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A Step In The Right Direction

by Shannon Heiden  
12/17/2008 / Devotionals

But the steps of a good man
are ordered by the Lord
and He delights in his way. Proverbs 37:23

Beautiful One, did you know that He takes us from glory to glory, from strength to strength and He does it line upon line -not in a day or in 5 steps to success or even in repetitive rules that we mistakenly set as goals that we can't seem to ever achieve, leaving us in a state of discouragement and confusion.

No, our God has not fallen asleep on the job, He has not forgotten you- He is faithful and as He is teaching and training you, navigating you through the issues of life, He will also be the One to fulfill what He has placed in your heart.

Isn't it amazing that when we are celebrating the victory in our lives and we are receiving the blessing and breakthrough we've been waiting on, isn't it so easy to think that we have done something right and God is rewarding us? How many times have we been praying and hoping for a certain thing and when God releases it to us, somehow we think we prayed the right prayer or we obeyed all the rules and God must be smiling down on us from above.

Likewise, how easy is it for us to ascribe inaccurate blame to God for being upset or angry with us because we haven't read our Bible enough, we haven't prayed or treated someone right and somehow He is punishing us by withholding the breakthrough and blessing through our unanswered prayers?

Now maybe you wont admit outwardly to anyone else that you have thought this way, but my friend it is just you, me and the Lord here, and I can tell you openly and unashamedly that I know I am not that special to be the only child of God who has ever thought that way.

How many times have we taken that step of faith and believed for something and as time passed and pressure mounted, we stepped back into unbelief that He will do it or that He's even interested or listening?

It's kind of like call waiting, here you are having a conversation with God and then His other line rings and He puts you on hold, you're still on the line with him, your both connected but He's on another call and you, your left with your issues and you are waiting to hear that voice again speaking directly to your heart His words of wisdom, guidance and encouragement.

He is still with you but the communication has changed and all you hear is your own voice.

Have you ever been there? Has God ever left you waiting on Him to move in your life? Have you ever been confused by His methods and it has forced you to dig really, really deep into that reservoir He planted within you? The truth remains that just because we are waiting, or the steps we've taken aren't so great and the view isn't either, doesn't mean God is not in it and hasn't got a plan.

The good news is that; "those that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up on wings like eagles, they shall run and not grow weary they shall walk and not faint."

Those that wait upon the Lord, are the ones who will be strengthened, the ones who wait, are the ones who will learn to trust, the ones who wait, are the ones who will look back from where they started and realize God ordered their very steps and brought them to where they are now, and the ones who wait shall soar high above any issue of life because they will have learned to praise him in the valley.

Beautiful One, may I suggest that it is not so much in the victories that God is as pleased with us as He is when he knows we are struggling yet we praise him, when we are discouraged and fearful yet we manage to mutter- God I don't like this, I don't even understand it yet I will trust you and my lips will not cease to praise you- for YOU God are good even if my life isn't right now.

Just think of how children can be at times, maybe they don't like what we are telling them or they don't want to do what we've asked of them but when they do it or they listen without all the murmuring and complaining, even if they don't feel like it, somehow a sense of pride swells up in us for them because of their choice to obey us and our methods above their own. And we know that it will only turn out for their good. They don't realize that at times, but when they mature and experience a few successes and setbacks, how loud will the voice of their parents wisdom ring in their ears?

There are so many people out there, who will praise God in a parade when everything is going their way but let a hurricane rip through their lives and the very people who sang Hosanna yesterday are the very ones who persecute and blame God for their troubles today.

Beautiful One, what God does with us during the seasons of our lives is teach us through every experience. He is teaching us when we are seemingly strong and sharp and He is also teaching us when we experience feeling weak and worn out as well.

He will use people, circumstances and events to define us- not destroy us. He works all things together not just the parts we are comfortable with or like....

Beautiful One, He was there when you took that first step, He steadied you when you stepped into the unknown and He will be there when you take your last one. God knows your end before you ever began and the Word of God says that the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord and that means through every trouble and tragedy, every lesson big and small, every victory and breakthrough, you can be sure of this; He has always been one step ahead of you and your Father has seen them all.

God is with us through the good, bad and the ugly. Only,God is in it to win it -

Are you?

Maybe we've gone places we never should've been, maybe we stepped over a few things, maybe we walked sideways more than anything but do we really think that God didn't know that before us? Do we really think we were all alone? Wasn't it David that said 'he continuously took his life into his own hands?'

And even though he did, he was still a man after Gods own heart...

The truth is choices, wisdom, ignorance, pain, joys and successes have all played a part in shaping our very lives. But let us never think that God only happened upon the scene when we decided to chose him. Do we really think it was us that said a prayer and chose him? He chose us and loved us when we weren't even aware of him and His love brought you and I to our appointed time to receive that love in our hearts.
Every step these feet of ours has taken, have been guided and ordered by a God who is rich in mercy and who promises to lead us even further- into that land flowing with milk and honey.

Beautiful One, Just Believe And Every Step You Take with The Lord, Is A Step In The Right Direction......

Shannon Heiden
[email protected]
changingonelifereachingmany.typepad.com

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