"If you will just do as I am telling you"

This was written last week but it needed to go up now.

Today is Christmas Eve.  I was sitting and pondering things that were coming on my heart and one of them was my dad.  My dad died almost ten years ago but in some ways, he still has an affect on me.  During the holidays I get very sentimental.  I recall him telling me things and one of the phrases he used was:  “If you will just do what I am telling you.”  Then quite suddenly, as it always does with the Holy Spirit, it hit me to tell others at this time this very same phrase, even though you don’t really understand why…..just do what I tell you on this Website.

I was ministering to someone yesterday evening.  This is someone who really doesn’t frequent church.  As a matter of fact, church has left a bad taste in their mouth.  It is Christians who gave this person a bad feeling.  Nevertheless, I was telling them God promises that “I will go before you and make the crooked places straight” (Isaiah 45:2).  I told him if he would just ask God every morning before starting his day to “make the crooked places straight” then start your day and watch God do what He promises in His word. 

I woke up the next morning and I thought  “if he will just do what I am telling him”, he will see things start to change or smooth out in his life.  Then I thought of my dad when he would tell me that.  It sounded good when I was with him, but when I was not around him and around people who thought a different way(a lot of them defeated in their lives), I would fall into their trap and end up defeated  myself.  How I wished I had listened to my dad.  Sometimes you have to separate from others so you can get what you need for your life.

All of this pondering took me to the fact that God tells us things in His word to do to get the victory in our lives, but most of us pay little or no heed to them.  I can just imagine God sitting in Heaven thinking, “If they would just do what I am telling them.”  The word of God or someone telling us about God seems good while we are in the midst of despair and in the midst of feeling lonely and lowly.  Then a little time will pass, or at least dissipate, and we don’t really want to hear what God says anymore.  When the going gets tough on our flesh, we really don’t want to do what He says any longer. 

This Christmas I was thinking whether there was anything else to get or give anyone.  I had followed what the Holy Spirit told me to do as far as giving and buying, but then the bug hit me.  Was there something else I needed to get for anyone?  I stood in the kitchen and told God that if no one got me anything this year it was okay.  I have received the greatest present in the world:  I finally listened to what God had to say…. finally.  I can be alone and be perfectly content most of the time and that is saying a lot.  The peace I have in my heart about God being God and doing what He says He will do can’t even….. well, you can’t put a price tag on it.  This isn't a big store-bought present with a pretty bow but it is the best gift I was ever given. I was the one who had to do the unwrapping; God wasn't going to make me.

I was so hardheaded in my life that I always knew the answer for any problem was NOT God.  But, then He loved me so much He put me in a place where I had no other choice but to do what He was telling me.  Then the feeling left me about having to buy anything for anyone else.  I wondered how I could wrap up what I had which cost me no money but yet cost me years of following and doing what God was telling me to do.  But, what I have didn’t come all at once and it certainly didn’t come overnight. 

I look back and see that my dad on earth really was wise…was he perfect?  Not by any means but he was trying to talk to a hardheaded girl who had been overtaken by the devil.  Most of the time what he tried to tell me was to no avail.  I was going to do things my way, not his way.  My life happened the way it did so I could turn around and tell you “if you will just do what I am telling you”.  The God I serve is not just a puff of smoke in outer space somewhere; He is real. 

So, as I close this Blog….your life won’t have to be unhappy but it will cost you something to have it.  What I’ve got doesn’t come instantaneously.  It comes “line upon line”, a little at a time as the Holy Spirit sees fit to give or reveal it to you.  YOU have to pick up your cross (your life) and follow HIM.  He is not going to make you and He is not going to spoon-feed you for long.  He gives you more than enough chances to follow Him and do what He is telling you. 

This season is a sentimental season.  Use it to really let your heart be softened to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit, however He sees fit to speak to you….and last of all remember..

This year might be a painful one for you.  You might feel cheated out of life, presents, family and love, but if you “will just do as I am telling you” your life will start to change and be so much better than it is today….I promise you.  I have made a vow to you and to God to tell you the truth and believe me, if I haven’t so far, He would have already taken this ministry down.

What you want and what you need is only an ASK away but YOU have to do the asking and YOU have to do the following… “If you will just do what I am telling you.”  

Molly