BE READY! God DOES Change Hearts and Minds!
As a wonderful and perfectly timed follow-up to all of the recent messages about how faithful God is to keep His promises, two really great posts were shared on the private FAM site by FAM Fellowship members yesterday and today! So I want to share them here along with a few Bible verses that remind us just what God CAN AND WILL DO!!! Be blessed and encouraged; God DOES change hearts and minds! And He often does it in the blink of an eye! SO BE READY!
First, one of the members shared the following post yesterday and it’s such a simple, yet powerful example of just how God CAN and WILL work when we learn to SPEAK HIS PROMISES OUT LOUD!
In response to the last couple of posts: Jesus gave up everything while He walked on this earth. He always put God’s desires first and was a complete giver; not a taker. And He calls us to do the same. As we give over and over again and fulfill God’s desires, He will grant us far more in return than we ever could have gained by ourselves. Our selfish desires are just that – selfish, and they will make us stray from obedient faith. Thanks for sharing all of your wonderful praises and how God has worked in your lives.
Here is a story I want to share.
One of the stories Bayless Conley shared in his message this week had to do with recognizing and speaking out the promises God gives us in the Word. His thirteen year old son had asked for a dog and continued to badger Bayless by asking for it. Bayless kept saying no way and of course, gave his reasons. But then he was caught off guard by his son’s next move. The son found scripture in the Bible and then began to speak; “I have a dog.” Bayless asked him what he was doing, saying “You don’t have a dog.” His son responded by telling him that he had found scripture that promised him a dog and so he was speaking it out. Bayless said that he panicked and told him to shut up and stop speaking that out! – he said he knew what was going to happen. So one day he was driving along in his car and the Holy Spirit just came over him and totally changed his mind about getting his son a dog. The moral of this story is that God does change people even when they are dead set against something and our kids do pick up on what we say and how we live. It is a cute story and true. God does give us promises and intends to keep them, so speak it out and stand firm in believing and trusting God.
And then today, I received a call from one of the members who was very excited about what God had done earlier in the day, as he later shared in the two following posts (the second one after being reminded that he had left out a lot of important details!).
I am once again in awe of our Lord Jesus Christ! A coworker stopped by my job today, and we got to talking and I ended up telling him about my stand, and he looked at me with his mouth dropped to the floor. He was a prodigal and was told by God to go home! It was amazing and there is so much to tell that I don’t even know where to start!
First, My Company hired him because another coworker referred him to our company, and that doesn’t happen very often. Secondly, He thought the job was going to be more than he expected, but took the job anyway. Thirdly, I’ve worked with him in the past and really got along well with him, but we never really discussed our personal lives much. Anyway, work is kind of slow right now, and when I got up this morning, I thought of taking the day off instead of feeling guilty for getting paid with “not much” to do, but I went to work anyway. And when I got there, they sent me to a different job from where I had been working.
After about an hour, my coworker showed up. He was going to take the day off, too, but didn’t. On his way to the shop, he just turned and went to the job I was on. He wasn’t supposed to be there, and didn’t even know why he turned in there. But when he saw me, he decided to say Hi. We got to talking and the next thing you know, we are talking about our marriages, and God.
He told me that he was a prodigal, and that God made him go home all of a sudden; just out of the blue about a month ago.
He also said that he was talking to a preacher last night, and the preacher told him that he would be helping someone very soon. And he did! We talked openly about a lot, and there was so much comfort in hearing his words! God sent me encouragement, and me to encourage him. I cannot explain everything that God has done in this single thing, but a lot of my prayers got answered today! I have been praying for a Christian friend who lives close; someone I can grow with, and that we can encourage each other. I know I am ranting, but I am overwhelmed with Complete and utter Joy!!!!!!!!!!! God is so good! Just be encouraged!
My friend said that God will bring our spouses home, and that there is no doubt in his mind! By the way, his wife was told by God to wait for him! He said he was living his life and enjoying it, and all of a sudden, wham; God said to go home! So be encouraged; what God does for one, He will do for us! I always believed that my marriage was going to be healed, but to hear it directly in the words of an actual prodigal, along with everything he went through just confirms it even more! And I’ve just got to praise God for a great morning!!!!! Be blessed everyone; TODAY IS THE DAY!
You’re right, Dan! I am now going to try and slow down and remember everything we talked about. So be patient if this gets long and skips around a lot; but this is just so amazing that it has to be told.
To understand that today was orchestrated by God, you have to understand that we were not supposed to be anywhere near each other today. I was supposed to be on a different job, and there was literally no reason for him to come to the job that I was on today! And then there was no reason for us to discuss our marriages or God. He simply asked if I had plans for the weekend, and I said that I was a little discouraged because my kids were going to be with their mom this weekend. I then said I am sure that you have heard how crazy everyone thinks I am, because they all know I have been told by God to wait for my wife. His mouth just hit the floor, and he said “Mo, I didn’t.” I said “Yeah, see I am even still wearing my ring.” He then opened up to me and said that he understood because his wife was told the same thing!
He said that he was living out of state with another woman and her kids, and one day, the NCP’s kids were using his camera and found a picture of his wife and asked “Who is this?” He looked at the picture and at that very second, God said “Go home. What are you doing?” So he called his wife and she flew out to meet him. He said that even at that time, he wasn’t “in love” with his wife, but he had to go home.
Then later, after being home again, he packed up all of his stuff one day while his wife was at work and started driving back to the NCP’s. He said that God told his wife to call him around 11:00 that day, and she said no. All through the day she was told to call him, but she refused to do it. But right before time to go home, she did call him, and knew in her heart that he had left before even asking. She asked “What are you doing?” And he said “Driving.” She asked “Where are you going?” And he said “HOME!” And he turned around! The amazing part of this is that he said he made it all the way to Champaign, IL! And in case no one gets the significance of that; that’s where Dan lives!
And he shared how his wife would open the bible and God would give her scripture for whatever she was going through that day. I don’t totally know all of her story, but he said that she went to file for divorce and God told her “NO! You will wait for him.” And she obeyed.
Then we started to talk about so much! He told me that he was baptized years ago, but wasn’t walking with God. And he shared that his wife invited her pastor and his wife over last night, just so she could show appreciation for all they had done for her while he was gone. It was only suppose to be dinner, but God had a different plan. The preacher told my friend about his testimony, and stated “You realize that God is going to use you some how soon to help someone.” And my friend couldn’t believe that it would be today! So he is seeing how God works! We were both so excited and filled with God that we were over talking each other. Of course, I had a bunch of questions to ask him, and he answered all of them. I asked what made him leave his wife, and he said “I don’t even know; I don’t even think it was me.” He encouraged me the whole time, and I told him how my heart flutters when I feel the Holy Spirit, and he said “Yeah, I have been feeling it for the last ten minutes!” We were both so excited, and amazed at how God had orchestrated it all. Everything I said he confirmed, and everything he said I confirmed. We discussed how he is so thankful that God made his wife wait for him. How he is starting to play the guitar again, and that his friend just happens to need a guitarist for his Christian band. Just so many things were orchestrated and confirmed to each of us that we could not deny that this was a GOD THING! He even invited me over for a cook out tomorrow, so my weekend isn’t going to be as “lonely” as expected.
I have been amazed by a lot of things in my stand, but when you finally “let God”…I mean really Let God, He is beyond belief. I know I thought I was giving it all to God before, but God does know our hearts and when we really Let Him, WooHoo! Just be encouraged! I gave him a card for the website, and if I can get them to, I will see if they can share some things on here. Our Miracles are coming! Today is the day!