A time of refinement Heart of a Warrior – “so that the proof of your faith—more valuable than gold, which perishes though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” 1 Peter 1:7 I finished a 21 day Daniel fast (vegetables, fruits and water) about 2 weeks ago. One of the things I did in my preparation for my fast, was to make a prayer list of family, ministry and people that I was praying for during the 21 day experience. I have been writing down the answers to my prayers as God continues to show Himself faithful since the fasting came to a close. There have been 8 specifics answers to my prayers since September 21, the close of the fast. As I was sitting in church this morning, this was a revelation God showed me that I had not thought of as a result of the fast. Since the time my Christian walk began in 1986. My walk of faith and the time God called me to the ministry of FCA and Gods Warriors in 1992 and 1996, I have been operating in the strength of my physical body that God gave me. I was certainly led by the Spirit of God, but God also blessed me with physical abilities and a strong internal drive to work hard. A lot of my time spent in FCA was working on the foundation of the ministry. And if you know anything about foundations, it what holds the structure in place and it is labor intensive. As my physical body has aged, my physical strength begins to diminish. But God does something that is pretty unique if you are paying attention and walking by faith. It is called the refinement of your faith. God begins to give you wisdom in your old age. God takes some of the physical strength and trades it for life experiences and wisdom. God never takes away without giving something in-return. God has given me many experiences over the last 25 years of my faith walk as one of His Warrior’s. Through many experiences the substance of my faith has been purified, I have become less and He is becoming more. That’s the way life works in your journey with God. You decrease as He increases. The time and relationships that the Lord allows us to experience is never ours to own. We are allowed to have for a season of time and then we have to return the time and the relationships back to Him. It is the return that the Lord is interested in. Will the return of your life, your time and your relationships show wise stewardship? Will it show a sturdy foundation that will stand the storms of life? And will it live past yourself? In the second half of my life, am I raising up tomorrow’s leaders? Am I decreasing or am I making it all about me? These are the questions we should be asking ourselves. We can serve God in our youth and we can build tomorrow’s leaders in our older age. Make sure that Christ is increasing and you are decreasing in this life. You will enjoy fruit of your labor on the other side of things with that in mind. “He must increase and I must decrease.” Oh, and buy the way, those answered prayers I mentioned in the beginning, are answered prayers for other people that were own my list. I am still awaiting for my personal prayers to be answered and I am good with that. John 3:30 SDG55-DAD-10-5-14
Posted on: Sun, 05 Oct 2014 21:20:55 +0000
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