Nothing God does happens in a vacuum.
On Wednesday afternoon, I was watching something on Fox News, and chopping vegies for dinner. I was doing this in the living room on a cutting board on the coffee table, as we are not blessed with an "open floor plan".
The Spirit suddenly prompted me to go check a pot under the sink that was placed there because of a leaky pipe. It was a slow drip, and we just hadn't gotten around to repairing it and so a pot was placed there to catch the water. I routinely checked it when doing tasks in the kitchen, and it hardly rose above 2 inches of water, so I felt no sense of urgency about it at all.
The Spirit didn't just prompt me to check it. He spoke to me very clearly. "The pot is about to overflow, go check it." Well...I thought that meant I could check it when I was finished with what I was doing. WRONG. Again, the Spirit spoke to me quite loudly "THE POT IS ABOUT TO OVERFLOW! Go check it NOW!"
This got my attention, so I left the eggplant on the cutting board and went to check the pot. As I approached the sink, I could feel water underneath my bare feet. I opened the cabinet, and sure enough water was just starting to overflow the brim of the pot, splashing onto the cabinet shelf, and out onto the kitchen floor. I made haste to grab a measuring bowl on the counter to scoop some of the water out so I could lift the pot, and take it to the bathroom and empty it, and then I mopped up the water that had already escaped.
Of course, I couldn't stop thinking about how I had definitely "heard from God." I couldn't stop thinking about how much the Lord loves me. So much that He would even warn me about such a simple thing as a pot overflowing because He knew to have to deal with it would be a pain in the neck and an interruption to an already busy day. Oh the overwhelming goodness and mercy of God!!! Can we ever even begin to be thankful enough??? I don't think so!!!
My meditations on this carried me into the evening, and I was anxious to be able to get online and write this blog which is now happening a couple of days after the event. But the same cares of family life that almost kept me from checking the pot (preparing a meal for my family) also kept me from being able to find the time to focus on writing a blog.
(But, I know now that just as the Lord expedited the discovery of the overflowing pot, He also hindered me writing the blog because the blessing of hearing from God was not just a blessing, but it was also the beginning of a lesson! )
Again, later the same evening, the Lord spoke to my heart about another matter. He told me I needed to make a spiritual adjustment to something that would cause me a big spiritual headache just as much as that overflowing pot, if left even a few seconds longer, could have caused me a big headache in the natural realm.
It had been simmering at a low level in my spirit for most of the evening, but it was as if someone came along and turned my inner flame up a little higher, and the Spirit was making it more and more clear to me that I needed to fix it. But, the night had worn away to the wee hours of the morning, and there had been this and that to deal with all evening long. Care of Natalia. Care of cleaning up after dinner. Care of keeping up with the latest political news. Care of my usual evening banter with my husband catching up on the events of the day. Care of checking e-mail and facebook. I was tired, and just wanted to sleep.
I was going to bed knowing just how much Jesus loves me and cares for me after He rescued me from a major leaky mess onto my kitchen floor earlier the previous day!!! So, I basically told Him, "I will take care of it first thing in the morning. I love you, Lord....I am so very tired. Good night!" And I truly felt totally enveloped in His love!
My routine before bed is always to take a glass of ice water to the bedroom because I tend to get choking spells at night. I set the glass down in what I considered a safe spot, turned out the light, and got into bed. Well, I am not sure what I did differently, but CRASH...that glass of ice water went flying off the desk and onto the floor startling me, and getting me back OUT of bed.
As I cleaned up the water, thanking God it didn't get near enough to the computer or any other electrical equipment to do any damage, it didn't take the Spirit even two seconds within me to connect the dots between the glass of water spilling then and what had happened earlier that day!!!
The whole leaky pipe thing was God PREPARING me to deal with a spiritual issue having eternal consequences in the same way He wanted me to be attentive to something that would be problematic in the natural.
The moment I saw what happened, I knew God was telling me, "Deal with the situation NOW!! The morning will not be soon enough!" And so I did.
And there was a further blessing in God's timing on the matter. Some times we like to do things when we are fresh and alert. But for me, "fresh and alert" can mean that I OVERDO things!!! I believe the Spirit knew if I had waited until the morning, I would have gone too far. But, dealing with the matter in the wee hours, I was too tired to do anything more than exactly what the Spirit said to do.
And what peace!!! I think I slept better in the wee hours of Thursday morning than I have in a long time!!!
What can you take away from this article for yourself personally? First of all, trust that as one of His own sheep, you do know His voice, and if you're still just a little lamb, you're in the process of learning. Don't ever have the mistaken notion that prophetic ministry surrounding your life negates your ability or your right to know the voice of the Lord. Jesus said, "My sheep hear My voice." (see John 10:27)
There may be some trial and error involved in the learning process, and a need to run things by a person who has a more acute spiritually trained ear than what you do at this time, but it is one of your rights as one of His own to have a relationship with Him whereby you can hear and know His voice.
And always be aware that while God does care about things that affect us in the natural realm, His strongest interest is in the things that have eternal consequence and value in our lives. When God does deal with you about something pertaining to the natural realm, be alert!!! There is most likely a spiritual lesson, principle or discipline that will soon follow it!
Heavenly Father, in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ, help us to quickly obey all of the leadings and promptings You bring to our spirits because we know that through them, You are teaching us great and valuable lessons that we may only understand in a measure in our life time, but the day will come when in Your presence, ALL things You do in our lives will be forever a praise and glory unto Your wonderful Name through out all of eternity!!!
In Jesus Name, Amen and AMEN!!
Always your sister in Jesus,
Clo D.