Sharing time at

I was having a chat with the Lord and asking some questions about my troubles in a time of adjustment involving so many changes that the whole thing seemed to overwhelm me, and to top it all dire financial needs like storm clouds glooming over my head. Have you been there? I am sure you have, and I am sure you know what I am talking about.

As I was asking questions to the Holy Spirit, He told me to say the Lord's Prayer. I was a bit like: why? But anyway I started saying it. "Our Father ... deliver us from evil..." There He stopped me and said: "I promised you I will deliver you from evil but I never said you were going to have a trouble free life".

MY GOD DOES NOT MAKE SENSE!

In fact -He went on- your troubles might bless you. Say what? Look, I know you are the Holy Spirit and you know everything, but unless you explain this I cannot swallow it. He then pointed me to Hosea 2:14 where I read things that totally prove that we serve a God that does not make sense. My God doesn't make any sense!

Just in case you did not see it when you just read it I will tell you. God says he will "allure her into the wilderness and ... speak comfort to her". Come on! Comfort in the wilderness? Then He said that He "will give her vineyards from there" Really? Just in case you do not know the valley of Achor where God says He will give "her vineyards from there" is a desert in the middle of the wilderness! Another name for it is the "valley of death". Vineyards? And to top it all He said that the valley of Achor "will be your gate of hope".

Don't you see it? Said He. I don't, I said. Look again. Lord, I just don't get your point. And He shouted to me:

YOUR TROUBLES CAN BE THE GATE TO YOUR BLESSINGS!

How could that be? The Holy Spirit then said: stay with me and I will show you where lies the hinge over which the door revolves from troubles to blessings.

He then took me to 2 Kings 19 where we read the story of Jerusalem surrounded by the Assyrians with Sennacherib at the head. The siege was long, and the heathen King even blasphemed the Lord. King and nation were in dire need, and they were facing certain death. Then Hezekiah went into the temple and call Isaiah to a prayer meeting. There Isaiah made intercession for Hezekiah and for the nation. And the answer came.

BECAUSE YOU PRAYED

The Holy Spirit then made me note that God will never ever answer a prayer that has not been made! Only "because you prayed" you will have deliverance.

And surely as daylight deliverance came. You read the story, almost 200,000 enemy soldiers killed by the Angel of the Lord and the rest fled with Sennacherib their king heading the flight!

But I was still thinking about how troubles can be a blessing. I thought here the blessing was actually the deliverance from trouble, but the trouble itself did not look to me like a blessing; if it was a blessing in disguise, I have to admit it was the master of disguise!

And the Holy Spirit pointed me to some history, particularly the history of ancient warfare. In ancient times an army like the Assyrians would go out on campaigns that lasted months or even years. In many cases they would conquer and subjugate a city or nation, and instead of going home they would simply continue to the next city to conquer. This seems to be the case with Sennacherib as it shows when he is boasting: It seems he was riding on a highway of victories, leaving behind conquered lands and subjugated peoples.

AFTER YOU PRAY: GATHER!

I said: what do you want me to gather from this portion of history? And He said: "gather" just that. Oh, right! What? My head was already spinning, as it usually happens when I get into a direct talk with the Holy Spirit. He gives me peace but He makes my brains smoke!

He said: Look, the Assyrians were in a conquering campaign and they had already submitted quite a few nations, and they surely took big spoils and tribute from them. Where was the gold and silver they took? Where were all the valuables they took from the conquered peoples? They did not send boxes of gold via UPS ground, and FED-EX did not have planes as they had not been invented yet. They had all the goods with them; they were carrying it all with them!

THEY LEFT THEIR GOODS AT THE GATES OF JERUSALEM AND FLED!

This is our God! This is the God that does not make sense. Only one such God can allow the then mightiest army in the world to come and siege Jerusalem, then God himself kill a big chunk of them, cause the rest to flee in absolute terror, leaving behind their possessions. I said: Lord the Bible does not say that they left all the gold there. Oh my! I should by now know better than teach Bible to the Holy Spirit. He simply asked me: "Do you think that the Assyrians in all their terror, those left of them, would take time to gather their gold when they were running for their lives?" No, they left all the stuff behind so that the people in Jerusalem could gather it all. And it all happened "Because you prayed"; that's the hinge!

OPEN YOUR GATES, NOT THE GATES OF HEAVEN

So many times we keep crying to God to open the gates of heaven and send blessings, when we could simply open our gates and gather the blessings God has already caused to be left at our gates when we prayed! But this takes action, we need to act, open the gates, step out in faith, and believe God!

Nothing will happen that you do not pray for; but many times the blessings you prayed for are already at your gates. Because you prayed they were sent to you; because you prayed, blessings were stored at your front door; because you prayed He came with deliverance; because you prayed He came with provision.

God will never answer a prayer that has not been made. But then again, God will never answer your prayers by sending quail flying into your camp already roasted!

Be blessed and be a blessing!

J. Conrad Lampan