Do you keep a record of your God Moments? You know, the times when God has been there and controlled a situation that you know came only from him?
In Deuteronomy 4:9, Moses tells the people, Be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen, or let them slip from your heart as long as you live.
Psalm 78:4 says: We will tell the next generation the praise worthy deeds of the Lord, His power and the wonders He has done.
Isaiah 38:19b LB Each generation can make known your faithfulness to the next.
Joel 1:3 NIV Tell it to your children, and let your children tell it to their children, and their children to the next generation.
We are admonished to TELL the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord. (Psalm 78:4).
How will you tell your stories?? This is something that I have been praying about for quite sometime. I have read a book called The God Moment Principle by Alan Wright. He talks about 'faithbooking' in scrapbook form. I am a scrapbooker so this appeals to me, but you can also journal these things. It is a powerful way to document your testimony.
Now some of you may be thinking, I really dont think the stories of my life are that marvelous or miraculous. Perhaps if I would have survived an earthquake in India or inherited a castle in Scotland or discovered I had a brother who had been separated from the family at birth living just a few blocks from me then I would have miraculous stories to tell.
The truth is, our daily lives are brimming with signposts that God has used in a miraculous way to direct and strengthen us. Events such as your salvation, your marriage, how you got involved with your job or ministry, those are signpost stories that certainly have the handprint of God on them.
However, to help you discover more amazing signposts, Im going to share five questions that Alan Wright uses in his book, The God Moment Principle. These five questions will be a first step in helping you to unlock some of your signpost stories. Remember that your entire family can be involved in this process.
1. When have you had an amazing rescue?
Remembering God's rescue yesterday is the key to being able to rest and be at peace today. We must remember how dangerous life is in order to remember how greatly God has been at work saving us. Begin with childhood memories or recall the pivotal moment of near-accidents or life-threatening circumstances that you survived. Pay special attention to illnesses from which you have recovered. All healing is actually a rescue from danger and is ultimately from God.
2. When have you received a supernatural, personalized message or revelation from the Lord?
God wants to speak to us personally - He speaks through the Bible, through prayer, through divinely appointed conversations. He speaks through study and through flashes of insight. What scriptures have greatly impacted you? Has there ever been a person who spoke just the right word to you and at just the right time? When have you said, "A light bulb just went on in my mind?" When have you said, "I just knew what I was supposed to do"? One message from God can change the whole course of your life. Let the growing awareness of God's voice in your past make you expectant of God's voice in the future as well.
3. When have you done the right thing even when it was hard?
Every moment in which you have felt convicted of selfishness and drawn toward a holier way is a God Moment. To find these moments, replay moments in your mind when you opted for purity - choosing good friends, giving money to charity, helping others. Including these stories in your Faithbook will refresh your heart with the confidence that God's way is the best way.
4. When have you received an unearned blessing or favor on your life?
When we recognize and record in our albums the fact that God has given us a life-changing gift - a job, a spiritual gift, a friend, a mate, etc. encouragement and joy is born in our heart. To find these unearned blessings, reexamine the times your skills were inadequate but you were blessed anyway. What has God given you: people you love, places that have molded you, timely provisions, promotions or privileges?
5. When have you had a valuable adversity?
Sometimes it's not until everything is stripped away that we discover the best things in life like love, community, and joy. God never wastes adversity. Our most difficult moments may also be some of our greatest God Moments. Review your past for moments of adversity that saved you from worse destruction or taught you a great truth. Can you think of times in which a temporary fall, though humiliating, saved you from a permanent fall or gave you something unexpected? When God, redeemed what the locust destroyed? We are searching for ways God used Satan's evil intent to protect us from something worse. Consider even your most acute, painful moments: Loss of a relationship - loss of a job - loss of a dream. Consider all the moments you thought were failures. Alan Wright says, "Deep humiliation welcomes the greatest blessings in life. Every deeply anointed man or woman I know has endured a season of humiliation in the desert."
There are a few different ways to complete a faithbook. But just wanted to give you some food for thought.
Think about doing this! It will be so powerful to have to witness to your grandchildrens children once you are long gone to be w/our Lord.
In Deuteronomy 4:9, Moses tells the people, Be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen, or let them slip from your heart as long as you live.
Psalm 78:4 says: We will tell the next generation the praise worthy deeds of the Lord, His power and the wonders He has done.
Isaiah 38:19b LB Each generation can make known your faithfulness to the next.
Joel 1:3 NIV Tell it to your children, and let your children tell it to their children, and their children to the next generation.
We are admonished to TELL the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord. (Psalm 78:4).
How will you tell your stories?? This is something that I have been praying about for quite sometime. I have read a book called The God Moment Principle by Alan Wright. He talks about 'faithbooking' in scrapbook form. I am a scrapbooker so this appeals to me, but you can also journal these things. It is a powerful way to document your testimony.
Now some of you may be thinking, I really dont think the stories of my life are that marvelous or miraculous. Perhaps if I would have survived an earthquake in India or inherited a castle in Scotland or discovered I had a brother who had been separated from the family at birth living just a few blocks from me then I would have miraculous stories to tell.
The truth is, our daily lives are brimming with signposts that God has used in a miraculous way to direct and strengthen us. Events such as your salvation, your marriage, how you got involved with your job or ministry, those are signpost stories that certainly have the handprint of God on them.
However, to help you discover more amazing signposts, Im going to share five questions that Alan Wright uses in his book, The God Moment Principle. These five questions will be a first step in helping you to unlock some of your signpost stories. Remember that your entire family can be involved in this process.
1. When have you had an amazing rescue?
Remembering God's rescue yesterday is the key to being able to rest and be at peace today. We must remember how dangerous life is in order to remember how greatly God has been at work saving us. Begin with childhood memories or recall the pivotal moment of near-accidents or life-threatening circumstances that you survived. Pay special attention to illnesses from which you have recovered. All healing is actually a rescue from danger and is ultimately from God.
2. When have you received a supernatural, personalized message or revelation from the Lord?
God wants to speak to us personally - He speaks through the Bible, through prayer, through divinely appointed conversations. He speaks through study and through flashes of insight. What scriptures have greatly impacted you? Has there ever been a person who spoke just the right word to you and at just the right time? When have you said, "A light bulb just went on in my mind?" When have you said, "I just knew what I was supposed to do"? One message from God can change the whole course of your life. Let the growing awareness of God's voice in your past make you expectant of God's voice in the future as well.
3. When have you done the right thing even when it was hard?
Every moment in which you have felt convicted of selfishness and drawn toward a holier way is a God Moment. To find these moments, replay moments in your mind when you opted for purity - choosing good friends, giving money to charity, helping others. Including these stories in your Faithbook will refresh your heart with the confidence that God's way is the best way.
4. When have you received an unearned blessing or favor on your life?
When we recognize and record in our albums the fact that God has given us a life-changing gift - a job, a spiritual gift, a friend, a mate, etc. encouragement and joy is born in our heart. To find these unearned blessings, reexamine the times your skills were inadequate but you were blessed anyway. What has God given you: people you love, places that have molded you, timely provisions, promotions or privileges?
5. When have you had a valuable adversity?
Sometimes it's not until everything is stripped away that we discover the best things in life like love, community, and joy. God never wastes adversity. Our most difficult moments may also be some of our greatest God Moments. Review your past for moments of adversity that saved you from worse destruction or taught you a great truth. Can you think of times in which a temporary fall, though humiliating, saved you from a permanent fall or gave you something unexpected? When God, redeemed what the locust destroyed? We are searching for ways God used Satan's evil intent to protect us from something worse. Consider even your most acute, painful moments: Loss of a relationship - loss of a job - loss of a dream. Consider all the moments you thought were failures. Alan Wright says, "Deep humiliation welcomes the greatest blessings in life. Every deeply anointed man or woman I know has endured a season of humiliation in the desert."
There are a few different ways to complete a faithbook. But just wanted to give you some food for thought.
Think about doing this! It will be so powerful to have to witness to your grandchildrens children once you are long gone to be w/our Lord.
