Hearing God when you need some help

May 9, 2009 · Filed Under finances, spiritual hearing · 2 Comments 

The LORD says, “I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you.” Psalms 32:8.

I just love this promise. It’s absolutely incredible to know that God loves us so much that he will guide us, advise us and watch over us. He loves doing that!

I think about my son. He often comes to me and asks for help. I don’t shun him, tell him to get out or shut up. No, I love to help him and advise him when it’s in my power to do so. How much more does God enjoy helping us, who has all power.

In the Old Testament, it was quite common to “inquire of the Lord” when someone needed help.

    David inquired of the LORD, saying, “Shall I go and attack these Philistines?” And the LORD said to David, “Go and attack the Philistines, and save Keilah” (1 Samuel 23:2).
    The children of Israel inquired of the LORD saying, “Shall I yet again go out to battle against the children of my brother Benjamin, or shall I cease?” And the LORD said, “Go up, for tomorrow I will deliver them into your hand” (Judges 20:27, 28).

There are stories after stories of these divine inquiries. And, this was in the Old Testament. Today, under this new covenant, we are told that we can come boldly to the throne of our gracious God where we will find grace to help us when we need it (Hebrews 4:16).

Let me share with you an experience I had yesterday in hearing God. To start with, I wasn’t feeling very “spiritual”. The night before had been a difficult night, and I awoke with this heaviness on my heart. Let’s just say I wasn’t feeling very righteous.

Then, I remembered that righteousness is not based on how I feel, but on what Christ did for me. My sin is gone. My unworthiness is gone. I am righteous through what Christ did, not through what I do or have done or will do. With Christ in my heart, I can stand before God without fear.

I started to dig into some work that need to be done. I have this project that I’ve been working on for two years now, and we’re months away from launching it. Very exciting, but lots of work to do.

I had this one aspect of the project that I was struggling through. I couldn’t think of a creative approach to this one task, and needed some serious guidance. So, after realizing that God accepts me as I am and that I can come boldly to his throne in our time of need, I spent a few moments in my mind coming to the throne of grace.

As I stood there the spirit, I asked, “Daddy, you know this situation, and you know what I need to do. Can you give me some ideas on how to perform this task?”

Then, I had a thought, If you go Google this certain phrase, you’ll find many solutions. Sure enough, I found tons of ideas on how to solve this problem. I spent the rest of the day digging, searching, finding and resolving this issue that had been burdening me for months.

For the rest of the day, I was so excited, but not at finding a solution to a task that had weighed me down. No, my excitement was from hearing God. What an honor and privilege it is to hear my Father!

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Hearing God for Financial Provision

March 23, 2009 · Filed Under finances · 1 Comment 

Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve been speaking with a company about doing a project. It’s a fairly big project, and would require much of my time, so there’s been some hesitancy in taking it on. While I don’t mind the hard work, this is one of many projects that I have planned for the year.

While on vacation for Spring Break, I spent some time praying over the project. I needed to hear some clear direction. Lord, is this what you want me to work on? I asked a few weeks ago, and I sensed my Father saying that it was going to be hard work and that it was also great provision. But still, I wasn’t sure if it’s what he wanted me to work on.

While on vacation in Colorado one afternoon, I was praying for him to make it clear to me if I should work on this project. Again, there was hesitancy because it was a lot of work, and I wasn’t too excited about working hard.

As I was praying, I sensed a scripture come to mind: Proverbs 6:11, or was it 16:11. Not sure. Kept praying. Kept hearing 6:11 and then 16:11. So, I just said myself, Okay, I’ll read both.

First, Proverbs 6:11. I started back at verse 6, because it was the first part of a larger section ending at verse 11:

    Take a lesson from the ants, you lazybones. Learn from their ways and be wise! Even though they have no prince, governor, or ruler to make them work, they labor hard all summer, gathering food for the winter. But you, lazybones, how long will you sleep? When will you wake up? I want you to learn this lesson: A little extra sleep, a little more slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest– and poverty will pounce on you like a bandit; scarcity will attack you like an armed robber. Proverbs 6:6-11, NLT.

Wow, you lazybones. That was me—I was being lazy. I didn’t want to do hard work.

Learn from their ways and be wise! I need to learn something here. They have no prince, no governor or ruler to make them work. Ouch, that’s me. I have no boss or manager to make me work. I work for myself. Busted.

They work hard all summer, gathering food for the winter. Again, that’s me. That’s my situation. It’ll physically be a summer project, wrapping up around Christmas. And, figuratively, this income should provide for us through a winter season of no additional work. The seasons are both physical and figurative.

And then, verse 11 that was spoken to me: “poverty will pounce on you like a bandit; scarcity will attack you like an armed robber.”

If I don’t do this, lazybones, poverty will pounce on me and scaracity will attack me. It was obvious from this scripture that the Lord wants me to work hard during the summer to store of provision for the winter.

Then, I read Proverbs 16:11, The LORD demands fairness in every business deal; he sets the standard.

Now, the Lord says, Do this project, but I demand fairness in this business deal. I will set the standard.

Again, very clearly, the Lord wants me to do this deal for provision for my family and he requires that I do it as a fair business deal. I am now convinced that the Lord wants me to do this project.

I wanted to share this journal entry with you to encourage you. I know there are many of you struggling through this difficult economical situation. The current financial crisis is creating a lot of unemployment, cut backs and lay offs. I want to encourage you in this time of recession that God can help you. If you will listen to him, and let him guide you, he will show you where to look for work, and what to do.

In Psalms 32:8, the Lord says, I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you.

Update – Tuesday, March 31, 2009

I wanted to take a moment and share some interesting news about this post. As you may have read, I prayed and sought the Lord about the potential project, and I interpreted his giving me the two scriptures as, “You need to do this project.” Which, I know now, was interpreted incorrectly. After I made that decision and then met with the client, I had this overwhelming since of uneasiness. There was no peace about this project, only heaviness. I started to lose sleep over the project, knowing it conflict with many other God-given project this year.

After speaking with my wife and some friends, I realized that I had misinterpreted the giving of those two scriptures, and just assumed I was to take the project. I liked the provision aspect of the project, but it would have consumed my time and energy for the whole year, and all my other projects and clients would have taken the hit.

My wife and I decided to completely pass on the project. The decision alone gave me incredible peace. I knew it was what I was supposed to do.

That morning, in my quiet time, I was praying and getting ready to let this client know I couldn’t be a part of the project. I did not like the idea of telling them that, because they really needed a solution, and they were putting their hope in me to deliver this solution. But, I had to let it go. As I was praying over it, I sensed the Lord whisper to me, “There’s a middle ground solution.”  Hmm. Really?

I didn’t put much thought into.  I was honestly just thinking about how to gracefully pass on the project. But, I tucked that thought away in mind and prepared for the meeting. As I was driving to the meeting, I had that thought again, “There’s a middle ground solution.”  Okay. What is it? I didn’t hear anything, but I sensed that my Dad would reveal the solution at the right time.

During the meeting, I told the client that I would have to pass on the project, but that I would help them find someone to take it over. This was very difficult, because they had already built some trust with me, and they really wanted to work with me. But, I just couldn’t.

Then, “out of the blue”, the client asked, “Would you be willing to stay on board for a month or two as a consultant to help us get this project off the ground? We really trust you.” Immediately, when the question was asked, I knew that it was the middle ground solution. I immediately had the thought, “That’s it.”

Sure enough, there was a great middle ground solution! I’m able to stay on track with my current clients and projects, help this new client with the launch of their project and make some money along the way.

I wanted to share this update because of wonderful it was to have God whisper to me this opportunity. When the client made that suggestion, I had no doubt it was God. He had prepared my heart for this meeting, and had given me a great solution for a very difficult situation.

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