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We can count on the Lord to fulfill all of our petitions, as long as we pray according to his will. There is divine timing for everything. We often talk about how God said to stand still and see his salvation. It is like the children of Israel that I keep going back to, they were trapped, when God told them to stand still and see his salvation. But when the sea parted, they had something to do. They had to move forward.

If they had not moved when the God gave them the answer, they would have been overtaken by the enemy. They would not have seen God destroy their enemy.  But as soon as the water parted, they crossed on dry land. God not only made a way of escape, but he knew that their carts and wagons would get stuck easily in mud, so he made the seabed dry.

Psalm 20:5-6 We will rejoice in thy salvation, and in the name of our God we will set up our banners: the Lord fulfil all thy petitions. 6 Now know I that the Lord saveth his anointed; he will hear him from his holy heaven with the saving strength of his right hand.

God is there to save us out of our troubles. But often there are things we need to do. We need to be ready to move, when God says move. God sometimes will ask things of us that will make a huge impact on our future.

Think about the story of Elisha. The king of Syria had a servant named, Naaman. He had leprosy and he travelled a long distance to Elisha. But Elisha didn’t come out and anoint him with oil. He didn’t pray for hours over him. Elisha sent his servant to tell him to go and wash in the Jordan River, seven times.

2 Kgs 5:10-12 And Elisha sent a messenger unto him, saying, Go and wash in Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall come again to thee, and thou shalt be clean. 11 But Naaman was wroth, and went away, and said, Behold, I thought, He will surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of the Lord his God, and strike his hand over the place, and recover the leper. 12 Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? may I not wash in them, and be clean? So he turned and went away in a rage.

Sometimes, we get the answer we are seeking from God. But if it doesn’t come in the form we thought, we can get into our emotions and miss it. God was trying to remove some of his arrogance by making him humble himself and wash in the dirty river.

He almost missed his miracle because he didn’t want to wash in that river. Often God doesn’t ask great big things of us. He will ask small things. But he still expects our obedience.

2 Kgs 5:13-14 And his servants came near, and spake unto him, and said, My father, if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldest thou not have done it? how much rather then, when he saith to thee, Wash, and be clean? 14 Then went he down, and dipped himself seven times in Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God: and his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.

Naaman was excited and returned to Elisha to give him gifts. But Elisha refused and sent him on his way. What if Naaman had not listened to his servant? What if he had not dipped in the river? He would not have been made whole. Sometimes we have to set aside our ideas about how God will move and just stand still and let him move.

I love the point the servant makes to him, if he had asked something difficult for you to do, would you not do it? How many times do we do this to God? He leads us to do something, and we complain, because it doesn’t fit into our box of what we think he would ask of us.

Our faith walk is all about timing. Witnessing to the lost is all about timing, God’s timing. That is why we need to be led by the Spirit. God will sometimes tell us to wait. But when he says move, we need to not hesitate.

When going for a walk with my dog, Scout has been trained that when I say Hold, he will most of the time sit at my feet and wait.  All the time, he looks up at me to give the command. When I say Ok…go, he knows it means to run across the road to the other side. He never hesitates to run when I say OK..go. Although I have a harness and leash on him,  for his protection, it is easier when he is obedient.

God has control of our situations, too. But he expects us to Hold and wait on Him. He expects us to listen for his command of OK. We should be ready to run with whatever we have been given to do when God says Go. Scout never complains about me telling him OK…go. He never questioned why I decided to go at that particular moment. He is just obedient.

The body of Christ is in a hold pattern right now, the church is at a Red Sea moment. God is telling us to stand still and see his salvation. But soon it will be go time and we will have to run into the fields to harvest souls. God is in control, it doesn’t matter how scary things appear. He will protect his people from the enemy.

Psalm 20:7-8 Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the Lord our God. 8 They are brought down and fallen: but we are risen, and stand upright.

The enemy will be brought down, but we are risen and stand upright. Why are we standing upright? We are ready to run when the Lord says to move. It is important that we know his voice. We will only listen to his command and not the command of the enemy.

I Sam15:1-3 Samuel also said unto Saul, The Lord sent me to anoint thee to be king over his people, over Israel: now therefore hearken thou unto the voice of the words of the Lord. 2 Thus saith the Lord of hosts, I remember that which Amalek did to Israel, how he laid wait for him in the way, when he came up from Egypt. 3 Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass.

Saul took an army and went against Amalek. But he didn’t obey the word of the Lord. He saved the king and some of the animals. After God telling him that they were not to spare anything, not even the animals.

I Sam 15:9 But Saul and the people spared Agag, and the best of the sheep, and of the oxen, and of the fatlings, and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them: but every thing that was vile and refuse, that they destroyed utterly.

I Sam 15:22-24 And Samuel said, Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. 23 For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, he hath also rejected thee from being king. 24 And Saul said unto Samuel, I have sinned: for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord, and thy words: because I feared the people, and obeyed their voice.

When Samuel the prophet questioned King Saul, he said he didn’t destroy them because he feared the people. How many times do people today disobey God because they fear man above God. We need to pray and search ourselves to make sure that we are strong enough to stand before men and refuse to not put their opinion above God.

It was at that moment that he lost the anointing to be King. God ripped it from his hand. He sat in the seat for a long time after that, but the anointing was gone and he could not any longer operate the way God chose him too.

We too can lose our anointing if we allow people to stand in our way. We have to know that we hear God’s voice and most of all be obedient to His voice.  Samuel told Saul it is better to obey God than to sacrifice.

It is time for us to search our lives and ask, “Am I being obedient to the voice of God? Do I follow his word?”

I will leave you this with verse:

Psalm 128:1 Blessed is every one that feareth the Lord; that walketh in his ways.

Until next time,

Be Bold, Be Brave and Keep Your God Focus

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