Why I Need to Keep in Step with the Spirit

Why I Need to Keep in Step with the Spirit

It started with a dream. I don’t often dream, or I should say I don’t often think God is speaking to me through the dreams I dream. This one was different. It was one that made me sit up and take notice.

I dreamed I was riding a war horse. It was jet black with a ruddy mane. It was galloping down the field along the stretch of road I grew up on. We were making incredible time. The horse seemed to move at my thoughts. It picked up the slightest movements of shifting weight. I was charged with excitement and the horse was even more. We quickly came up to the one selling the horse and it stopped at the command of my thought. I jumped down and excitedly patted it’s side as the owner ask, “So what do you think?”

“I was made for this one” I said, stroking its nuzzle.

“And he was made for you,” the owner finished my thought. I looked at the little man with a grin and he nodded down the field behind me, “So what are you going to do with your last one?” I looked to where he was nodding and saw an old, tired work horse limping as it searched for feed.

“We’ll put her out to pasture for our kids.”

And I woke knowing something was up.

I didn’t know what to make of the dream, but I know I serve the one who gives and interprets them, so after I did my research on the colour of horse and type it might be I decided I’d better ask Him.

I took some time to soak and started a conversational journal entry.

God took me back to the day when I was in New Zealand and was about to start a web design business but I heard in my spirit He said, “It’s a waste of time” and felt Him ask me, “Where the last five years a waste of time?” I knew the last five years in business were.

He then reminded me of the next day in New Zealand when I was pouring a complaint out to him I heard His audible voice saying, “I’ve given you time to write.” Then I felt Him ask me, “Did I ever tell you to stop writing?”

In the past five years I didn’t start anything without seeking God first. When He gave no direct sense, I assumed He was letting me use my common sense and skills. What I learned later was that He had spoken and He was waiting for me to obey.

Looking back, I see it’s not that simple. He was telling me through my wife and through other people asking me to write for them and through a stranger who heard me on the radio talk about my books tell me, “That’s what you need to be doing,” that God was giving me direction, but I wasn’t picking up on it. Instead I was letting the giant of “You’ll-never-make-a-living-from-writing” drown out the call of God to write.

The great thing about living under grace is when God confronts you about not keeping in step – and you agree you need to change – ask for His forgiveness and the forgiveness of those your choices affect and it’s good.

Yes, my wife forgave me.

If God tells you a step you need to take it. If you don’t, you’ll go around the mountain until your at the exact same spot to take the step He’s already told you to take. It’s like God says, “You’re not a baby anymore. I’ve told you what to do, you need to deal with the consequences if you don’t.” I sense this is what He was telling me.

The reason why we all need to keep in step with the Spirit is because the church is changing. The best way to describe the transition is to compare it to the children of Israel entering the promise land.

We’re moving:

From a place of wondering to a place of occupying

From a place of “just enough” to a place of abundance

From a place of where miracles where done to us to a place where miracles are done through us.

And it means we need to listen for impossible battle strategies like walking around a walled city and shouting the walls down.

And it means if we don’t inquire of God we can enter into unholy alliances and make it impossible to accomplish all that God has for us.

For those of us who don’t pick up on it, it’s going to be our loss.

Since God has shown me what He wants me to do, I’ve been finishing up my book on hope, setting up a Freelance Business Writing website, and I’m starting my first ghostwriting gig this month. I’ve got a lot of deadlines before I start that project in a couple weeks.

The Freelance Business writing is because I see a need for the writing, project design and project management that I’ve been doing for years. I’ve got a prophecy over me to influence business people and being able to enhance their business image and make their lives easier has already been a great way to do that. It’s making use of the skills and experience I have. I can feel the power of the horse under me and the pleasure of God over me.

Are you feeling out of sorts with your life? When was the last time you checked in with God?