New Paradigms

Henry Blackaby writes, “You cannot go with God and stay where you are.” I love that statement! If you walk with the Lord every day, it is impossible to be the same person. The Lord will teach us and mold us into a person of righteousness that brings glory to Him.

We are working in 2 locations this weekend. Both crews started off the weekend with bumpy rides as we had to move a few times before we had everybody and everything set. There was grass to mow, electrical outlets to install and numerous other small hurdles to over come to make everyone happy. We complied with a smile and no crumbling!

A few years ago, I would have been very angry. Imagine taking down and setting up almost your entire operation not once or twice, but 3 times. Short of running our cables, that’s what we had to do on our end. The other crew would work to span a a drainage ditch filled with water and other challenges that could easily try your soul.

I have found it does no good to be angry in almost any situation, generally all it does it put people off or make the situation worse. Cool heads and calm hearts will always win over anger. How do you react when things don’t go your way? Does it glorify our Lord or the world?

Blessings

New Paradigms
TGIF Today God Is First Volume 2 by Os Hillman

“Yes, he has hidden himself among the baggage” (1 Sam. 10:22).

If you want to experience something you’ve never done, you must do something you’ve never done. In his book Experiencing God: Knowing and Doing His Will, Henry Blackaby writes, “You cannot go with God and stay where you are.”

God often has to radically change us if we are going to fulfill His purposes in our lives. Saul was about to be anointed by Samuel as the first king of Israel. Samuel said to Saul, “The Spirit of the Lord will come upon you in power, and you will prophesy with them; and you will be changed into a different person” (1 Sam. 10:6). Up to this point, Saul had never prophesied or led a group of people. He had also never had to be accountable to a prophet and to God for his every action.

Saul took a big step of faith right away and prophesied with the prophets just as Samuel said he would. How exciting that must have been. Yet, when Samuel called the entire nation of Israel together to announce him as Israel’s first king in history, Saul was nowhere to be found. This part of the story is humorous. Excitement is in the air, but when they call Saul’s name, he doesn’t even come forward. So the people “inquired further of the Lord, ‘Has the man come here yet?’ And the Lord said, ‘Yes, he has hidden himself among the baggage'” (1 Sam. 10:22).

I recall when God began moving me from a career in advertising to a new ministry to men and women in the workplace that involved writing and public speaking. Neither of these were my particular forté. I was forced to do something I had never done.

The story of King Saul should be an encouragement to us all. God continues to pick the foolish things of this world to confound the wise. Your greatest setback can be thinking that there’s no way that God can use “little me.” However, the reality is that He can and will, if we respond to the new places He takes us.