God has a plan

God has a clear plan and strategy in everything He does. From creation to salvation, nothing has happened in heaven and earth without the foreknowledge of God. You are an important part of His strategy. He knew you before you were formed in your mother's womb. He has planned out all of your days. No experience is wasted. It has all been designed by a master architect. The Bible says in Hebrews 11:3 that it is by faith we understand that our lives are framed, fashioned and formed for their intended purpose by the Word of God (Amp).

God's plan for your life is for good, to give you a future and a hope. His plans always bring blessing. When you look at the historic sufferings of Israel, we can see how God brought them through persecution and slavery into blessing. There is always a deliverance; He will always bring you through every difficulty. God has a tremendous future for you. I want you to move forward with a renewed sense of purpose and hope. Our God is a God of power, miracles and deliverance. He will not leave you in your tragedy but has come to bless you.

An important part of God's strategy is that He wants to show His power is not just in heaven, but also on earth. God wants to use you to fulfil this plan. But God can only use willing, obedient, committed people who will make His glory the first priority. God needs the right men and women in the right place in order to do what He wants, to bring glory to His Name, to bring deliverance to nations, to build His church. Do you want to be where God is? Do you want the power of God? Then go where God is telling you, do what He is telling you to do.

This is the way, walk ye in it!

'You shall hear a voice behind you saying, 'This is the way, walk ye in it'.' God has a time and a season for everything. At my age, looking back on my life, I see order, direction, planning and purpose; His timing is perfect. Not everything I have lived through has been easy, but not every season listed in Ecclesiastes 3 is. How else would we learn to appreciate joy without also knowing sorrow? All I know for sure is, 'the steps of a righteous man are ordered and planned by the Lord' (Ps 37:23). We just need to follow and do what He says.

All my life I have heard God's voice behind me. Sometimes it has been a whisper, other times God has used dramatic events to alter the course of my life. I have always searched for the power of God, I have longed to live within His will. In 1961 I went to Jerusalem seeking a new anointing, a new fire - three and a half years later I got the beginning of the answer when God healed my throat cancer! Without that miracle I would never have known the power of God in my life. I don't want prophecy, I don't want emotion, I don't want to party. I want the Hand of God to touch me.

God is always a God of miracles! Yes, looking back over my life, I have experienced the power of God, but it was never some emotional experience in a conference, it was just step by step walking closer to God: my teenage cry for the Holy Spirit, my miraculous release from a communist prison, my healing from the two cancers - and many other problems and miracles. What will it be next time, what will happen this year? I'm still not satisfied that God has answered me fully. For me, walking by faith is step by step, and I have not reached the end of the road yet!

That is why Peter said we have a living hope, an inheritance which is incorruptible that cannot be defiled, that does not fade away but goes on increasing and increasing until the moment when we see Jesus in all power and glory (1 Peter 1:4). Every step is another miracle towards experiencing the power of God in our lives! As for me, I will seek God every day until I am in the Kingdom.