It has been almost three months since the last time I posted. Things have been really busy as this is my last semester of school! I have four classes this summer, and then I graduate! I am truly excited, and thankful to the Lord for his help!

With graduation coming, Cindy and I have been looking for a church that God would lead us to. There are many churches that needing help, and there are always our own desires, so how do we know where God is leading us? Finding God’s will sometimes seems like an allusive ghost, we are often taught that God’s will is hard to find. Well, I do not think it is as hard as we make it sound sometimes, it is just as hard as we make it, that is all. I believe there are four easy steps to finding God’s will.

1). Pray. Prayer is our way of communicating with God. Have you ever know somebody wanted something, but you waited until they asked for it before you gave it to them, just because you wanted them to ask first? We as humans my do this for many different reasons, but God only does it for one, he wants us to demonstrate that we need him.

2). Read the Bible. This is one of God’s ways of communicating with us. If you do not listen to someone, how do you know what they want you to do? The same applies to God, if you are not reading his Word to you, how can you know what he wants you to do!

3). Follow where he leads. Psalm 37:23 “The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way.” We often want to see the big picture, we want the “10 year plan”. This is not the way that God leads, God leads step-by-step. Just like the Israelites in the wilderness, had to follow the pillar, so we must daily follow God. This point and the next tie together.

4). Take the Open Door. I have found the easiest way to follow God’s will in my life is to take the open door. Now there is a few things you must be doing in order to know that an open door is the will of God, and not a trap by Satan: You must be doing the first three steps, and you must evaluate the open door to see if it is in line with scripture, or contradictory to it! If you feel that God is leading you in a direction, then begin to head that direction, with prayer and seeking his will. If the door stays open, then go through, if the door closes, then God must have a different door that he wants you to go through. The key is to just go/live one step at a time!

I hope this is an encouragement to you, it is to me I know. When I begin to get stressed about what I need to do next, this is what I focus on, God leading me step-by-step, and I know if I approach life this way I cannot go wrong!

~ Nate

The last few weeks have been busy, projects to write, crazy work schedule, and life in general! Yet, it is always good to look back and see how God has worked in your life and things he has taught!

Though the classes that I had this semester were not my favorite over all, there were great things to be gleaned from them. One class that I had was a class studying the books of Joshua, Judges, and Ruth. I think one of the greatest things I learned this semester was from Joshua. We must obey God in everything he tells us to the fullest extent. Can you imagine when God came to Joshua and gave him the battle plan for Jericho? “March around the city and do not make any noise. To me that sounds like a pretty silly plan. This leads me to a question, if it had been me there and not Joshua, would I have followed God’s plan? What about you, would you have followed God’s plan???

Another thing that I learned was the consequences of not completely obeying God’s commands! The Israelites were told that the land was theirs and all they had to do was go take it and there would be rest and no trouble! Yet look at Israel in the Old Testament and even today. It does not look like they found this rest! What happened? They did not COMPLETELY follow God’s plan. God said to completely wipe out all the Canaanites, and this is something that Israel did not do. Because of this we find them in idolatry, we find them oppressed, and we find them away from God! It is important when God tells us to do something, that we do it completely! Have you ever started to work on an area in your life that you know needs work, then when you have almost got everything in order you stop! “Oh, it’s good enough,” we say, or “look how much I’ve improved.” Yet, even with this progress we have missed the goal, because we have given up before achieving the end!

So, two important lessons! Always obey God! There may be times when we feel that what he is asking does not make sense, that is okay. God does not ask us to understand everything that he wants us to do, he just wants us to do it! Also, when God tells us to do something, when there is something that we are doing, we need to make sure that we complete that task, that undertaking. Failing to complete, is failing to succeed!

~ Nate