This is an inspiring word from Kathie Walters who encourages us to seek God for direction through sharing some remarkable happenings in her life.
#1 God's Mysterious Voice:
God Will Provide a Red Cord For You
God Will Provide a Red Cord For You
Your Red Cord
God promised to always make a way of escape. Jesus is our Savior, Healer, Redeemer, and He is also the Rescuer. Everyone of us needs rescuing sometime or other. From situations beyond our control, from situations brought about by other people, even other people's selfishness or carelessness, or even dishonesty.
Sometimes we need rescuing from our own mistakes or our own lack of wisdom or discernment. But Jesus is also the Rescuer. Part of the word meaning of Redeemer is "rescuer."
When Joshua sent two spies to Jericho, Rahab allowed the two men to stay at her place. But the king of Jericho found out that they were there. He sent his men to Rahab's house to capture the spies. The people of Jericho were very afraid of the Israelites. They had heard stories of the great victories won by them.
Rahab hid them on her roof and let them down over the city wall with the aid of a red cord. Leaving the red cord in the window, when the spies returned, they were able to locate her house and rescued her and her family.
Did you know that God always has a red cord?
The key is that we LISTEN and do what He tells us to do. In Rahab's case, it wouldn't have worked if she decided to put a parrot or a cat in the window instead of a red cord. It was very important that she followed instructions.
God knows how to rescue you – but you have to listen. You can't do the will of God your way – you have to do it His way.
A lady wrote me a few months ago. She had made a mistake in some business decisions and, consequently, dug a huge financial pit. Unfortunately, she was convinced that she was going to reap the consequences of her mistake and resigned herself to some kind of devastation.
While that's true, there are consequences – it is also true that Jesus can redeem you and rescue you.
If God gives you an "order" or a word to do something, guess what? He can also give you instructions as to HOW. He can give you a red cord.
We Had the Word - Now We Needed the "How"
When we lived in the Orlando area years ago, the Lord gave us a very clear word to move on from there.
I was driving to pray with a friend, when God spoke very unexpectedly to me: "It's time for you to leave this city and wash off the dust from your feet."
The car swerved a bit. I didn't tell anyone except my husband, David. We had been in Orlando since we had emigrated to America 12 years previously, so it was a big thing for us to leave.
By the way – wiping the dust from your feet does not mean you stomp off in a bad mood, it means that when you leave somewhere (an area or church) that you don't have any bad feelings or unforgiveness toward anyone. If you do that, it will cling to you and you will take that "dust" with you to the next place.
David said, "Well, I think we need to believe for a word from outside to confirm this." I said to the Lord then, "You know Lord, I don't want to start thinking this was just a thought in my head if it doesn't go smoothly, so we need a word from outside."
I went on, "I want You to get someone to call me, someone I know that hears from You, and he has to say the exact same words to me." An evangelist I knew from England came to mind: "I want You to get Harry to call me." Did you know that you could believe for a word from Heaven and it will be released? I had a thought that maybe in a few weeks Harry would call.
The next day, I was sitting waiting on the Lord when the phone rang. I casually answered and almost fell off the chair when I heard Harry's voice. "Harry, where are you?" I asked. "I am not sure, I am at some restaurant in Arizona. The Lord told me to call you – what's up?" Of course I didn't want to put anything into his mind, so I just said, "Well, we're doing great, having some house meetings. We may move on sometime down the road." Harry paused and then said, "It's time for you to leave that city and wipe off the dust from your feet." Then he prayed for some doors to open and hung up.
We had the word – now we needed the "how."
Really? Buy Flowers?
For a start, we needed to know HOW to proceed and how to sell our property. I don't believe that we need to do "trial and error" and waste a lot of time, because the Holy Spirit can tell us HOW.
So, I asked the Lord, "How do we sell the house? It's a very overbuilt area." I waited in faith. You know we hear by faith, right? God spoke to me: "Take $200 and go to Home Depot, buy $200 worth of brightly colored flowers and put them in the front yard. Then put out a 'For Sale by Owner' sign." Well, I did exactly that, and then waited.
About two weeks later, as I was praying in the morning, the Lord spoke to me, "The man who is going to buy the house is coming today to look at it."
Sure enough, around 11 AM I had a phone call – a lady was on the phone: "Can we come by and see the house?" Well, I wasn't sure who "we" were, but it turned out to be a nice lady and man who was a bodyguard for some important people that came to the USA.
When they came and looked around, the lady said to me, "We weren't really looking in this area – but every time we rode by, we noticed all the bright flowers." So, the flowers the Holy Spirit told me to buy were just an eye catcher to get their attention on the house.
Have you noticed how awesome God is at doing several things at the same time? The man treated us very respectfully – almost like he was a bit afraid of us, and we couldn't figure it out.
Obedience to His Voice Not Only Helps You - It Will Often Help Others
Well, he finally told us that when he was a young man he had a three-year-old daughter who had leukemia and was in the hospital dying. He said that he had knelt beside her bed and told God, "If you heal my little girl, I will serve You." Three days later, she left the hospital, but he never did serve the Lord. When he was confronted with us as Christians, I truly believe God was giving him another opportunity to keep his vow.
God then told us when and where to move – He even showed us the four young men who come from Gainesville, Florida, with a moving van.
We have many stories like this.
What Happens If You Can't Hear the "How"?
I remember one time when we just didn't seem to hear from God about HOW. Which door to go through? It was very frustrating; we just kept trying different things and pushing on different doors. Then I had a vision. I am sure that many of you can relate to it. In the vision, I was sitting on the floor in a very dark room. I couldn't see a thing. I kept getting up and pushing my hands against the walls, trying to feel where the door was.
The Lord spoke to me and said, "Sit down." I sat down and waited. Suddenly, a light shone on the door. I got up and walked right over to it. Many times we don't wait – we keep trying this and trying that, then it's hard to hear.
God always provides a red cord – we have to look for it and ask for it and not assume things.
Sometime there is a change for you, but you can miss it if you are too busy doing what you always do.
Blessings!
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