Pam Padgett - teacher
1
Thessalonians 4:11 And that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business,
and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you; 12 That ye may walk
honestly toward them that are without, and that ye may have lack of nothing.
One of the ways that we can study to be quiet is to pay attention to what we allow our minds to dwell on. Many things come to our minds that unnecessarily disturb us, or are futile, or may pull us in the wrong way. A few examples are:
> Thoughts of what may happen in the future, possibly bringing fears or prompting us to try to make plans based on what may happen, not led by the Holy Spirit.
> Thoughts of past sins or mistakes, bringing guilt and condemnation. (If we confess our sins (to God), he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. .. 1 John 1:9)
> Cares and concerns may come and we try to work these out by our own thinking instead of turning to God and depending on HIM for help.
> Fears may come, consuming our minds and sometimes almost paralyzing us.
> We may find ourselves thinking on imaginary conversations, what we might share with someone given an opportunity, instead of depending God to bring to our minds what to speak if that time comes.
Because we have the Holy Spirit in us, we have power through God to direct our minds. We can deal with these things in spiritual ways. We don't have to allow our minds to dwell on things that take us in a wrong direction, nor to race from one thing to another.
But it takes effort and diligence to do this, to study to be quiet.
study:
devote time and attention to
apply oneself to
prepare oneself
make an effort to achieve
painstaking application
While considering that we are to study to be quiet, I considered the following for myself:
-Have I taken each of my cares, concerns, fears,
plans to God … not lightly … but seeking HIS help and to know HIS will with my
whole-heart, and to go in the way I'm shown?
-Am I dealing with what is set before me today? (Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof .. Matt. 6:34)
-What has God spoken to me? (It is important to keep these things before me)
-Think on what God has done and thank Him for what He has done in my life
These
things help me live in peace and hear what God would speak to me and to be led
by the Holy Spirit.
Comments by Joan Boney
As I read the above and examined myself, I realized how my concerns are not about today. I am fine today. I have plenty of food today. I have clothing today. I have no need at all today.
My fear is of tomorrow ... of being drawn in again to the life of that woman who is not born again and calls to get me to go to lunch with her ...
So after I read Pam's exhortation, I prayed again about this woman.
And which of us are not subject to imaginary conversations ... what they will say ... what we will say ... Only that which God would say matters and usually we do not know that ahead of time. We must stop and turn to God, committing our future way to HIM and resting in HIM and trusting HIM to put into our mouth what to say when/if we are with unbelievers. This is our work. To trust in HIM and not in ourselves. Keeping in mind that God is in charge of both us and them. I find it to be a continual work.
This dream God gave Pam shows God in charge. As God is in charge of the boundaries of the water on the beach where the water has "rules" and can only come up to a set point on the beach, God is in charge of them, even of the unbeliever.
Here is the dream God gave Pam to show this: I was in a rather small army and we were about to be attacked by a much larger army. We were led to go into a room on an upper floor of a building. We knew the enemy would come there and that the battle would be in this room. We didn’t have weapons such as guns; we were given forks. There was a table and chairs in the room. Although I thought about turning the table on its side to use as a type of shield, other people had already started doing that. There was a closet near the door through which the enemy would enter. I took a fork and went into the closet, leaving the door partially opened. Then the enemy started coming through the door. I reached out of the closet, grabbed an enemy soldier, and stabbed the soldier several times with my fork. When that soldier fell, I reached and grabbed another soldier.
After having done this several times, the enemy saw what I was doing and three of them came to kill me. It looked totally hopeless for me. But then, suddenly, the fighting stopped.
I asked others in the army I was in why the fighting stopped and was told that it was because I was being attacked. There was a rule that if a soldier was already injured, they could not be attacked. At first I wondered how this pertained to me, but then saw a small cut on my left arm. I don’t think I was even aware of this during the battle, and it certainly hadn’t stopped me from killing several of the enemy. But, evidently, this was seen as a serious offense by those in charge. So the fighting had been stopped and the enemy army was held responsible for this. (I was concerned that I had stabbed each enemy soldier several times and wondered if this was going against the rules as well. However, I was told that this was ok since I stabbed the soldier multiple times in the same attack … I hadn’t set out to attack someone who was already wounded.)
We thought that the fighting would now resume. But as we waited in the room for the enemy to return, we noticed through the window that the enemy troops were marching out of the city. The battle was over. I turned and told those in the room that this was God’s doing (that we weren’t destroyed by the enemy and that the battle was over), and the others agreed.
====
No matter how it appears, God is in charge ... we must keep our faith and our focus on that. And our weapons of warfare are not as the weapons of this world. God arms us as HE wills.
Comments by Joan Boney
As I read the above and examined myself, I realized how my concerns are not about today. I am fine today. I have plenty of food today. I have clothing today. I have no need at all today.
My fear is of tomorrow ... of being drawn in again to the life of that woman who is not born again and calls to get me to go to lunch with her ...
So after I read Pam's exhortation, I prayed again about this woman.
And which of us are not subject to imaginary conversations ... what they will say ... what we will say ... Only that which God would say matters and usually we do not know that ahead of time. We must stop and turn to God, committing our future way to HIM and resting in HIM and trusting HIM to put into our mouth what to say when/if we are with unbelievers. This is our work. To trust in HIM and not in ourselves. Keeping in mind that God is in charge of both us and them. I find it to be a continual work.
This dream God gave Pam shows God in charge. As God is in charge of the boundaries of the water on the beach where the water has "rules" and can only come up to a set point on the beach, God is in charge of them, even of the unbeliever.
Here is the dream God gave Pam to show this: I was in a rather small army and we were about to be attacked by a much larger army. We were led to go into a room on an upper floor of a building. We knew the enemy would come there and that the battle would be in this room. We didn’t have weapons such as guns; we were given forks. There was a table and chairs in the room. Although I thought about turning the table on its side to use as a type of shield, other people had already started doing that. There was a closet near the door through which the enemy would enter. I took a fork and went into the closet, leaving the door partially opened. Then the enemy started coming through the door. I reached out of the closet, grabbed an enemy soldier, and stabbed the soldier several times with my fork. When that soldier fell, I reached and grabbed another soldier.
After having done this several times, the enemy saw what I was doing and three of them came to kill me. It looked totally hopeless for me. But then, suddenly, the fighting stopped.
I asked others in the army I was in why the fighting stopped and was told that it was because I was being attacked. There was a rule that if a soldier was already injured, they could not be attacked. At first I wondered how this pertained to me, but then saw a small cut on my left arm. I don’t think I was even aware of this during the battle, and it certainly hadn’t stopped me from killing several of the enemy. But, evidently, this was seen as a serious offense by those in charge. So the fighting had been stopped and the enemy army was held responsible for this. (I was concerned that I had stabbed each enemy soldier several times and wondered if this was going against the rules as well. However, I was told that this was ok since I stabbed the soldier multiple times in the same attack … I hadn’t set out to attack someone who was already wounded.)
We thought that the fighting would now resume. But as we waited in the room for the enemy to return, we noticed through the window that the enemy troops were marching out of the city. The battle was over. I turned and told those in the room that this was God’s doing (that we weren’t destroyed by the enemy and that the battle was over), and the others agreed.
====
No matter how it appears, God is in charge ... we must keep our faith and our focus on that. And our weapons of warfare are not as the weapons of this world. God arms us as HE wills.