A Praise Report!!!!!

[VickiV]

Does anyone have time for a praise report????? Warning...this may be a little lengthy since as a woman I tend to have to relate every single little detail....

PART 1
Here goes......Had written this to a couple of Christian female friends last night...had thought about posting here, but didn't.

How does one know the Will of the Lord ???? Is there any sure way of knowing?

Sometimes, I think, "I just need patience. I need to sit back and wait on the Lord to show me which path to take." And I tell the Lord that I will do just that. And I can look back in my life and say, "Yep, I definitely got in front of the Lord on that one...and Yep, I definitely got in front of the Lord on that one, too."

I certainly don't want to get in front of Him.....like Sarah & Abraham did when they knew the Lord had promised them a son and...er....well time was moving on, and so Sarah had the great idea of giving Abraham her maid to impregnate and then that caused a whole host of problems that has generated strife for thousands of years (not to mention the upset in Sarah's own household). And then Rebecca did the same thing. She knew that the Lord had promised Issac's blessing to Jacob.....but when she thought Issac was about to die, she figured she better get the blessing for Jacob done. Again, she got in front of the Lord, not only causing bitter strife between the brothers, and undoubtedly mistrust with her husband (who continued for another 20 years or so) but she didn't get to see her favorite son for about 14 years and then the decendents of Jacob and Essau have been warring against each other ever since.

This morning, upon waking and stumbling out to grab a cup of coffee, the remembrance of "casting of lots" just popped into my mind. I wasn't thinking of anything at the time, other than the fact that I had slept rather late and that David had cooked breakfast and it was smelling really, really good and that I needed a cup of coffee.... And there it was, out of the blue.....

Got the Bible, and Strong's Concordance out to do a quickie search on "lots." Seems that this was something used quite often to make decisions, and it appears that it was something the Lord approved of. The disciples even used this method to chose Judas' replacement......

In fact, I couldn't really find anywhere where this practice was regarded negatively except where the soldiers cast lots to decide which one would get Jesus' robe.....and that is totally understandable.

So.....after all this I'm wondering again. Consider the example of the disciples using lots to chose Matthias......couldn't the Holy Spirit have just put a little tongue of flame above his head or something else? Guess not....

I've often said that I wish the Lord would put up a billboard with flashing neon lights and wording that says something to the effect of; "Vicki, this is what I want you to do." Course, that's totally ridiculous. It isn't going to happen. Should one "cast lots" to make those kind of diverging path type decisions? And if so, do you go 2 out of 3, just to make sure???????

Any thoughts on this subject??????

Go on to Part 2 ... the really GOOD stuff is coming

[VickiV]

Re: A Praise Report!!!!! PT 2

You wouldn't believe it!!!

Okay......earlier in the week (Wednesday, Thursday one of those days) I was in quiet time with the Lord and although I wasn't making inquiry on what church we should attend, suddenly this clear thought says, "You need to go back to the First Baptist."

Well, we quit going sometime early last year, maybe Aprilish. We attended Grace Fellowship (Baptist), Christ Fellowship (Independent) and Trinity International (pentalcostal-type)....Didn't ever feel like home, any of them. Eventually quit going all together since we had our toddler grandchildren to contend with.....got sick of trying new churches and just opted to listening to TV services......anything we could find on Sundays (Stanley, Hagee, Jeremiah, etc)....love `em all but NOT the same as fellowshipping, ya know?


(Need to explain at this point that the reason we left "our" church to begin with is that our pastor left about 3 years ago and there has been no permanent man hired....anyway, it's been a big shakeup there, monies were being used in areas that weren't exactly for the Lord-in our opinion, the administration is doing their own thing, firing whom they want and the Board that's supossed to be in charge is in name only with the AP who is a CPA and not a pastor at all running all and everyone answers to him, etc......We both said we couldn't attend a church where we couldn't feel confident that the Lord's gifts and tithes were being used correctly and to His benefit. Sometime late last year (Nov 2005) they hired an interim pastor from Ft. Lauderdale. Everyone was saying how good he was, that we should come back, etc., and our answer was always the same about why we would never return...blah, blah, blah.)

So, I'm really surprised when the Lord says to go back.

I argued with him, cited the fact that we couldn't give tithes there due to misuse of funds, etc., and that His Word says to give the tithes to "those that teach you," which would be our church.

But, He says "Go."

I baulk and then He says that what is keeping me away now is "pride." I examine myself and sure enough, it is pride.......because we've both said over & over again to all who called, our friends, including some pastorial staff we are long-time friends with, that we'll NEVER be able to go back.

Okay, so I get real humble and say I will go back. I tell David....he says he's been getting the same word.

Got to thinking yesterday that maybe I was just imagining that the clear thought was from the Lord, that it really wasn't and that I was just trying to make myself believe that He really does talk to me. And I said to David last night, "Do you really think we should go back?" And he says "Yes." (At this point, I still have my doubts, but David is agreed and I think, well, if we're late tomorrow, we can probably "save face" by not seeing anyone we know. You know---big church. Lots of people we don't know. We'll sit in the back. It'll be okay.)

So we go this morning. We aren't late enough, even though the music has already begun. My aunt Alice (who has been a greeter forever) was totally surprised and pleased as punch to see us this morning and we ran into our associate pastor-friend, Ben and wife Gloria (who run the Christian Care Center) right off. (David & I have both worked there over the years doing counseling, etc., we socialize with them.) They took us into the balcony with them (we've always sat down front, right side) and you wouldn't believe the subject of the sermon today!

Sat down, and Gloria had the bulletin open showing me the note-sheet which read "How do you know when it is God telling you to do something?" (The scripture was 1st Samuel 3)

Can you believe that??? WoW!!!! All four of us were awe-struck sitting there in the pew (cuz I'd emailed her last night, too, about my dilimna). So if I had any doubts before, (which I did) I know for certain NOW that it definitely was the Lord telling me to return to "our" church......and what really excites me is that what I thought was Him, really was/is Him! CONFIRMED!! (The new interim pastor is wonderful.......and even though their abuse of funds hasn't changed, we resolved that problem by designating our offering directly to the Christian Care Center, as we have done in the past.)

I just absolutely HAD to share this with you!!

[Guest]

Re: A Praise Report!!!!!

Vickie...thank you so much for sharing!! That really is awesome! I am with you as far as wanting God to hit me with a stick to tell me what His will is for me, but I know He doesn't work that way...But it is wonderful to see the ways He does work!!!!

[Guest]

Re: A Praise Report!!!!!

Vicki,

Thank you so much for sharing. That's really cool!

I, like you, ask for billboards all the time. God knows me, He made me. I'm soooo ADD. He knows how to get my attention.

Thanks again for sharing! Praise God! \o/

In His care,
Tammy