ORDERS STEPS - Louis Gervais

ORDERS STEPS

Hello and greetings in the Name of the Son of Him Who Orders the Steps of a Good Man, Jesus Christ! “The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and He delighteth in his way.” –Psalm 37:23 KJV It has been said that the Lord not only orders the steps but also the stops of a good man. This is true. If you say that “no one is good” then you are right in a certain sense. But we have the righteousness of Christ; it was reckoned unto us. That is, His righteousness was counted as ours. The Lord orders our steps. Steps of faith, steps of obedience. Steps outside of our comfort zone into the will of God. “And Peter answered Him and said, Lord, if it be Thou, bid me come unto Thee on the water. And He said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus. But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me. And immediately Jesus stretched forth His hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?” –Matthew 14:28-31 KJV

When Jesus told Peter, “Come,” Peter took a step of faith. But then he doubted by fixing his eyes on the perilous circumstances and began to sink. But our attitude should rather be one of “fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” –Hebrews 12:2 The Lord is quite able to communicate His will to us: “What man is he that feareth the LORD? him shall He teach in the way that he shall choose.” –Psalm 25:12 KJV. When He leads us He demands immediate obedience. Anything less becomes disobedience. “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths.” –Proverbs 3:5-6 KJV. This is one of the hardest parts; the part of not leaning on our own understanding. Understanding is a good thing as the Book of Proverbs attests. But when our dependence upon our own understanding supersedes our dependence upon the Lord then we have made a good thing into an idol and rejected a much better thing. Discerning the will of God is important. “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” –Romans 12:2 KJV.

In uncertain circumstances the words of Hudson Taylor have been a great comfort to me: “The sweetest part … is the rest which full identification with Christ brings. I am no longer anxious about anything, as I realize this; for He, I know, is able to carry out His will, and His will is mine. It makes no matter where He places me, or how.” God loves us and He knows what’s best for us. It is in our best interest to trust Him—fully submit to Him—come what may. Amen. If you would like to, please pray for the persecuted family for protection and provision. They’ve been through a lot recently. And they deeply appreciate y’all’s prayers. My grandmother, Mr. Van Niekerk and Mr. Kussman are all advanced in years. At least two of them are not always fully aware of their surroundings. We can pray that the Lord gives them a moment of absolutely clear thinking, and saves them.

Thank you for praying for our 3 Horsepower Tour! It successfully screeched to a halt on Wednesday back at our Johannesburg headquarters. We can just look back with hearts full of thankfulness. I have no idea how many people got saved in these five weeks but people often hear the Gospel more than once before getting saved. Jan preached at a large school in Amsterdam Friday, Monday we took a short trip to Swaziland and Tuesday we had five different appointments to visit people and Daniël shared the Gospel at a youth night in Ermelo. And God blessed our efforts! He is so good. This week we’re headed to the Free State for 10 days to try to make arrangements for future outreaches. May His will be done in our lives this week and may He order our steps! –Louis Gervais “This is the way, walk ye in it,” –Isaiah 30:21b KJV