Greetings,
We are now a month into the new year. This is for sure an interesting season. My own life and ministry ended in a storm in 2018 and began with a storm in 2019. I would love to wave a magic wand and create a season without conflict, without pain, and without suffering, but it appears that this season is one to find God in the midst of the storm. As I consider this present season of the church, I hear God say that this is a year to ‘navigate’. It is not a year of clear plan and accomplishment, but one that will yield its fruit by our partnership with the Spirit of God and our ability to navigate the path of God in the midst of many conflicting paths in the world.
This is time to find the ancient paths set for us. It is a time to find the pathways of heaven’s grace in the midst of our time and generations. It is time to embrace the speech of God with great passion and compassion. It is not a matter of one or the other, it is a matter of the fullness of both in the direction of God. The paths of God can only be found in the ways of God.
Isaiah 2:3 Many people shall come and say, “Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways, and we shall walk in His paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
God’s ways lead to God’s paths, God’s paths lead to right imaginations in our hearts and minds. Right imaginations in our hearts and minds will empower us to become expressions of God as the community of God in the earth. We are yet another measure in the journey of becoming known as the people of God in the earth.
Matthew Fontaine Maury was a lieutenant in the Confederate Navy of America in the 19th century. He was born January 14, 1806 and died February 1, 1873. Stories say that his aspiration was to become an admiral in the Navy with a ship in his command, but a wagon accident left him with a leg injury that prevented him from pursuing his original dream of Navy command. He was a Christian and he prayed that God would help him find a reason for greatness in his life. He wanted to make a difference for the Navy and its future. One day he was reading the Bible and found these verses:
Psalms 8: 1 O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is Your name in all the earth, Who have set Your glory above the heavens! 2 Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants You have ordained strength, because of Your enemies, that You may silence the enemy and the avenger. 3 When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained, 4 what is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You visit him? 5 For You have made him a little lower than the angels, and You have crowned him with glory and honor. 6 You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet, 7 All sheep and oxen—even the beasts of the field, 8 The birds of the air, and the fish of the sea that pass through the paths of the seas. 9 O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is Your name in all the earth!
When Matthew Maury read these verses, he was impressed by the Spirit of God to discover the ‘paths of the sea’. History has nicknamed Matthew Maury the ‘Pathfinder of the Seas’ and ‘Father of Modern Oceanography and Naval Meteorology’ and later, ‘Scientist of the Seas’ for his extensive works in his books, especially The Physical Geography of the Sea(1855), the first such extensive and comprehensive book on oceanography to be published. Maury made many important new contributions to charting winds and ocean currents, including ocean lanes for passing ships at sea.” (From Wikipedia)
I believe that 2019 is a time to find the paths of God that will empower us to navigate the present season to bring about God’s will and the internal influence of His kingdom in our lives that will create His testimonies in our destiny. The secret is in the heart and hand of the One owns it all an in our ability to seek partnership with Him in all that has been given to us concerning the works of His hands. God is in charge, but we are in control of what has been handed to us in life. Some things we cannot change and we must trust God limitless abilities in partnership with Him. Some things we can change and we must seek God for the wisdom, the knowledge, and the understanding to steward well what has been entrusted to us. Intimacy with Him and a willingness to become like Him in all of our ways will give us the power to exercise the influence of the power of His grace for the glory of His name!
Food For Thought,
Ted J. Hanson
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Thank You So Much – Ted J. Hanson
