Page 50 - Christ in You - The Hope of Glory

choosing, my spiritual growth entered into a greatly accelerated state.
Yahweh directed me to quit my job as a computer professional at a hospital and begin
ministering full-time. I had no savings, and I had a wife and two children. I actually
anticipated that the Lord would honor my faith and obedience by supplying me with an on-
time abundance of provision and allowing me to maintain my former manner and standard
of living. This was not to be the case.
Over the course of the next six years I lived day by day in dependence upon my
heavenly Father. He supplied our every need, but our provision was very meager in
comparison to what we had known when I was working as a computer professional. There
were many days when there was no food in the house and we were dependent upon God
sending provision that very day or we would not eat. He always sent a provision! We never
went hungry, but we did not eat steak either. We were blessed to have a simple meal, a
sandwich, or something very basic to fill our bellies. (In hindsight, we could have eaten a
much better diet if we had educated ourselves in the preparation of inexpensive wholesome
foods such as dried beans and whole grains and vegetables.)
We never suffered hunger, but I felt a kind of suffering in these experiences. I knew
I could go out and get a job and buy whatever my heart desired to feed myself and my
family. Yet the Spirit of Christ constrained me from doing so. He showed me that He
wanted me to write books, minister to others, and trust Him for all things during these
years. I knew that taking a job would be a violation of the Father’s will for me, for He was
testing me and seeking to teach me many things by keeping me dependent upon Him.
It was not the Father’s will that I have an abundance of money at that time. He could
easily have provided it had He chosen to do so. He can open up the windows of heaven and
pour forth a blessing at any time. The best environment for my spiritual growth was not one
of material prosperity. It was an environment of daily dependence for that day’s need.
I learned something through this experience. I discovered that when I had been
making decisions for myself that I was consistently choosing a path that was much more
comfortable to the flesh. I didn’t realize how much this was true until I gave the direction
of my entire life into the hands of my Father. His choices for my family and I were not
nearly as comfortable as what my own soul would have led us unto. This truth is certainly
a major portion of what Yahshua was indicating in His words in Matthew chapter 7. Wide
is the gate and broad is the way to destruction, and many are on that path. What path does
the natural man choose for himself? With little exception, man chooses the easiest way. Few
would choose to walk through a thorny hedge if there was a clear way around it. Yet God
will lead His sons and daughters through the thorny hedge that rips and tears at their flesh.
This tendency to choose for ourselves a comfortable path, determining what sacrifices
we will make, and which ones we will avoid, is a pathway to destruction. The Lord has given
us clear examples of people whose lives were ones of ease and comfort, and rather than
producing righteous men and women after His image and likeness, the abundance of their
situation led them to careless living and sin.

Ezekiel 16:49-50
Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had
arrogance, abundant food, and careless ease, but she did not help the poor
and needy. Thus they were haughty and committed abominations before Me.
Therefore I removed them when I saw it.