By Christina Vernier
I was praying for a friend who has been fighting a long-term sickness, and I was burdened about the number of methods she had tried and the prayer and healing seminars she had attended. I wondered why she hadn’t gotten healed as soon as she was prayed for.
I was asking myself, “Are we trusting in different methods and different faith healers instead of having simple faith in the Lord?” As I was pondering this, the Lord pointed out to me that I was being judgmental. The Lord leads us all differently in our walk with Him. It’s best for me to just trust that this friend has sought the Lord. If the Lord is leading her in this way, it doesn’t matter how many methods or healers she’s tried. He leads us all differently. He leads some of us to go in circular routes, some in triangular routes, some in zigzags, while some of us travel in a straight line, seemingly heading straight to the will of God. None of these ways are right or wrong; it’s just that He’s leading each of us differently. Therefore, we need to respect how the Lord leads each of us, even if it seems to us that the way the Lord is leading someone is unusual or particular.
It’s such a good lesson for me, as I tend to observe different situations and draw my own conclusions; whereas the Lord sees each person’s heart, and how He leads them will always be the best way.
It goes along with the scriptures in 1 Corinthians 12:4–7, 18, 20, 25–26:
Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. … But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him. … But now are they many members, yet but one body. … That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another. And whether one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honored, all the members rejoice with it.
David mentioned a similar lesson in the Letter “Diamonds of Dust”:
“The rays were many different colors—all showing a different color of His light—but the same light; different gifts, but the same Spirit, each one reflecting in his own way the light of God, each one letting his light shine, showing his particular kind of works to cause men to glorify the beauty of God.”
I pray I’ll learn this precious lesson, and continue to uphold my brothers and sisters in the spirit and prayer, learn to have compassion for others, and faith in their leadings from the Lord.
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God’s going to call you to do new things! God’s going to call your friends to do new things. God’s going to call you to do old things in new ways, or new things in old ways, or things you’ve been doing all along with a new twist! You need to be prepared for that! God’s going to call some [people] to do things they’ve never done before.
What should your reaction be to all of this change and newness? Your reaction should be one of excitement and praise. Thank God people are following Him! Praise God they’re willing to step out and try something new! You should be so grateful that they’re not stuck in a rut, that they’re willing to do what the Lord is asking them, even if it seems a bit risky.
I’d rather [people] try and fail than to never try at all. Of course, we know you will have success too if you’re following God, but we don’t expect every venture to be a success. Failure is not bad. Failure can be a stepping stone to success.
Some new ventures will explode and be miraculously fruitful right off the bat. Others will take some time to get off the ground, but for those who stick with it and follow the Lord through the slow start, they will be tremendously fruitful. Others will be flops and not pan out quite so perfectly. But we can’t let that scare us or stop us or even slow us down. We’re not keeping score of every mistake or venture that didn’t work as well as we had hoped, or keeping track of how long it takes to bring about the fruit, and neither is the Lord. So make sure that you don’t judge others, either, by the new and different things that they do, or even by their failures or mistakes.—Peter Amsterdam1
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Not only do you need to have faith in yourself—faith in God in you personally—but you need to have faith in the Lord in others.
Maybe you’ve failed, and others have failed, at a number of things in the past. It doesn’t matter. When God’s Spirit falls, it sweeps away the past—past mistakes, past mindsets of what could or couldn’t be done. God’s Spirit brings the new, the fresh, the miraculous, the possible, the doable, the successful.
You have to speak faith and think faith in yourselves and in others. When you read the Lord’s promises about what He wants to do through you or others, picture Him doing just that through you and your co-workers. Picture how it’s going to play out, and ask the Lord to give you the faith that it can be done.
The Lord believes in you. You can fulfill God’s will. God can and will use you. He will also use others. And if you show others that you have faith in them and that you believe in them, it reminds them that God believes in them, and it helps them to believe in themselves.
God believes in every one of His children. He believes in all those who don’t know about Him, or who do know about Him and have gone astray. If God has faith for them, why can’t we?
One of the greatest gifts you can give someone is your faith in them. Everyone needs someone to believe in them! Let’s give this gift out liberally, shall we? Everyone needs it. You need it. So give it, and it shall be given unto you.—Peter Amsterdam2
1 Originally published November 2007.
2 Originally published December 2008.
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