“FAITH!”

 Exuding “FAITH”, not only in HIS PROVIDENCE, but in HIS TIMING, can he a lesson that is difficult to experience!!!

HEAVENLY FATHER, cause me to so strongly desire to HEAR from YOU that I will DO WHATEVER IT TAKES, including SLOWING DOWN, to HEAR from YOU!!!

From May, 2016

Romans 14:23                    (ESV)

"But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats, because the eating is not from faith. FOR WHATEVER DOES NOT PROCEED FROM "FAITH" IS SIN."

Until mid-May 2012 my life was lived at a frenetic pace that hardly left time for any quality family time, and for CERTAIN not enough time with GOD or HIS WORD!  That is when I began to develop my WORD RECALL through writing about 2 Chronicles 7:14 over the period of a week or so.  GOD had already placed Psalms 46:10 on my heart during my recovery from the Brain Hemorrhage a few years earlier, but BE STILL didn't become REAL to me until December 2012, when GOD really began SPEAKING PLAINLY to me.  Or was it that I was finally willing to SLOW MY LIFE down enough to listen to HIM???

My wife and I went to see the movie WAR ROOM on Labor Day 2015 in Hattiesburg Mississippi .  We had been to the Gulf of Mexico for a few days for some R&R.  In the movie, Miss Clara had her "prayer list" on her WAR ROOM wall.  I began keeping my own on my iPad, adding to it on an as needed basis.  The FIRST item on my prayer list is from a devotional I saw months ago.  The text is below:

Obedience to the Spirit of GOD----Only by choosing NOT TO BE SLAVES to our own reasonings and emotions can we win the battle for our minds and begin hearing the voice of GOD within us. 

We have to CHOOSE each day to not be SLAVES to our emotions and common sense and CHOOSE to begin hearing the voice of GOD!  Common sense may tell you what a smart man would do, but GOD will lead you on a "FAITH" walk where only HE can receive glory for a journey!  Doing what makes SENSE usually entails anything but walking by FAITH!  If we are walking by "FAITH", then we are trusting in GOD ALMIGHTY!  And trusting in GOD ALMIGHTY is what we are called to do!

The enemy always wants to make us CHOOSE to follow common sense.  GOD always wants us to have "FAITH" in HIS guidance and abilities.  Joshua 24:15 contains the following phrase "...CHOOSE  you this day whom ye will serve...!  Will we CHOOSE common sense?  Or will we CHOOSE to live by "FAITH"?  

I wish I could tell you what made me decide to SLOW DOWN my life and listen to the Spirit of GOD ALMIGHTY?  Was it that the Brain Hemorrhage I experienced in 2007 took five years to affect me?  Was it that after 52 years of figuratively running a sprint was wearing me out?  Was it that I was not satisfied with the results my life was seemingly producing?  

The bottom line is that there is NOTHING that can replace hearing from THE CREATOR.  Getting my marching orders on a daily, sometimes multiple times daily, basis is hard to describe.  To know the PEACE, JOY, and COMFORT that only comes from a relationship with JESUS CHRIST is something only Believers can experience (1 Corinthians 2:14).   Have you experienced the THINGS OF THE SPIRIT by "FAITH"???  We MUST realize and recognize that WHATEVER DOES NOT PROCEED FROM "FAITH" IS SIN."