The Only Way

"And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. And before you went forth from the womb, I sanctified you. And I made you a prophet to the nations.
And I said : "Alas, alas, alas, Lord God! Behold, I do not know how to speak, for I am a boy.
And the Lord said to me: "Do not choose to say, 'I am a boy.' For you shall go forth to everyone to whom I will send you. And you shall speak all that I will command you.
You should not be afraid before their face. For I am with you, so that I may deliver you," says the Lord.
And the Lord put forth His hand, and He touched my mouth. And the Lord said to me:"Behold, I have placed my words in your mouth.
Behold, today, I have appointed you over nations and over kingdoms, so that you may root up, and pull down, and destroy, and scatter, and so that you may build and plant. ~ Jeremiah 1 : 4-10

Buying Pens
Jesus asks for our obedience to Him in our daily life. Obedience to Him and He will show us the way.
When I was young, the shops which sold ordinary writing pens would provide paper so that you could test if the pens you were buying, had ink (I've noticed that some shops no longer have this practice as they tape up the pens and expect you to expect the pens to have ink and just buy them!). I used to and I still do, for some reason, whenever I test the pens, I may not just draw random squiggles. I will most times write the sentence, 'The only way". I don't know why I write this. It seems like an incomplete sentence and for many, many years, I would wonder what the end of the sentence was supposed to be. "The only way.....(what?)". This is how I write it.

Of late, I was thinking that perhaps, it is supposed to be referring to Jesus' 'I am the way, the truth and the life'. But I do not write 'I am the way....'. I write, 'The only way'.

Yesterday, whilst reading 'God Calling' during my lunch break, I came across this page in the book:

The Only Way
I just smiled when I saw that sentence. What type of header is that? 'The Only Way'? It seems incomplete! Yet, I had to smile and such joy filled in me. It was an affirmation that I am on the right track, yearning more and more for the treasures of the Kingdom of Heaven, as opposed to the treasures on earth! It IS THE ONLY WAY! God already knew when I was born into a non-Christian family, that He would pave the way for me to accept Him one day and that I would one day, learn 'the only way'.

If 'God Calling' had been a novel, I would have finished it much faster. In fact, I AM so keen to devour it all but have no choice but to read it slowly because I am trying to let every sentence soak into my very being. I've only read the daily devotions from January to July. Frankly, I didn't turn to the back of the book to find out if the devotions ended in December. I'm guessing it does. I have another daily devotional book which I could not seem to finish reading and I was reading only 1 devotion per day! Mike asked me last night if I was supposed to read one devotion from 'God Calling' a day. I said, I guess it was but I cannot help myself from reading more. I'm too excited about what each message holds because of the similarities they have with the messages I receive from God.

I love, love every word in this book and I don't need to know where it ends. Having read the messages up to July -- I'll be very honest -- I have already prepared myself with God's guidance and messages (prior to reading the book). I mean, whatever He says should be done up till July, I think I am already 'there'. That's why I'm so excited. As I read, I'm mentally going, 'Oh! He's already shown me this, he's already told me that, I've already learnt this'. Don't get me wrong, I'm NOT saying I have conquered everything. Hardly. But I have been 'informed' to be, to do, to act, to feel a certain way and God has been preparing me the past few years to be where I am today.

In fact, as I read in bed at night, I keep nudging Mike to say, 'It's amazing! He says this and this....and it's exactly what He's told me!' How shall I say this? It's like you're in the second year in Junior College and you're reading the notes of a year 1 student. You then go nodding your head, thinking to yourself, I was already taught this. But it doesn't mean you're good in it. You've just 'heard' of it. I just feel that He made me 'bump' into this book and buy it! I see the messages in this book as an affirmation to me that I am on track. Hey, I'm not on track to sainthood. I am on track to trying to be obedient to God in my very humanly faltering manner.

Great Expectations
I don't know how to contain my excitement because I can feel it in my bones that GREAT things are going to happen in my life. I've been feeling this everyday since God invited me to be in His presence in Adoration Room. That was before coming across this book. I told Mike that perhaps it's time for me to go 'home' to Him (I won't know, will I?) but I just feel so excited that something is about to happen!!! Although I'm dying inside to know it, I won't bug God for clues because I trust He knows best.

Painful Preparation
When I read June and July's messages, it was also in the direction I am headed. I don't mean to infringe on any copyright laws and I hope God will bless and cover me against being sued for doing this, but I just wish to show you what I mean. Here's an excerpt of the message of July 7:

Painful Preparation
"Help and peace and joy are here. Your courage will be rewarded.
Painful as this time is you will both one day see the reason of it, and see too that it was not cruel testing, but tender preparation for the wonderful life-work you are both to do.
Try to realize that your own prayers are being most wonderfully answered. Answered in a way that seems painful to you, but that just now is the only way. 
Success in the temporal world would not satisfy you.
Great success, in both temporal and spiritual world awaits you.
I know you will see this had to be." ~ "God Calling" edited by A. J Russell (Message of July 7 "Painful Preparation").

True Friends
So, I had quoted Jeremiah 1 4:10 because while every bone in me may say that the earthly way is to do this, to be this way, to say this, to own this, to buy this...... I know that the Godly way is not the earthly way. I know that I've made some changes to my life and I'm going to be making more changes and these changes won't go down well with other earthlings but I need to stay focused, be strong and know that it is the CEO of my existence that matters. I think some of my friends or relatives who might not be on the same track as me may think I'm going overboard with this 'God' thing. They're probably just too polite to say it in front of me. They are probably concurring with each other. That's a good way to say gossipping about it. I hope not because if you were really my friend, you wouldn't be doing that. But anyway, you're human and not Divine, so I understand. If I have to lose the world to gain God, I will. If I have to lose friends to gain God, I will.
But I tell you, this is a really good way to see people for what they are. I have also gained the trust of some close friends whom I have shared my messages with. Very slowly, I see how they change. How the Lord works in their lives and I see how our friendship has grown. I don't have a thousand friends. I have a pocketful of good ones. In my pursuit of God's Kingdom, there is peace in my heart if I have to lose the majority of my friends to gain a few true ones. I will stand by my King and if He stands with you, what have you to lose?

The King and I
I mean, think of it this way. What if I lived in a land where this great King ruled and everything was done according to his will? Many of his servants and workers are too in awe of him and too distanced from him to speak to him. But this King, he speaks to me personally because he knows me and I him. What if one day, this King tells me, to go some place to mine for diamonds and while I do that, the servants attack me, scold me and gossip about me because they think I'm not supposed to? Would I be willing to face ridicule from the majority of the people of the land or would I obey my King who had given me the instructions personally? What if the whole land wishes to have me cast out and my King is the only one who will not allow it? Who will matter more to me? The King or the others?

God Has Plans For Us - What Are Our Plans For Him?
At the beginning of this post, I had quoted Jeremiah because God already knew me before I was even born. He had a path set out for me and He had to make me go through what I had to go through and still am going through because all this was necessary for me to get to where I am today and to get me where I need to go from here. I feel that because God always gives us the ability to make choices, He may have set a path for us but ultimately, it is up to us to get on that path to His Kingdom or get lost. He cannot decide that for us. Yep, I'm thoroughly convinced of this. I feel so blessed that while I on earth may think my life in chaos, God thinks differently. Awesome. Thank you, Jesus. I trust in you, Jesus.