If you read my testimony - The store pt 1 - you would see that He told me to quit my job as a retail manager. That He gave me an incredible amount of proof that it was Him - as in advice to listen to Him from my pastor, and in literal thunder, a snow storm where it does not snow, in a falling star, and in running out of gas causing me to run through the snow to two gas stations where the first was closed for 7 minutes, and at the second I got a lift back and a testimony about the Lord Himself.
Now this morning He asked me to post about the reason for this testimony. First we must understand that we are not testifying about a God that might, on some rare occasion, show up and do something!! So a testimony about Him is not just about coming across a burning bush, but about the things He continually does in your life. The five books of Moses were the testimony on Moses. And the purpose of them, in case you did not understand, was that Moses was hearing from the Lord everyday! And so that is purpose the Lord wants for this testimony also!
Now the Lord had taken me down the street He wanted the store on, and had told me the name of the store, and generally how He wanted it run, but He had not told me exactly where. So the next day I called and gave my two weeks notice and started looking for a place on that street. I went up and down it, and down and up it, and I looked in the paper to see if there was anything there, but no matter how I looked I could not find a place.
Now I, like pretty much every person who lived in the flesh, except Him, tend to go back to leaning on our own understanding instead of listening to Him. He knows this, understands this, and works a bit on correcting this. It is not that He does want us to have a say, but He does want us to include Him more. So, it finally occurred to me that perhaps I needed to talk to Him about where He wanted the store. And for those people who say they follow the Bible, I just want to point out that the Bible cannot help you with any of this!! Though is can give you the wisdom to find salvation which is in Jesus Christ, whose name is called "The Word of God", because He does talk to men, and wants us to listen to Him!
So. I turned back to Him to help me find where exactly He wanted this Christian bookstore. He then took me down that same street and with one pass He pointed out 3 places that could be leased!!!
So just a warning about knowing the Lord; you are going to find out fairly soon have coming to know Him, that He is a whole lot smarter than you- in every way!!
Then He talked to my about, "Which one He wanted", which is what I asked Him. And I should just point out now that He answers the questions asked, which are not always what you think you are asking Him!!
So, He then explained the attributes of each of the store to me. One of them He really liked. It was an old restaurant that looked cute, and could have been reworked into a bookstore/coffee shop. He liked the idea, and even had a small Christian coffee shop that sold a couple of books on one end of the street. So He could have a coffee shop with a few books at one end and a bookstore with a bit of coffee at the other end, and this place would have been big enough to have small get togethers even with some live music. He told me that I could even offset the lease by having a pastor run a small church in there on Sundays. But I was going to have to have someone else come in with come financial help, and He told me who to ask. So I did ask that person, but they did not trust in the Lord enough for that.
He also talked to me about a very small place, that I could more easily afford. I like that idea, because I was going to have to cash in all my retirement money to do this thing, and even doubted whether that would be enough, So the cheaper that better, was my thinking. Yet He was telling me that place was really not big enough for His way of thinking. He explained that He would let me do it there, if that is all the faith I could muster - as in mustard seed amount of faith.
It turns out our faith has significant impact as to what He can do with us!! Perhaps you can remember in the Bible where He told the people of Nazareth (His home town) that He, God the Son, could not do great miracles there because of their lack of faith? Well, the other person that He had asked me to join Him and me, did not have enough faith for that, and I was having enough faith to even go for the medium size store that was available.
So Him and I talked about the medium sized store. I could get a vision of how that might work. So I called up the man leasing it and we made a verbal agreement. He was out of town that week, but we agree on terms as he set them out and he was going to meet with me next week. So I started making plans, I even talked to my pastor, and it turned out that my church was just a couple of short blocks away. Ok, I was getting excited, finally.
Yet the following week, the man to lease me the store didn't call. So I called him only to find out that he had gotten another call and leased it to someone else. In case someone doesn't know, verbal agreements are actually contracts. So that man had broken his agreement/contract with me. The Lord started speaking to me about how he had not broken his agreement with me, because the Lord Himself had asked me to make that agreement, and I had even told the man about the Lord telling me to lease it, which I actually did mention to him when we talked. That would make that man guilty before the Lord.
This is something people don't really understand well. We are to be the Lord's (who is the KING OF KINGS) ambassadors here on earth. So if we are listening to Him and doing what He asked, then they are really dealing with Him!! So for example: If a homeless person asks you for money and say that homeless person heard the Lord tell Him to ask you for money, are you just dealing with that homeless person or are you dealing with the Lord God All Mighty? Therefore you had better learn to start talking to Him for yourself, to find out what He wants you to personally do!!
Never-the-less, The Lord Himself gave people the freewill to choose between right and wrong, good and evil, so with that I had to choose another place. So I went back to my 'mustard seed' place, but it had already been leased. So now what?
Well, I again turned back to the Lord because again I didn't see any place on that street. Again He was able to show me three places, a lot like before. Again, He showed me a 'mustard seed' place that I liked because of the price. It however, was not actually on that street but on another busy street to the west. I like it though. I like the shopping center it was in, It was closer to my home. And honestly, I felt that if I did that store for a year, I might actually get through this needing to do a store for the Lord.
And again, there was a bigger place, which was even very close to a Christian ministry. It could either be a nice sized Christian store, and possibly I could have some coffee and pastries in it too, if it all worked out. It was nice, but it was going to have to take some more faith, because I would run out of money unless it did well.
And again there was a medium sized store. I figured I could get through the year unless all went really bad. So again I was talking back and forth with the Lord and realizing while doing so, that it was more about my level of faith than anything else. Consider - I would not have agree to any of this though if not for Him, His voice, and His wonders performed in my life. So I talked to Him as honestly as I could. What else are you to do. And we, Him and I, agreed to do the medium sized store again.
To be continued:
Now this morning He asked me to post about the reason for this testimony. First we must understand that we are not testifying about a God that might, on some rare occasion, show up and do something!! So a testimony about Him is not just about coming across a burning bush, but about the things He continually does in your life. The five books of Moses were the testimony on Moses. And the purpose of them, in case you did not understand, was that Moses was hearing from the Lord everyday! And so that is purpose the Lord wants for this testimony also!
Now the Lord had taken me down the street He wanted the store on, and had told me the name of the store, and generally how He wanted it run, but He had not told me exactly where. So the next day I called and gave my two weeks notice and started looking for a place on that street. I went up and down it, and down and up it, and I looked in the paper to see if there was anything there, but no matter how I looked I could not find a place.
Now I, like pretty much every person who lived in the flesh, except Him, tend to go back to leaning on our own understanding instead of listening to Him. He knows this, understands this, and works a bit on correcting this. It is not that He does want us to have a say, but He does want us to include Him more. So, it finally occurred to me that perhaps I needed to talk to Him about where He wanted the store. And for those people who say they follow the Bible, I just want to point out that the Bible cannot help you with any of this!! Though is can give you the wisdom to find salvation which is in Jesus Christ, whose name is called "The Word of God", because He does talk to men, and wants us to listen to Him!
So. I turned back to Him to help me find where exactly He wanted this Christian bookstore. He then took me down that same street and with one pass He pointed out 3 places that could be leased!!!
So just a warning about knowing the Lord; you are going to find out fairly soon have coming to know Him, that He is a whole lot smarter than you- in every way!!
Then He talked to my about, "Which one He wanted", which is what I asked Him. And I should just point out now that He answers the questions asked, which are not always what you think you are asking Him!!
So, He then explained the attributes of each of the store to me. One of them He really liked. It was an old restaurant that looked cute, and could have been reworked into a bookstore/coffee shop. He liked the idea, and even had a small Christian coffee shop that sold a couple of books on one end of the street. So He could have a coffee shop with a few books at one end and a bookstore with a bit of coffee at the other end, and this place would have been big enough to have small get togethers even with some live music. He told me that I could even offset the lease by having a pastor run a small church in there on Sundays. But I was going to have to have someone else come in with come financial help, and He told me who to ask. So I did ask that person, but they did not trust in the Lord enough for that.
He also talked to me about a very small place, that I could more easily afford. I like that idea, because I was going to have to cash in all my retirement money to do this thing, and even doubted whether that would be enough, So the cheaper that better, was my thinking. Yet He was telling me that place was really not big enough for His way of thinking. He explained that He would let me do it there, if that is all the faith I could muster - as in mustard seed amount of faith.
It turns out our faith has significant impact as to what He can do with us!! Perhaps you can remember in the Bible where He told the people of Nazareth (His home town) that He, God the Son, could not do great miracles there because of their lack of faith? Well, the other person that He had asked me to join Him and me, did not have enough faith for that, and I was having enough faith to even go for the medium size store that was available.
So Him and I talked about the medium sized store. I could get a vision of how that might work. So I called up the man leasing it and we made a verbal agreement. He was out of town that week, but we agree on terms as he set them out and he was going to meet with me next week. So I started making plans, I even talked to my pastor, and it turned out that my church was just a couple of short blocks away. Ok, I was getting excited, finally.
Yet the following week, the man to lease me the store didn't call. So I called him only to find out that he had gotten another call and leased it to someone else. In case someone doesn't know, verbal agreements are actually contracts. So that man had broken his agreement/contract with me. The Lord started speaking to me about how he had not broken his agreement with me, because the Lord Himself had asked me to make that agreement, and I had even told the man about the Lord telling me to lease it, which I actually did mention to him when we talked. That would make that man guilty before the Lord.
This is something people don't really understand well. We are to be the Lord's (who is the KING OF KINGS) ambassadors here on earth. So if we are listening to Him and doing what He asked, then they are really dealing with Him!! So for example: If a homeless person asks you for money and say that homeless person heard the Lord tell Him to ask you for money, are you just dealing with that homeless person or are you dealing with the Lord God All Mighty? Therefore you had better learn to start talking to Him for yourself, to find out what He wants you to personally do!!
Never-the-less, The Lord Himself gave people the freewill to choose between right and wrong, good and evil, so with that I had to choose another place. So I went back to my 'mustard seed' place, but it had already been leased. So now what?
Well, I again turned back to the Lord because again I didn't see any place on that street. Again He was able to show me three places, a lot like before. Again, He showed me a 'mustard seed' place that I liked because of the price. It however, was not actually on that street but on another busy street to the west. I like it though. I like the shopping center it was in, It was closer to my home. And honestly, I felt that if I did that store for a year, I might actually get through this needing to do a store for the Lord.
And again, there was a bigger place, which was even very close to a Christian ministry. It could either be a nice sized Christian store, and possibly I could have some coffee and pastries in it too, if it all worked out. It was nice, but it was going to have to take some more faith, because I would run out of money unless it did well.
And again there was a medium sized store. I figured I could get through the year unless all went really bad. So again I was talking back and forth with the Lord and realizing while doing so, that it was more about my level of faith than anything else. Consider - I would not have agree to any of this though if not for Him, His voice, and His wonders performed in my life. So I talked to Him as honestly as I could. What else are you to do. And we, Him and I, agreed to do the medium sized store again.
To be continued: