“Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that,” James 4:13-15.

We often hear messages about decreeing that we will go here or go there, because we simply have the faith to put into action what will be.

Some continue to speak this and that, declaring that by believing these things then what is unseen will become seen.

We know that faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

Without faith it is impossible to please God, and certainly without faith, then our belief in God would not be a reality.

And yet, we cannot manipulate God into performing certain things simply because we believe they will happen.

Ultimately God is in control and He will bring into existence those things that are governed by His hands for our supreme good.

God is not attached to us through strings that we can control. Even though His Spirit is in us and is upon us, He performs His will throughout our world in spite of us.

His thoughts and His ways are not our ways, and they are elevated in such a way that we cannot begin to understand them. He sees the end of a thing while we just see a few steps ahead.

All of this is not to say that we should not pray believing that our prayers will be answered, they will.

But you see, the Father has a way of setting things in motion that will fulfill His ultimate plan for our lives much better than anything we could imagine.

We pray that a particular house would be ours and then when it doesn’t happen, we wonder why.

Some go into a job interview believing in their heart that they will get it because they have prayed and their faith should be rewarded.

And yet when they don’t get the job, they become discouraged wondering why this all happened.

Then several years later, one finally sees why a certain job didn’t work out or a house wasn’t theirs.

You finally see how God orchestrated everything so that you weren’t harmed and then something better came along that fulfilled your life in ways beyond what you could begin to even imagine.

The Almighty closes certain doors and then opens other ones instead. No matter how hard we try and push against a certain door, it just won’t open.

It is sealed shut for a reason. But then just around the corner down a long corridor, we see the light pouring out of a door.

The light emanating from it falls upon the stone floor, and then we enter in knowing that this is indeed, the right one.

“And the key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder; so he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open,” Isaiah 22:2.

 

Selah,
~ Stephen Hanson

---

Stephen Hanson of In His Truth Ministries came to the LORD is a special way in 1975 and has prophesied regularly since. In these end-time birthing pangs we are reminded that judgment must first begin with the household of God. Will we be prepared and ready?

Back to Top