How many times do we stop in a day to hear the voice of the spirit?
How often when we hear or are prompted by the Holy Spirit that we stop and obey?
How many times we fear that we have heard wrongly
Maybe it's myself, or is this really from God?
How many..........
How to..........
How is it possible .........???
Questions upon questions, and many a times, still questions, rather than answers.
I realise that I've ignored God's voice at times, without realising, until much later - and it's all because of all these above questions, and "self-rationalisation". In the recent organising of Oceania Convention, I thank God for teaching me this lesson to be led by His Spirit. And it is really by His grace and strength that I have chosen to let go, and let the Spirit guide. On 2 occasions, I have learned to let the Spirit direct.
Firstly, it was a strong prompting, since the start of the year, to remember to put God as the centre of the event and the organising aspect. I was quite caught up with tasks to do, emails piling up, head and brain space becoming clogged up and "BANG" in one of my quiet times, God rebuked and reminded me that I can't do it without Him - that simple principle (something I've known all along) struck and awoke me to "Spirit-reality". And John 15:5 was my foundation.
Since then, I started fasting, praying, encouraging my committee members to be in tune with God. Got intercessors to pray, and in my heart, I felt a release of His Spirit. I was reminded by the Spirit of God, that the success of OC, is not just good orgainisng, good flow, good program, good planning and etc...... but the success of OC will be that all would be ministered by His (God's) presence and grace.
I must say that it was hard to shift the perspective that the success of a event is measured through spiritual matters (which you can't quite quantify). I was very stuck in the mentality of trying not to make a loss, and ensuring that we provide quality service and program and that all is well-organised. God had to really pour His presence and grace in my life to challenge me to understand His heart in this OC.
That was 1 hurdle - but praise God that He helped me to keep coming back into His presence. The 2nd thing was a prompting one night, before I slept, I felt the urge to check the original contract that I signed with GCCEC over about 8 months ago. It was funny, cos I didn't look at that for a really long time. I checked it in the morning (the morning before OC started), and realised that the updated event contract had a different amount from the original contract signed (as in they have over-charged us on the food & beverage costs). I rang up GCCEC and told them about it, and they later got back to me, that it was their over-sight, and so Praise God again, the cost is much lower than I expected it to be.
These are my personal testimonies; But it is so vital to learn and grow in being led by the Spirit - no matter what it is that we do - and this is not hard if we just desire to seek God wholeheartedly, in all things.
"You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart." Jer 29:13
