A Walk With God - part 3 of a series of 3

I work in the building supply industry.  Our industry has been declining since 2007.  As many people have probably lost jobs in our industry as any other in America over the past 5 years.  In this time I have either “let go” personally or had a hand in letting go more people than I EVER expected to see lose their jobs in my entire career.  People I expected to retire with.  I saw people take 40 to 50 % pay cuts and had a hand in those difficult situations.  The amount my pay has decreased has ranged from 100% (when as partners, we willingly took no salary in our business for 18 months) to 50% to 75%.  The good news is I am recovering.  I had found a good job in Charleston in spite of the industry circumstances.

  As I prayed for God’s will in my life, doors started opening in Atlanta.  Some were situations where I had knocked and someone answered.  But, here is the amazing revelation:  the job I was offered and now accepted came to me!  In my mind, it was a bit of a miracle in itself.  In an industry where jobs are still being cut, salaries are still being reduced, I was sought after and hired here in Atlanta for a job opportunity potentially as good or better.  I moved home 2 days before my youngest daughter started her Senior year.  I believe the Lord is working actively in my life.  I specifically had come to believe that I would be able to return to Atlanta just before the start of our daughter’s Senior year.

  I recently read a story about a man who had an incredible encounter with the Lord and the Holy Spirit.  By the way, if you think people might look at you funny when you speak of the Lord answering your prayers, wait until you speak of the actual presence of the Holy Spirit in your life.  So many people look at you like a religious zealot of some kind.   Yet, one of the things Jesus told His disciples was that He was leaving so that they would have access to the Holy Spirit.  It amazes me that people don’t seem to want to see or mention the Holy Spirit in their lives.  I know I do.

  The man in the story was not really a believer and yet his father, his great uncle and many around Him loved the Lord.  They were all praying for Him to know the Lord.  He was not only skeptical, he did not want to be bothered with all of this "God talk."  He ultimately had an amazing encounter with God and the Holy Spirit.  This happened because of the prayers of others combined with the man reaching out for God in a moment of “weakness”.  Later in the story, the man makes this statement, “Since God has become active in my life, my life has gone into the toilet.”  You might wonder why I would share this if my hope, my prayer, my love for you as neighbor or stranger is that you would come to know, love and trust the Lord in your life?  I hope I can give you an adequate answer.  I pray that I can.  I am turning to the verse in Jeremiah:

  This is what the LORD says: "Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls… Jeremiah 6:16

  You might notice that at the end of the verse there are 3 dots…this is there because there is more to the verse:  But you said, 'We will not walk in it.'  I believe this is the hard truth.  Left to ourselves, we will not let go of our lives as we know them and walk in the ancient paths.  Ask where the good way is and walk in it.  Being good is sometimes oh so very hard.  It may mean walking away from easy money in a situation because it isn’t right.  It may mean that the habits that consume our lives and in essence own us, need to be broken.  Breaking those habits can be very hard.  And our lives may become much more difficult as we walk in the good way. 

  Here is the promise that makes it all worth it, “you will find rest for your souls.”  This life is short in comparison to eternity.  Eternity is so long, it is almost impossible for us to imagine.  But our souls were meant to live for eternity.  Any injustice in this life is offset by the incredible promise God has made to us that if we choose Him, we choose eternity.  And my prayer for all people today is that we will find peace for our souls in eternity.  The Lord promises us that if we will follow Him, we will have eternal life.  He always keeps His promises.  If we accept Jesus, then we can have this promise of peace.  It may not mean an easy life, but it will mean a heavenly eternity.  I pray this for you.  Amen