Want to know God?

By Jenni Ingram
Member, First Baptist Church, Gantt

Have you ever heard the phrase “you’ve got great timing” when something or someone came through for you at just the right moment? This made me ponder God’s timing.

My husband and I were recently faced with a life-changing decision and we were sure we were standing in God’s will even though we had some concerns nagging us. That is until we read our nightly devotion one evening and realized we may be jumping the gun.

In “Every Day in His Presence” by Charles F. Stanley, the question was, “Are you trying to earn God’s grace or convince Him to bless you with some heart’s desire?”

That made us stop and realize we had prayed for our desire and not meditated on His will and His timing.
So we stopped praying for our desire and concentrated on Him. That is when we realized those concerns we had were actually God trying to get us to see we weren’t in His will at all.

The more we studied the more we saw we were on the precipice of making a horrible choice.
God will let you know His will but you must be in the right place with Him and you must be willing to let go of yourself to allow Him to fill you. This is what we did and I think it worked well for us.

First we sought the forgiveness of all of our sins including our selfishness.

Second we praised Him for stopping us and seeking us out.

Third we asked Him to show us His way and provide us with patience to wait for His timing. Then we opened our Bibles and let the Spirit fill us.