Right Place Right Time (3 page)

Such teachings have pervaded the church and this is dangerous because it means that only an elite few can hear God’s voice. And these same few will sometimes try to tell you that you have to go to them if you want to find out from God who you are to marry, what job to choose, what clothes to buy and so on. In other words, they control or direct your life and that is wrong!

Now, I am not against following God’s audible voice, but I have discovered from the Bible that hearing from God is much simpler than that. I don’t find the apostle Paul saying, “Grace and peace to you, saints in Ephesus. Thou must learn to hear God’s voice by shutting thy door, kneeling down in the darkness, opening thy ears and getting in the Spirit.” I don’t find anything like that in Paul’s letters. Instead, I find Paul instructing the church with words such as,
“for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure”.
(Philippians 2:13) Who places the right desires in your heart? God does. It is He who puts the willingness in you to do something or go somewhere. That is how He leads you today.

I have had some people come up to me and say things like, “Pastor Prince, I had a desire to go shopping the other day, so I went shopping and I bumped into an old friend who shared with me about how his life was in a mess because he was going through a marital crisis. You know, Pastor Prince, I invited him to church last Sunday and he received Jesus. Later, I heard that he went back to his wife and she is giving him another chance.” Such divine happenings take place because you had a desire to go shopping or to a certain restaurant for lunch. Later, when you look back over the sequence of events that led your friend to Jesus, you see God’s fingerprints all over it!

You don’t have to wait many hours just for God to guide you. God makes things easy, not difficult.

Some Christians have been taught not to believe their hearts or inner desires because they have been warned:
“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?”
(Jeremiah 17:9) Now, where is this scripture taken from? Is it from the New Testament? Did Paul write this to the church? No, it is from the Old Testament.

My friend, let me tell you that once you are saved, God takes out your heart of stone and puts in a heart of flesh. (Ezekiel 36:26) The New Testament tells us that if God wants something known to us, He will write it in our hearts and in our minds. (Hebrews 10:16) In other words, you will know it in your heart and in your mind. That is how He leads you today. You don’t have to shut the door, kneel on the floor in the dark, wait quietly for a few hours, and try to see or hear something from God. Then, when you start to see things blinking in the dark, you think that God is showing you something and you shout, “Yes, a vision from the Lord! Speak to me, Lord!” Let me tell you that if you do that, someone will surely shout back, “Go to sleep!”

Christ In You Leads You From Within

Now, some of you may say, “Well, Pastor Prince, don’t you believe in waiting on the Lord?” Yes, I do and I enjoy spending time in His presence. But I don’t believe that you have to wait many hours just for God to guide you. God makes things easy, not difficult.

Let me say that if you hear any preacher, including myself, preach something you don’t understand or which makes you feel “scratchy” in your heart, go back and check the Bible. Does the New Testament emphasise learning how to hear God’s voice? Or does the New Testament emphasise that you are already
in
Christ and that He is in you? (Colossians 1:27) Because if He is in you, then He gives you desires. Often, it is so supernaturally natural that we miss it. We don’t know that it is God speaking to us because we say, “How can my desire for something be God-inspired? How can this be God?” Many people don’t realise that according to the New Testament, this is how God leads us today.

The apostle Paul tells us something about this in 1 Corinthians 2:9. Here, Paul quotes from Isaiah 64:4 in the Old Testament. 1 Corinthians 2:9 says,
“But as it is written: ‘Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.’”
There is a difference in wording between what Paul wrote to the Corinthians and what was actually written in Isaiah 64:4. In other words, Paul changed the quote a little. Isaiah 64:4 says,
“… for the one who waits for Him”
. But Paul wrote,
“…for those who
love
Him”
.

Why did Paul change the word “waits” to “love”? Because in the old covenant (in the Old Testament) you had to wait for God. But today, according to the new covenant (in the New Testament), you don’t have to wait for God. Why? Because God is already in those who love Him, those who have accepted His Son. Romans 5:5 says that
“the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us”
. We love God because He first loved us. (1 John 4:19) And He has placed His Spirit inside us to lead us every day.

So to hear from God, it is as simple as praying early in the morning, “God, lead me and guide me today.” Many times, He will put desires in your heart. Today, you may feel like going to a friend’s house. If you do, then go because there is a miracle waiting for you there!

You don’t need an angel to come down and say to you, “Go to the shopping mall! Take a look at the discounts! Take advantage of the sales!” I know of instances in which women have followed their desires to shop and they happened to find items of clothing that they had previously wanted to buy being sold at a special discounted price. These women happened to be in the right place at the right time by following their inner desires. Some of you husbands may not agree with me, but I believe that it was God who arranged the timings for them!

Unfortunately, there are still Christians who think that we are supposed to be mystical creatures waiting upon the Lord. “You’ve got to fast and pray a few days before God speaks,” they say, as if God is so hard to persuade! I don’t believe that teaching any more because over the years, I have seen God speak through my heart and mind so many times.

Jesus did not say, “My sheep must learn to hear My voice.” He said, “My sheep hear My voice.”

It all comes down to being in the right place at the right time, and having the right desires in your heart. If you are a born-again child of God, the desires in your heart are planted by God. Again, Philippians 2:13 tells us that
“it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure”
.

So if God works in you, learn to trust your desires. Now, there may be circumstances when you can’t trust your desires, but you will come to know which desires are from God and which are not. For example, if you have a desire for another man’s wife, you don’t need a rocket scientist to tell you that that is not from God! There are some desires that are contrary to God’s Word. The Bible is clear on those things. But if it is a grey area, don’t worry about missing God’s voice in your heart. God will put mature Christian friends or leaders around you who also hear God’s inner voice. Get to know them and share with them what you think is from the Lord. They will weigh it and guide you in love.

‘My Sheep Hear My Voice’

Some Christians say, “You don’t know how to hear God’s voice. That is why you are suffering!” God is not like that. Do you really think that He doesn’t know how to come down to our levels? Jesus said in John 10:27,
“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.”
Jesus didn’t say, “My sheep must
learn
to hear my voice.” No, Jesus takes it for granted that we hear His voice. That is why He said, “My sheep hear my voice.” We should just believe His words and stop worrying about not being able to hear His voice. If you are His sheep, you
will
hear His voice!

He wants to put us in the right place at the right time so that He can meet our needs. And it is easy to be led by Him. But some of us get so stressed out trying to hear God’s voice that we miss His voice altogether. Let me say this: God has a higher way, a better way and a more relaxed way to speak to us. God has a New Testament way and it is this: Your heart is so full of Jesus that you end up in the right place at the right time. And you may not even know it!

God can even use your mistakes to prosper you. You take the wrong bus, but you meet an old friend who offers you a better job! God can use delays too. A delay at the traffic lights causes you to miss the accident up ahead! When your heart is so full of Jesus and you are so focused on Him, you will end up in the right place at the right time! And living life like that is wonderful!

The Lord Before Us And Behind Us

Genesis 24 shows us an example of how God leads us to the right place at the right time. Abraham instructed his chief servant to go and look for a wife for his son, Isaac. In verses 39–40 we see the servant telling Rebekah’s parents how he came to find Rebekah at the well and how God had prospered his way. This is what he said:

³⁹
And I said to my master, ‘Perhaps the woman will not follow me.’
⁴⁰
But he said to me, ‘The Lord, before whom I walk, will send His angel with you and prosper your way; and you shall take a wife for my son from my family and from my father’s house
.

Notice here that Abraham had told his servant that God would send His angel with him to prosper his way. God will do that for you too. He will send His angels before you! Now, whenever you find the word “angel” (singular) in the Old Testament, it refers to the pre-incarnate appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ. In Hebrew, “angel” means “messenger”, the holy messenger of God. In the Old Testament,
“the angel of the Lord”
refers to Jesus. But if the reference is to “angels” (plural), then it is referring to just angels. For instance, cherubim are winged angels.

The servant told Rebekah’s family that Abraham had said to him,
“The Lord, before whom I walk, will send His angel with you and prosper your way.”
He was referring to Jesus. Jesus goes before you and prospers your way. Isn’t it wonderful to know that Jesus goes before you and prepares the way? Who better to go before you than Jesus!

In Israel, it is tradition for a shepherd to name his sheep. Then, he would take those he has named out of the flock and walk to the front of them to lead them. We see something like this in the Old Testament. In Exodus 14:9–10, the Israelites were facing the Red Sea and behind them was the Egyptian army coming to destroy them. Talk about being stuck between a rock and a hard place! There they were, crying to God.

Now, God had been in front of them as a pillar of cloud when they left Egypt. (Exodus 13:21–22) In reality, Jesus was there with them. He was leading His people like a good shepherd would. And what did He do when they stood before the Red Sea? He moved right behind them as a pillar of cloud to prevent the Egyptian army from coming near them. (Exodus 14:19–20) Jesus defended His people. At the same time, He opened up the Red Sea so that all the Israelites could cross over to the other side. Isn’t it beautiful how God always leads us and even protects our backs!

The Aleph-Tav Has The First And Final Word

Let me show you from Ecclesiastes 9:11 again, how Jesus is the one who puts us in the right place at the right time. Look at the clause,
“time and chance happen to them all”.
In the original Hebrew text, two Hebrew letters,
aleph
(
) and
tav
(
), placed next to each other, appear right after the word “happen”. These letters,
(note that Hebrew reads from right to left), have been translated as “to” in our English Bibles. But this is an inaccurate translation because “
” does not mean “to”. Let me explain what it means.