POSITIONED FOR PURPOSE

I must say that this past month has included some eye opening experiences for me, and it gives me the opportunity to be transparent in ways that brings me discomfort as well as a surprising peace. With that being said, I will open up and share with you some of what has been going on, and it will explain why this post is later than usual.

First of all, I am a procrastinator by nature. I have had to overcome my natural responses by turning them over to God in prayer and asking Him to deliver me from my fleshly shortcomings. I have been doing well my friends, trying to stay ahead of the game with many aspects of this crazy thing called life. Like this blog for instance, it is programmed to publish every Wednesday at 9am and I have it scheduled at least 3 weeks in advance. Yay me! So far so good, right? Wrong!

I have discovered that delivering the Word of God is not at my convenience, but at His and His alone. I was reminded of the manna given to the Israelites during those 40 years in the wilderness (see Exodus 16:4). Ask for God’s provision and He will provide just enough; and I was getting ahead of myself and ahead of what He wanted me to say. 

Be careful when you call upon God to fill you with the Holy Spirit, because you will be prompted to do, say & write things that are beyond your control. But sometimes you will be told to silence yourself, be still, watch and wait. This brings me back to these eye opening experiences…

So, at the beginning of 2012 I diligently prayed the Jabez Prayer (see 1 Chronicles 4:10), seeking God’s Favor in the moves I was trying to make in life. Before I knew it, God had begun to show out as only He can. I was blessed to start work in a facility that caters to young adults and in one that services the mentally ill. In my prayers for something more meaningful and far reaching, God had positioned me for purpose.

When I say that I have never prayed so much on a job EVER! OMG!!! The facility with the young adults has presented me with challenges beyond any I have experienced working with the mentally ill, go figure! Consequently, my prayer life has so vastly improved that I have to shout right now! Hallelujah, Amen! For the past 18 months on this job, God has used me, favored me, protected me, humored me, tested me, angered me, forgiven me, loved me, fulfilled me, but most of all He has purposed me.

I realize that in all that I do and say, that I may be the only Bible that some people will ever read. They will judge all Christians by what they see in me. And I promise that with all the opposition that I face just showing up at work each day sometimes I just want to quit, because in all honestly I can hustle up some work; I do not have to endure the craziness that I have been experiencing. But I am reminded of Calvary, and I endure because they crucified Christ! I endure because I have not been released from this assignment; I endure because He has positioned me for purpose.

The stories I could tell, would fill a volume of novels. The enemy is busy, and spiritual warfare is alive and prevalent. It is sad when the evil that men do is favored by all. But I thank God that I am covered. I thank God that I am His, because at the end of the day all things work together for the good for those called according to His purpose (see Romans 8:28). Righteousness shall prevail, and God gets the final say and the last laugh. 

And I guess that is why I am so tickled right now because my post for today was scheduled to be Returning to Your First Love, which was supposed to be last week’s post. I have been having these AHA moments that are purely spiritual in nature. Last week I was in a conversation with someone about their belief system, which was based on the existence of a higher power, and them being a good person. But what of Jesus? Well this person does not do the church or the Bible thing. So I found myself witnessing to this person, telling them that Jesus is The Way, The Truth and the Life. Only to arrive at a job site and meet a lady who was making copies of her bible study for the week and it was about accepting Christ as Lord and Savior. Yep! John 14:6 was one of the first scriptures listed. So of course I had to write about it.

Now here I am today going against my scheduled post, because I was moved to testify about my journey, to be transparent and reveal more of myself in these weekly posts. Well, I met a young lady on the job. She is beautiful, intelligent, articulate, lively, and an atheist.  Her spiritual revelation was surprising because she has more compassion and intuition than any atheist I've ever met, but her reasoning was steeped in anger, resentment, and disappointment in people. She is a stickler for facts and proof, and the Bible is meaningless because you cannot prove to her that any of it is real. She likes tangibility.

I explained to this young lady that I understood where she is, having been there myself. But what I wanted her to take away from me was realizing that not everything in life is tangible, because how can you prove love? That is what God is to me, love; and a relationship with Him is the ultimate love affair. I also shared that the Bible is not about the how, but the Who. The Word of God is not about religion but relationship. My revelations moved her to tears, and once again I praise God for giving me purpose. Oh, and when I returned to the other job site the bible study lady had another packet for me, a focus on Exodus! And our conversation centered around the Creator, not His creations. The Holy Spirit is awesome!

So I have written all this to share with you that God has given each of us a purpose, and that the test you have today will be a testimony for His Glory tomorrow. So as I move forward in my purposes, I pray that I am able to touch and change lives wherever God leads me; and that as He continues to lead me, He covers me and blesses me that I may be a blessing to others.

Enjoy your day in HIM!

Scripture: But I have raised you up for this very purpose, that I might show you my power and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth. Exodus 9:16

Prayer: Father God, I thank you for answering my prayers. I thank you for the growth that you have initiated in me. I pray that you will forgive me for any sins I have committed and I thank you for covering me and protecting me from those that seek to destroy what you have given me to share. Please continue to bless me that I might be a blessing to others and fill me with the Holy Spirit so that it is your Word heard and not mine. I thank you and praise you for all that you have been, all that you are and all that you will be in my life and in the lives of those that I touch; and it is in the name of Jesus that I pray! Amen!

Read Exodus 16 to learn more about God's provision.