INTRODUCTION
I believe that God interacts with His people on a daily basis. He desires to do that. Sure, we should see Him when we open our eyes, or dress ourselves, when we arrive at our destinations safely, and greet our family & friends. Yes, these are miracles we take for granted and we SHOULD give thanks to God for them. However, if at the end of the day, we cannot pinpoint a certain moment where there was a Yeshua-experience just for us, we have missed Him. I am going to start a series in which I detail those Yeshua Moments in my life and I hope you do the same. Let’s practice His presence. Let’s consciously choose to see Him in everything, everywhere! Here’s the point–”The more we focus on what He IS doing, the more of that He will do in our lives. If we focus on what He is NOT doing, He will NOT do anything–and it is not that He is Not doing anything, but that is all that you will see.” So let’s practice the presence of our God for the next 30 days and record them so that our spirits can be alive in Him. Let’s help to build one another’s faith and awaken our spiritual pores to the living Presence of our Abba. Come on! Let’s walk with the Father!
Day #20 — “A Missed Opportunity”
I met a dear woman who wanted to purchase two of my books — Journey Beyond Imagination. When I went to her house, I noticed that the driveway was free, that it was about 3:30 P.M., and that my time there would be very short. However, when I went in, she wanted to know all about me, and, in turn, I discovered a lot about her and her family. At that time her daughter came home and was very upset that I had parked in the driveway and chided me in that respect. Because the house sits at the top of an incline, she likes to park in the driveway so that her walking will not put too much strain on a back that is already bad. I was too busy explaining why I parked in the driveway that I did not hear anything but her angst. I apologized, thanked the mother, tried to pray with her, settled the transaction, and was on my way.
As I was sharing this incident with a friend, she asked, “Did you ask the daughter if you could pray for her back? If you had not parked in the driveway, you would have never known about her bad back. Maybe God sent you there, not just to sell books, but to bless this lady and to pray for her healing.” Wow!
Was that a Yeshua moment — a divine appointment and interaction — that I missed!? Mind you, these blogs have been dedicated to my capturing those moments. I had purposed to be open to God’s intervention in my life and could have missed it! I am not beating myself up and will not allow the enemy to level me with guilt, but what a great revelation! I tried not to take offense by remaining polite — after all, I was in her house and parked in her driveway — but even a slight offense (there must have been) kept me from hearing the real heart of God for this situation.
This is what I learned about offense from Steve Backlund in his book Victorious Mindsets: “…mistreatment itself does not cause the offense; but we choose to be offended when we place more value on protecting ourselves than for the call we have and the assignment we have been given.” Good stuff!
Father, in those moments where we interact with other people and you intervene in our midst, help us to remember ALWAYS that we are on assignment. I had tried to bless the mother because she was nice to me, but I could not move beyond the offense to even see that I had a greater assignment. Forgive us, Father, for magnifying an offense and making it greater than You! As Backlund says, “forward-moving people are less apt to notice wrong things done to them. Their big vision causes them not to even be aware of many of these offenses, and they know that being easily offended causes a ‘going-down’ from the high place of God.” Father, we do not want to come down! Amen!
Awesome stuff! I was talking to a dear friend recently about those who are offended at the slightest of things. There is a person I have in mind in fact, whom, more increasingly I feel I must walk on eggshells when I am around them, for if I blink out of time, they will be offended somehow. Interesting to learn that hyper-offensiveness is a sign of idleness.
When our plates are full with the blessings and the assignments He has for us for His glory, who has time to be offended? Especially with the small stuff. Also, in reading this account of offense, indeed it can be such a distraction to our assignment, our walk or that divine appointment we been praying for. Yet an attack from the enemy, whoa to him from where the defense comes!
This whole idea is such a divine one. This world speaks to us of our rights — even the right to avenge the offenses done to us. The principle of the Kingdom says “Live above them!” Wow! Daily I want to wear my offenses less and less . . . until I am totally saturated with Him! Let’s fill our plates with His blessings and His assignments for us.