God is good at Math- I trust Him When God speaks, He is never wrong. In the moment, whether a voice, an impression, or a passage of scripture that seems to jump off of a page, God always knows what He is doing. He is never early, never late, but always right on time. This was a lesson I learned well. As I sat at a computer trying to decide how many friends I could convince to go to a Promise Keepers men’s conference on a cool weekend in Southern California, I boldly prayed and asked “Lord, how many tickets should I buy?” A powerful impression came over me. The impression was clearly “five tickets.” At $70 a piece that was a hit of $350 on my credit card. I knew one or two might be able to reimburse me for a part of the ticket, but my desire was to bring non-believers to this event. There were a few young men I had been evangelizing and I knew their hearts were tender. By the end of the evening on Friday, only four of the tickets had actually been used. The young man whom I thought might make it Saturday morning pulled out at the last moment. Being a Christian as long as I have, I knew God was big enough that He could handle it if I were angry with Him. “Lord, I prayed and you clearly said five tickets.” As we cruised down that 5 lane Los Angeles freeway at 8 am Saturday morning, I could not hide my frustration with the Lord from my faithful friend. How will I ever know that I can hear the Lord’s voice when the one time I believe that an impression is real it turns out to be wrong. God knew I was angry but I survived the trip to the old “Forum” building where Magic Johnson and the Lakers used to play. After parking the car, still steaming from spending $70 for a ticket that no one used, Steve and I approached the turn-styles at the entrance to the Roman coliseum looking structure. To enter, one simply had to show the wrist band secured to the arm from the night before. After a kind nod, pushing past the metal arm that seemed to welcome through this modest barrier, I heard really clearly behind me, “You need a wristband to enter the PK event.” Without thought, I reached into my jacket pocket and lunged back towards this kind gentleman, simply saying, “Here sir, I have an extra one.” Steve and I continued walking, hoping we were not too late to get a good seat. Suddenly, I felt a tug on my jacket and I turned to see the same man with tears in his eyes. “Thank you so much for the ticket,” he said politely. “It’s no big deal, I had an extra one in my pocket. I’m just relieved that it didn’t go to waste.” He retorted emphatically, “You don’t understand. God has been tugging at my heart. The Lord told me to come down here. I said, Lord, I don’t have a ticket and I don’t have the money to buy a ticket. God told me so clearly to come down here and He would provide. It took a lot of faith to come down here, but I was obedient and God was true to His promise to me. You were used of the Lord in my life. I want to say, Thank you!” As I walked away, humbled by his gratitude, I began to realize that God was answering my prayer, my angry disrespectful prayer, “Why would you cause me to waste $70? God, I am so angry!” The Lord let me know that day that when the Spirit of God impresses us to do something, it always makes sense. Even when we doubt, He is already working to bring to fruition His love and provision in our hearts. This is a quaint story about a ticket to a men’s conference. God wants us to trust Him and obey when he says I want you to go to a soccer stadium and pray. I am going to overthrow a dictator. God says, trust me when I say, go here or go there, because I am going to put a stop to a communist army about to invade your borders. When He says, “no weapon formed against you shall stand,” He means no weapon formed against you shall stand. When he says smash some pots and blow a few trumpets, trust Him as he brings confusion to the armies that lack nothing but God’s favor. Learn to have faith, yes. Then learn to think bigger. We need to pray for our enemies, our deliverance, the healing of the nations, the release of those in captivity, the softening or hardening of hearts, as the Lord uses both to accomplish His purposes.
Posted on: Tue, 04 Mar 2014 04:20:34 +0000
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