with His Word. As disciples, we are to be just like Jesus in attitude and actions. Jesus would often go off to a deserted place to pray. This morning, I felt like I was in that deserted place this morning in my prayer closet. I know that my consistency in getting to the deserted place is key to hearing God’s instructions. And my obedience to His instructions is key to receiving ALL that He has for me.
One final thought. As I kept reading in Luke 6 where it has the Beatitudes and it talks about loving your enemies and fruit bearing trees, I read this line in the study notes for Luke 6:43-45: You can identify people who follow God based on what they say and what they do. This is their fruit.
My prayer is that no matter how I feel or what is going on (or not going on), that I will keep praying and not just in the morning, but that I will be like Jesus and withdraw more often to pray.
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P.S. Be sure to press play above & listen to each episode as I always go deeper on the audio version.
YOUR ASSIGNMENTS
What did the Lord God say to you in your conversation with Him this morning?
How often do you withdraw from activity during your day, to pray?
REMINDER: Don’t forget to read the Scriptural Surprise 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.
Check out today’s Scriptural Surprise!
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My Conversations With God - Volume One is an e-book compilation of blogs written by Fon Strong James. This e-book allows you to have a collection of 24 blogs from the early days all in one place. It is the hope that you as the reader will be encouraged, inspired, and even prompted by the Holy Spirit. Dive into the this e-book to see the very beginning of this writing assignment given to the author by God, when He told her one morning during her prayer time to… “share our conversations.”