Simply Christian

Hello everybody! Hey guess what? It's still hot in Arizona! Imagine that! Wow, I can't believe that our time here is almost up, time really flies when you're having fun and I have had a great time with the team here in AZ. These guys have worked their tails off all week long and have really made some amazing progress. Most importantly, they really have a heart for worship and not just for showmanship.

Last night I had the opportunity to minister the Word in the church and praise God it went really well. I had been studying the book of John and in chapter 1 there is a story about when the Pharisees came to see John the Baptist and they asked him, "who are you?" His response really hit me: "I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord." His response came directly from the Word of God in Isaiah chapter 40 verse 3. What hit me was that his identity and purpose were defined by the word of God. There is another similar case in the Old Testament where the young king Josiah began to seek the Lord when he was about 25 or 26 years old. He sent the high priest to the temple and they found a copy of the Book of Law. He had probably never read God's word up to that point, but there seems to have been a hunger for purpose in his life. Imagine his shock when he began to read this Book of the Law and he opened it up to find his name written on it's pages! It says in 1 Kings chapter 13 verse 2, "Then at the Lord’s command, he shouted, “O altar, altar! This is what the Lord says: A child named Josiah will be born into the dynasty of David. On you he will sacrifice the priests from the pagan shrines who come here to burn incense, and human bones will be burned on you.”

As Josiah read this book of the law, his eyes were suddenly opened to his purpose and destiny in life. A prophecy written 300 or so years before his birth foretold that a child would be born named Josiah and that he would bring about great reforms in Israel. Now, I realize that there aren't any direct prophecies concerning my life written in the Bible like they were about John the Baptist or Josiah, but there is a very important principle here for us today and it can be summed up this verse: "Your word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path" (Psalms 119:105).

There are times in our personal prayer life that God will speak to us directly from His word our purpose and destiny. The Holy Spirit will illuminate a certain passage and let us know in our heart that He has a reason for us to be alive! Now of course, people take passages out of context and twist them for their own purposes, but the Holy Spirit will never instruct us to do anything contrary to the whole revealed word of God. When He illuminates a passage and it is in agreement with His revealed will, we can rest assured that He is speaking His purposes to us! This is a very important principle for us and is an incentive for us to constantly be studying His Word! His word is "a lamp to guide our feet and a light for our path."

I pray God's blessings over you and appreciate anybody who takes the time to read my blog and check up on how we are doing, I really do. Please feel free to leave comments if you don't mind just to let me know if anybody's out there! (Reminds me a great song...) Blessings, Paul S.