Good and Bad Places

God has a ‘prepared’ place for you. Satan has a ‘bad’ place in mind for you. Choose well…

 

I pray about ‘places’ every day!

Some of you are pretty sure you know what kind of places they are. That’s because you may have heard that I’ve been to Hawaii several times and loved it every time. But, no, that is not a place I pray about daily.

How about favorite places as in restaurants and dining experiences in my past that stay in my memory. I’ve had many that were memorable, and not because of their cost. Joanie and I can split a $23 meal and relish it in our minds for some time. But again, no, those are not the places I mention in my prayer time.

First, I ask God to lead us to the ‘prepared places’ He wants us to experience and possibly minister in. They can be as random as the Holy Spirit prompts. I have had serendipitous times in my life where I am amazed at how God got me to those places. But once there, it became clear…  somebody was there that I either needed to hear or they needed something I had.

It shouldn’t surprise us that God has special places He’d like for us to reach. They could be moves across the country and that’s your place. But it could be an afternoon ‘place’ where He has something or someone for you to cross paths with – for his Kingdom’s sake. Always look for God’s direction to special places in your life.

However, the other places I pray about are what I simply call ‘bad places.’ Those may be places where your faith struggles to keep you above discouragement or confusion or traps of the enemy. It may be the place where you share a phone call with someone filling your ears and heart with gossip. It may be the beckoning of old habits that once controlled your life but have been broken through the power of the cross of Jesus. Those habits would love to invite you back to their ‘place.’

‘Bad places’ can be places of too much televised news that shreds your confidence in God. They can be found in lonely times when you purposely and dangerously stay away from the family of God and their care of you… and your life begins a downward spiral.

Prepared places and bad places. I desperately want to find the first kind and insanely want to stay far from the second kind. Ask the Father to guide you to prepared places and keep you from any of the other kind!

“The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and will bring me safely

 to his heavenly kingdom.” II Timothy 4:18 NIV

 

Tags: , , , ,

No comments yet.

Leave a Reply