Correct me Father

I had a dream some years ago in which I got excited and started planning things about it - my interpretation. Then my friend had a dream in which I was pushing a pram with a baby in it who's name was Will. I didn't understand it at first, but I then came to understanding that, I was pushing my own will. 

This was God's gracious and loving warning. 

We need to continually be in a place of having an open heart and an open mind to be corrected. And be thankful for the correction.

POST: Correct me Father

King David decided he wanted to build God a House. This can be us. We might think it would be nice to build something for God. Now this was a beautiful gesture. But we learn that even gestures need to come up before God. The prophet Nathan agreed to David's gesture without consulting God because Nathan had seen that God was with King David. But we learn in scripture that King David couldn't build this house for God because: 

• He had shed much blood and had made great wars, and shed much blood on the earth in God's sight. 

2 Samuel Chapter 7. 1 Kings 5:3. 1 Chronicles 22:8, 28:3.

Revelation: If you think or feel to do something, ask God first, and then wait on Him. And if He says yes, ask Him who's to build it (physically and/or spiritually). And even if we get a 'yes', we need to then wait on God for further instructions such as, when, who, where...

Now let's look at Jonah.

The fish was mercy. His near death experience, was Jonah's wake-up call. 

(Jonah wasn't born 'to be' a prophet. He was born a prophet. This was his life calling, not his 'adult' life calling. You don't become a prophet, rather; you grow, as a prophet. There is no age limit to a gift/calling of God. Yes, we need to grow and mature in our gift, but we don't need to wait until we reach a certain age to start walking in it. 

At the age of 40, when I became a Christian, I started having a keen interest to write, and a love of words, sayings. It was in my spiritual DNA. I wasn't born to be a writer; I was born a writer. It was already within me, but I was too busy and occupied and lost and... to even be aware of it. When I came to Jesus, and was then in Jesus, it just bloomed. John 15:4.   

Samuel was walking in his gift/calling from a very early age.)

Back to Jonah and that fish. Jonah was born a prophet. God had specific work for him to do, as Jonah the prophet. There are many prophets, there are many teachers, there are many musicians to praise the Lord. But we each, every individual one of us has a specific, song or tune or gift of an instrument, book to be written, a warning to be proclaimed or shared privately, a prayer to be prayed, a declaration to be declared, a painting to be painted, a helper to help, ....

Some years ago we bought our son a brand new 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle. When he finished it, lo and behold, it was missing a piece. It was strange. It was there to look at, in all it's 999 pieces. But one piece was missing. It made this beautiful colourful jigsaw incomplete. The 999 pieces couldn't compensate for this one missing piece. It was an individual piece that completed the picture.

Revelation: Each one of us has a unique gift that we've been given for a specific time and place. If Jonah hadn't fulfilled his specific work, then there would have been more than one hundred and twenty thousand persons who could not have discerned between their right hand and their left - and much livestock that would not have received compassion through Jonah and the warning that God had instructed him to give. 

Now let's look at one last thing for this post - God's rod and staff, as comfort to us. Psalm 23:4(c).

Why is God's rod and staff a comfort to us? Because they correct and protect. The title of Psalm 23 is 'The LORD the Shepherd of His people'. 

A shepherd uses their rod and staff for different reasons, from, guiding their sheep in which way they should go, to stop them from going to a certain area, to stop them from wandering off alone, to warding off predators, AND TO KEEP THEM CLOSE TO HIM.

Revelation: Overall, a rod and a staff, is used for protection. In our case, spiritually (and sometimes physically). But they are only comfort if one chooses to be, guided, corrected, aligned, and in our Shepherd's presence continually. 
      



Psalm 37:23-24 
The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD, 
and He delights in his way. 
Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down; 
For the LORD upholds him with His hand. 

Proverbs 3:5-6
Trust in the LORD with all your heart, 
And lean not on your own understanding; 
In all your ways acknowledge Him, 
And He shall direct your paths.

Proverbs 3:11-12
My son, do not despise the 
chastening of the LORD,
Nor detest His correction;
For whom the LORD loves He corrects,
Just as a father the son in whom he delights.

2 Timothy 3:16-17
All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. 

All verses are NKJV.