When the Lord is preparing a work in you...

This blog was inspired by two separate sermons one about a month ago, ministered by Pastor John Hillard entitled “Storms”, and the other was ministered on 11/8/09″Being ready for war”, by Pastor Darrick Bledsoe.

Chilled winds will blow, cold drops of rain will fall, the fact is no one can keep a storm from coming… Although there is an umbrella underneath the bed, a coat in the closet, and windshield wipers on the hooptie so that even in the blur of the storm you can still find your way. These things are available to you so that you can prepare for a weathering storm, and our spiritual storms are the same way!

I see my true growth in my writings, a few years ago almost anything could get me feeling discouraged, but now my fAiTh in God won’t allow the things of this world to sway me so easily. Overcoming adversities has been the story of my life, for so long I felt so alone amongst my peers that’s when the Lord led me to this scripture.“For in the abundance of wisdom there is an abundance of vexation, so that he that increases knowledge increases pain.” -Ecclesiastes Ch. 1:18- This scripture has kept my mind at peace many days, all that the enemy did with intentions of breaking me God revealed to me these are the very things He will use to build me.

A vision in Christ is a form of knowledge, a glimpse of the portion of God’s plan that you have been called to take part in. Often times when we can not see something clearly we become discouraged, but human eyes possess not the ability to see God’s plan in it’s FULL magnitude. Pastor Hillard said in his sermon Storms “my grandmother never spoke of trouble, but I always knew when my grandmother was going through a storm, she sat on the porch in her rocking chair rocking back and forth, just a humming”. I interpreted this as an example of some of the things we have to “know to do” during a storm, Grandmother knew how she and God communicated during a storm. It is vital we too know how to call on His name, and keep an open line of communication with the Lord at all times. Sitting on the porch in a rocking chair might not be the proper preparation for your storm, but maybe a quiet night buried in the word of God would be suffice. In a spiritual storm an umbrella may not be necessary, but perhaps a scripture from “Our Daily Bread” is. That rain coat in the closet won’t shield the wind chills of a spiritual storm, but a prayer warrior as a friend will!

Pastor Bledsoe said in his sermon Being ready for war, “we get too comfortable, and the enemy comes in right through our front door”. We should never be comfortable in our walk with God, we should always be preparing for the next move God has for us. The enemy will sneak up on you during a comfortable state, and steal every dream you have ever had right out your hands. He will make a loved one fall ill, cut your electricity off, and have you thinking you’re in a hole so deep there is no way out! Funny thing about God has already said your loved one will be healed, He already sent the check in for the electricity to be paid, but He said “you have not because you ask not”. Before you know it the enemy has you so down, you feel like you can’t even pray, and he has made you forget the vision God once revealed to you.

The enemy has his traps and God keeps His order

God is a God of order, and He will not send soldiers who are unprepared for war out unto the battle field. While He is training you up to do His work, He is also testing you… If you have been recently called as a warrior to the front of the line, your battle has just begun. The enemy is going to do everything he possibly can to dismantle a new work for he knows that is when it is at it’s weakest. Shield yourself daily with the Full Armour of God, and be encouraged in the Lord in all that you do!

Still Smiling, Minnisha