I’ve always been a fan/not fan of the “two by four” prayer – the prayer I am afraid to pray yet feel compelled to pray if I am to be sure of what I think God is telling me. I am telling God, PLEASE, hit me right between the eyes – help me to discern what it is that your will is for me. Of course, I am a huge fan of walking in the will of God, not so much a fan of being out of control or dealing with the unknown. Despite not being a fan of the lack of control and fear factors, one of the many jewels that the Lord has planted in my heart is that as a follower of Christ, I should just settle in to being comfortably uncomfortable. If He is to be faithful to me in completing the good works He has started in me, there is going to be refinement. And refinement, well, it is defined as a natural resource that is almost in a usable form, but which is more useful in its pure form.
So, It was April fools weekend and a precious, trusted friend had just shared a word with me from the Holy Spirit. She didn’t want to tell me at first, but she felt it was persistent on her heart. She told me ” It is time to go, it’s time to put your house on the market and go into a land that I will show you.” After almost a year of praying and seeking God’s wisdom and clarity about packing up our entire lives and moving half-way across the country, His “wait” had become, “Go.”
Just like that.
I went home and shared her words with my husband, giddy and terrified. We prayed together and asked, Lord, we need another sign, just to be sure. And the next day, another friend (who didn’t know the first friend) told us basically the same thing I had heard the day before. “It’s time to go.” All of a sudden, it was all becoming very real, very fast and again, we asked God, “Lord, just one more word, to be sure we are walking in your will.” And that brings me to this sermon by Brady Boyd. As we sat in church mere hours after we had received word from our second friend, we listened to his words and we felt the unmistakable nudge of the Holy Spirit, telling us, yes, it’s time, and this IS my will for you. You will never be alone, I will be with you every step of the way. Trust me.
If ever you doubted that God wants to draw near to you, that He wants to be a part of your life and to bless it, just take the next 30 minutes and listen and I challenge you to pray the same three words that Pastor Boyd talks about. You’ll have to watch til the end to find out, but I promise, it’s worth it.
New Mercies 