Thoughts from my Road Trip

19th February 2012 Eltham Baptist

No. 366

Been meaning to go up north on my own and see my mother and sister for quite a while and have tried to find an appropriate time, as its a good days journey away from Eltham to Whangarei here in New Zealand. I didnt commit myself until the day before I left as I had things to sort out first. I had been reading the scriptures and felt God speak to me through a couple of verses which I then prayed over every day. The first one was from Exodus 24:1-18 where Moses and the Elders went up to the mountain of God. The gist of the word was that I am to go north and would there hear from God during this time and on the 7th day God would really speak to me about something. I always feel its good to wait for God with an expectation.
For surely there is an end (reward); and your expectation shall not be cut off. Proverbs 23:18

God always rewards faith and its important to keep your expectations high. If you come to Church and dont expect to hear from Him, then you will not be in the right place to receive anything. The bible says BELIEVE, for God honours faith not just your need.
Then he touched their eyes and said, "According to your faith will it be done to you"; Matthew 9:29

I went after lunch on Monday expecting to receive blessing and be a blessing on this trip. First stop was Te Kuiti where I was encouraged by Pastor Terry whom I established in the Church there after we left 11 years ago. It was great to hear how God has been blessing him after some leaner times. Stayed the night with some other friends the Vesseurs and also had encouraging fellowship. Saw more folk on the way and arrived at my mothers house about 4 oclock in the afternoon. She had been quite sick from very high blood pressure but after prayer began to improve and by the time I left she was fine again. Praise the Lord. When Im at my mothers I always like to go for a walk around the large sports field at Kensington Park. Once while in Whangarei many years ago I was walking around this same sports field praying and particularly asking the Lord to intervene in my financial situation. I spied on the ground a plastic money pouch that appeared to be full of money of the paper variety. My heart leapt as I quickly dove on it and unzipped the pouch, only to find that it was pages out of the Gideons Bible. I was disappointed and threw it aside in disgust only to come under the immediate conviction of the Holy Spirit. The Lord then told me off saying that His word was far more valuable than silver and gold, and that if I valued it as I did money I would prosper and have good success in life. I apologised to God and picked it up again and went up into the Grandstand and read the pages that were in the pouch. They were from the New Testament Epistles of Peter and these particular verses jumped out at me.
1 Peter 2: 1-2 Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking, as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby, 2 Peter 1: 4 by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

I always remember this event when I pray around this Park. Later in the evening I went up and stayed at my Sisters new farm north of Whangarei and spent a lot of time there also walking along the long cattle races in the morning and the evening just praying in tongues and believing for words from God. I really believe that if we pray in tongues with an expectation we will receive revelation.
For this reason anyone who speaks in a tongue should pray that he may interpret what he says. 1 Corinthians 14:13 For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people. Isaiah 28:11

I am amazed at how this principle has worked for me over the years and how I have received so much from God far beyond financial gain. I arranged to go and see my good friend Pastor Bill Anderson from Pihia Baptist Church in Kawa Kawa on one of the days. We shared what God was doing in each others life and then went for a prayer walk. It was very hot so we stood under a tree and prayed. Next minute (Nek minnit) he had a word for me from the Lord which I took to my heart.
The Lord said, Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by. Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper (still small voice). When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave. 1 Kings 19:11-13

The word was mainly about not ignoring that still small voice. We are always looking for something spectacular from God but he mostly likes to speak to us in a gentle whisper. We can drift away from this mentality so easily and think that God isnt speaking to us because nothing loud has happened lately when he has been speaking often in those quite ways. So many Christians are rushing here and there now days

listening for the loud stuff when God would like them to stop and listen for His still small voice. We can always be listening to loud Christian stuff, when the Spirit would like us to read his word more and meditate and pray. When we ask God to speak we need to then stop and listen and obey what He says.
If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does. James 1:5-8

On my last day in Whangarei I went for a walk in the early morning and there was a thick mist/fog in the valley. As I went down one of the cattle races there was a pine type tree covered in pine needles and it was literally raining under it. The mist was collecting in the branches and dripped profusely off the pine needles. It was just a solitary tree and under it, it was sopping wet, while everywhere else it was just damp. It made me think of Moses seeing the burning bush where God spoke to him. I didnt want to stand under this tree for a much closer experience as I was quite dry but just reminded God I was expecting to hear more from him on this trip. As the sun came up over the hills I was walking back to the house, there was a rainbow in the mist, but it was white? There was a very faint hint of colour but it was a white arch amazing. By this time I was expecting an Angel to appear but all I heard was that still small voice again confirming that God was there and told me where to stay that night in Auckland. I left after lunch and stayed at a Holiday Park in Northcote on the Shore. It was full of young people all drinking, so I wondered if Id made the right choice. Nek Minnit I bumped into an Eltham-ite, Wayne Boyes who was staying the night there with Janis. What a co-incidence. Later that afternoon I went for a long walk along Takapuna Beach while the tide was going out. There were lots of people sunbathing and swimming but I just walked and prayed again in tongues believing. When I got to the other end I sat on a bench and rested my weary feet. Nek minnit I get a random text from my son Sean in Australia and all it said was Psalm 103:2-5. I took this as another word from God worth meditating on.
Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagles.

I had found out that the City Impact Church was having special meetings not far from where I was staying that night so I went along and the Speaker was Steve Kennedy from Australia. He was very good and spoke on evangelism and the need to bring people rather than invite them to Church. He showed many scriptures about how we are to bring people to Jesus. So often we invite them and they dont turn up but he said we need to go and bring them along because Satan stops them from coming. The next morning after a disturbed noisy night I was away early and asked God if I should go to Church somewhere on the way home and felt impressed to stop at a friends Church in Otorohanga and got there in plenty of time. As I was driving along somewhere after the Bombay hills, the Lord said to me out of the blue. Many of my people (including me) are being kept out of blessing because they are murmuring, moaning and criticising when they need to be praising. I had been complaining in my mind about my night and the Lord said to me rejoice for I am in control, I knew this place would be like this and you had an opportunity to maintain a right attitude.
Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the desert, where your fathers tested and tried me and for forty years saw what I did. That is why I was angry with that generation, and I said, Their hearts are always going astray, and they have not known my ways. So I declared on oath in my anger, They shall never enter my rest. Hebrews 3:7-11

The preaching that morning was again on evangelism and making disciples of those who you lead to Christ. Both the sermons I heard were on evangelism and it appears that this is something I am to consider. But the most powerful word that I heard from God, especially on the 7th day, was on watching my attitude concerning grumbling and complaining. This was more powerful than the white rainbow, the raining tree, the prophecy, powerful preachers, confirmations or the random scripture txt. The still small voice will have more of an influence on me than all the other words and signs. There were many more things that I received on this trip which I dont have room enough now to share. One more thing - I had given away a computer the week before I left. My sister and her husband had a really nice one that had packed up and were told it would cost $400 to fix. They gave it to me and I managed to fix it for nothing when I got back. Twice as good as the one I gave away. Praise the Lord http://ghotter.blogspot.com