Joan Boney ... apostle/prophet
The way of this world is to make things happen.
God's way for us is to commit our way to HIM in prayer and to wait until HE shows us before we do anything.
Isaiah 40 ... 31 But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings as eagles;
they shall run, and not be weary;
and they shall walk, and not faint.
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We pray and wait ... and then when the way is before us we go that way quickly, without hesitation, for hesitation opens doors for fear.
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Examples:
In 1980, I was on radio in Oklahoma City (USA). I wanted to go into the town and have meeting for radio audience. A woman from our church group was a very fine singer and she had traveled with me to other cities and we had worked together so I asked her to go to Oklahoma City with me. She hesitated and said, "Let's wait until a man can go with us." But I had the way then. I didn't wait. I went on to Oklahoma City and met with church radio audience.
Deut. 1 ... It is a good land which the Lord our God doth give us.
... Dread not, neither be afraid of them. 30 The Lord your God which goeth before you, he shall fight for you, according to all that he did for you in Egypt before your eyes; 31 And in the wilderness, where thou hast seen how that the Lord thy God bare thee, as a man doth bear his son, in all the way that ye went, until ye came into this place.
I saw what God did for HIS people in Egypt, how HE went before them and was with them. I didn't have to be in Egypt to see this. I saw it by reading the Bible.
I knew God assigned me this work and HE would go before me as HE went before the people in Egypt, in the wilderness.
God goes before us in the wilderness of this present world.
God gives us favor and power as we go forward in HIS way.
I went immediately without waiting.
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It is important to wait until you see the way ...
It is important to go without hesitation when you see the way ...
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Comments by Pam Padgett
Going when we are shown by God the way to go reminds me of something that happened years ago. I worked for a small software development company. The technical lead came to me and said that the company was having a lot of financial problems and that layoffs were likely. He wanted to warn me that I would probably be the first laid off since I had the least programming experience.
I began praying, asking God what to do and telling God how scared I was about looking for another job because interviews were very hard for me.
Then one day something was left at my apartment showing classes about various subject matters being taught by people in the community. My attention was drawn to a class in how to interview. I immediately looked away and tried to ignore this, being afraid even of a class about interviews.
But when I prayed about my job situation, I kept being reminded of this class. I told God how scared I was to take this class, but that I thought HE was leading me to do this, so I would try to do it. I signed up for the 2-session class.
During the first session we each told what kind of jobs we were looking for. After the instructor taught a while, we started practicing answering typical interview questions. This was very difficult for me and I didn't want to go back to the second session. But each time I prayed I heard from the Holy Spirit to go to the second session.
Fears came again as I drove to the place where the class was being held and I didn't want to get out of the car. Again I told God how frightened I was, and was given a thought I believed was from the Holy Spirit to not fear and go to the class. I told God I believed HE was leading me to do this so I would try to go.
Surprisingly, as I waited in the classroom for the class to begin the instructor came over to tell me that FedEx was hiring entry-level programmers. She gave me contact information for the person at FedEx who was handling this. And I found that the second class, itself, was much easier and even helpful, not at all as hard as the first class had been for me.
I contacted the person at FedEx and before long I was invited for an interview and then offered a job. I worked there twenty-three years until I retired.
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Another example happened recently when two very large limbs broke from a tree in my yard. The limbs covered much of my front yard and I didn't know how to even start dealing with the matter, and prayed. Later that evening I was planning to watch a golf tournament as I had watched, and very much enjoyed, the evening before.
But what was in my heart was to go start cutting off the small side limbs from the main limbs that had broken off.
There was also a thought, however, that I couldn't do much with the mess of the broken limbs and that I could just enjoy golf like the evening before.
But what had been put in my heart by God was very much like an eagle catching a current of air (as Joan described above), this current taking me to deal with the limbs. So I chose to go out and start dealing with the limbs.
The temperatures had cooled and it was very pleasant to be outside. I started cutting off the small side limbs and it was clear to make a pile of tinder wood that could be used to start fires in the fireplace during the winter, and another pile of of the leafy parts of the limbs.
After the small side limbs were cleaned from the main large limbs, I asked God what to do with the large pile of leafy limbs. There were far more than would fit in my garbage can. Then I "saw" to get garbage bags. The leafy limbs had not dried out so were very pliable and did not easily scratch me as I stuffed them into bags. As I was finished dealing with this, I "saw" to use a small wagon to easily move the small tinder firewood.
Within 1-1/2 hours all that was left in the yard were the large limbs, cleaned and ready to be cut with an electric saw the following day. Taking each step I was shown to take, I was able to deal with what I didn't know how to handle. And I very much enjoyed doing this!
It stood out to me how important it was to have taken care of this when it was put in my heart by God to do it and to not ignore it by seeking after what had been enjoyable the night before (watching golf).
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There are often excuses or fears that come to us that would keep us from
going in the way God leads us. But when God leads us, that is the way
of life for us ... the way that will work and that is prepared for us.