Planning God's Plans?

I learn more and more every day,  while at the same time I seem to know less and less.  That is because God has a way of showing me that His wisdom is infinitely greater than my own.  It only makes sense... He's my Creator, and I'm His child.


If you are like me, you have made it a habit to pray for God's wisdom,  His guidance, His will to be done.  That's a good thing.  But I hope that while you pray for God's plan,  you don't also plan His answer... like I have found myself doing sometimes.


It's hard to take when the answer from the heavens is "No" when we want "Yes,"  "Go here" when we want to go there, "Wait" when we want to act now.  And friends, if we're really in tune, we'll know what God is telling us.  Sometimes there is no answer at all right away,  but that doesn't mean our prayer isn't heard.  Even Daniel fasted and prayed for three weeks one time before he received an answer.*  There are so many things that we are not aware of, that we don't understand.  If we are living in harmony with Him, there's one thing we can be sure of... God never misses messages in His inbox.


So when we get an answer we don't want to hear, what will we do?  Fallen human nature likes to just ignore it and pretend like nothing happened.  Maybe we'll get our way after all if we don't count it as well... counting.


Yes,  we can take care of things that way.  But we might as well quit praying.  We might as well plan on getting along on our own smarts.  What a scary thought...


I can tell you from my own personal experience that God is infinitely wiser than I am.  And  not only that,  He loves me and cares about every detail of my life infinitely more than I am capable of comprehending.  When I look in the rear view mirror at what God has done,  I can see that He really does have everything under control.  Sometimes even what seem to be disasters prove later to be the working of miracles.  And why did I ever worry? (That's another lesson.)


Stopped at a traffic light,  I once saw a bumper sticker that read, "Jesus Is My Co-Pilot."  I smiled at the irony of it.  I'm quite certain I'd rather have Him be the Pilot... I'll be the passenger.

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.  For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts." Isaiah 55:8,9

"For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end." Jeremiah 29:11




*See Daniel 10, Prophets and Kings p. 571,  The Sanctified Life p. 51

Sweet Hour of Prayer

“He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty…”  

Every time I hear these words, a song begins to play in my mind that was indelibly engraved there at the age of five when I learned Psalm 91 put to music.  

“...I will say of the Lord, 'He is my refuge and my fortress:  My God; in Him will I trust.'"  

Psalm 91 has been a nearly life-long source of promises to claim. 

But the first words… I pause on them for the first time.  Realization replaces vague awareness. 
How did I ever miss it?

"He that dwelleth in the secret place…” 

The condition... that goes with the promise.  


So the "secret place"... That was the place our Savior resorted to frequently.

Dwelling… That’s residing, inhabiting, living.  Not visiting occasionally, or when badly needed.  
My mind runs rapidly along the words... There it is again--the condition echoed.

"Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation."


And again.


"Because he hath known my name." 


I think it's the most beautiful condition I've ever read.  If we will live in continual communion with God, living a lifestyle of connectedness with the Divine,  learning to know Him, He will do for us everything that He says will do in that chapter.

"No other life was ever so crowded with labor and responsibility as was that of Jesus; yet how often He was found in prayer! How constant was His communion with God! Again and again in the history of His earthly life are found records such as these: “Rising up a great while before day, He went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed.”  “Great multitudes came together to hear, and to be healed by Him of their infirmities. And He withdrew Himself into the wilderness, and prayed.” “And it came to pass in those days, that He went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God.” Mark 1:35; Luke 5:15, 16; 6:12.

    “As one with us, a sharer in our needs and weaknesses, He was wholly dependent upon God, and in the secret place of prayer He sought divine strength, that He might go forth braced for duty and trial." Desire of Ages p. 362

Get this one...

"As a man He supplicated the throne of God till His humanity was charged with a heavenly current that should connect humanity with divinity.  Through continual communion He received life from God, that He might impart life to the world.  His experience is to be ours."  Desire of Ages p. 363

I want that experience. I want it...  I have a had a taste, but I want more.

And, imagine, if we could all find that secret place,

We could turn this world upside-down.*


*Great Controversy p. 210.1 

Perfect in Weakness

I can hardly believe it was eleven days ago when we arrived in Houston to attend GYC.  It was an eventful week of five hour nights (which would have been a luxury for some of my friends),  but I am changed.  Changed by the dozen or so miracles and answered prayers.  Changed by the testimonies of friends,  and the inspiring messages.  And do you know what is like to be completely exhausted and devoid of self-confidence, and God sends His strength right at the moment you needed it?  It's thrilling.


I was going to try to share something that God has laid on my heart without talking about myself. But I think it will carry more weight with the help of my testimony.  And it actually isn't about me anyway...read on.


It was the last day of GYC, Sunday, and I was to sing special music at the commitment service.  I was already afraid of how afraid I was going to be with several thousand eyeballs and ears focused my direction.  And as if that were not enough,  I was completely exhausted and I hadn't gotten nearly enough practice and warm-up to satisfy my human confidence.  Give this glorious song of God's love justice on my own? Not. 


So I prayed...a lot.  On my knees in my room, in the elevator, walking the halls of the convention center.  The Lord had shown me Psalm 51:15 that morning, which says, "O Lord, open thou my lips, and my mouth shall show forth thy praise."  I hung on to that verse like a shipwreck survivor to a splinter of wood.  


As I made my way backstage,  the sick feeling in the pit of my stomach grew worse.  By the time I sat down backstage, I was feeling prostrate.  I was not ready for this.  Now, some of my friends that are used to appearing before large crowds might find this amusing, but for me it was nerve-racking. Sitting in one of the temporary partitioned rooms in the huge area backstage,  I leaned my head on the guitar in my lap...and prayed some more.  I knew God would not let me down.  I had enough experience with Him to know that.  (Don't ask me why I was so nervous then.)  I finally concluded that God was not going to give me the strength I needed until the moment I needed it...


I was right!  Three or four minutes before I went out, the physical exhaustion began to leave.  I walked out onstage,  and all fear stayed backstage.  As the words "I cannot tell why He Whom angels worship should set His love upon the sons of men" flowed from my lips...the lips that God was moving, my heart was moved with love and awe.  I could not have been less nervous singing in my bedroom.  If anyone was blessed by that song,  God deserves ten thousand praises!

* * * * *

Now for my point.  So often we set out to battle sin and self, and find ourselves knocked flat on our faces.  We are trying to do the impossible in our own feeble strength.  


Could it be that if we are as emptied of self-confidence as I was backstage....


And if we cling to God's promises and pray for Divine strength as desperately as I did....


We would experience miracles in our hearts and lives just as real as that miracle onstage.  


Yes, most of us already know this, but I tell you, there is nothing like experiencing that power firsthand, and then realizing that it is the very same power available to us for every aspect of our lives.  Put God to the test, my friend, and tap into strength that is truly made perfect in weakness.