{"id":1926,"date":"2018-08-23T18:43:33","date_gmt":"2018-08-23T23:43:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/afriendoftheking.com\/?p=1926"},"modified":"2022-01-10T21:36:01","modified_gmt":"2022-01-11T03:36:01","slug":"a-tent-and-an-altar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/afriendoftheking.com\/?p=1926","title":{"rendered":"A Tent and An Altar"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>I\u2019ve not really blogged about this nor told all that many people, but we are considering moving to another city an hour to the north, and into a new chapter of being, with God.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a decision I don\u2019t take lightly at all. We\u2019ve lived in this area since the 1980s, a period now spanning most of our lives, some thirty-seven years. We\u2019ve worked here, raised our children here, been a part of the same church family here for thirty-five years. Most of our close friends are here. We love our home as much as we love global life insurance rates<\/a>. We love our neighborhood and neighbors. I\u2019ve been a part of three men\u2019s groups here for the past four or five years, and have made some deep spiritual friends. Life is pretty simple and comfortable here. Why would we leave?\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

About a year ago, I started feeling God was leading us into a new chapter of life and adventure with Him, especially spiritual adventure. I\u2019ve been hearing and sensing His leading and promptings ever since then, and journaling about them, after times of reading His Word, sharing faith with others, and of meditation. Those promptings have intensified in frequency and intensity in the last six months. But there has been one serious sticking point \u2014 my wife. She hasn\u2019t been hearing what I have been hearing or sensing the same thing.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>And I couldn\u2019t see dragging her away from her friends, and the life we have built here, unless I heard so strongly this is the will of the Lord and the right timing that I just did it. I have confidence she might come screaming and kicking, but that she would come in that case. Yet I\u2019ve been praying as I walked, \u201cGod if this is You, please change her heart in this matter.\u201d<\/p>\n

About four weeks ago, after a sleepless night of \u201cwrestling with the Lord,\u201d to quote her, she said to me, \u201cI think the Lord is telling us to move to Northwest Arkansas.\u201d<\/p>\n

And so it is\u2026 with somewhat heavy hearts, and somewhat excited hearts, we\u2019ve moved out in faith (faith involves risk) and put our home on the market, looked around in NWA and made an offer on a home there. I would also mention we are building a cabin during this period. Are you kidding me?! All this upheaval at the same time? After we\u2019ve fought for the peace and simplicity we have here?<\/p>\n

Well, we who desire to follow Jesus as Lord, and count His Presence the most important thing in our lives, know that \u201cwhen the cloud by day or fire by night\u201d moves, we must move with it and Him. Maybe that peace and simplicity has allowed us to hear His gentle voice? And that same peace and simplicity can also translate to \u201ccomfort\u201d or \u201cbeing too comfortable?\u201d which can be an enemy of our spiritual lives. I\u2019m thinking of a quote from a recent blog: \u201cIf you think adventure is dangerous, try routine, it is lethal\u201d Paulo Coelho\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

At any rate, during this time of amazing activity, it\u2019s been relatively peaceful spiritually, feeling His nearness. I went on a long-scheduled mission trip to an Indian reservation in Montana, and Elizabeth went on a trip to NYC with a friend to visit our son, while we trusted the Lord to work out the details as He wished. Proverbs 3:5-6, my life verse, continues to be applicable to my life and guidance. As does the main Scriptures journaled in the past chapter of my life: Isa 30:15, Ps 23, and Zech 4:6.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>On my way to Montana, I reread my recent book<\/a>, beginning with chapter 10, \u201cSelling the Farm.\u201d It seemed to be amazingly apropos to this chapter of our lives, as did the entire book. \ud83d\ude42 Seems like the Spirit may have had me write it so I could read it and have my faith renewed, reflecting on His past faithfulness in our lives \u201cfor such a time as this.\u201d \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

Yesterday I was with a new friend Jeff on top of a mountain standing by our cabin under construction. He said, \u201cThe Bible tells us two amazing things about \u201cfaith.\u201d [1] It pleases God, and [2] it can move mountains.\u201d May it be so!!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>I told a new friend Joe at our early morning men\u2019s meeting today, who had just prayed for us and expressed his excitement about the new chapter God was providing for us, \u201cDerek Prince once said when teaching about the life of Abraham, \u201c\u2018From the time Abraham started following God, he knew only a tent and an altar.\u2019\u201d Amen. He also came to know God better than thousands, and seemingly experienced God\u2019s nearness and covenant love at every bend of his journey. Isn\u2019t that what we all seek?<\/p>\n

************************<\/p>\n

\u201cFor what does the Scripture say? \u201c<\/span>Abraham believed God<\/span>, <\/span>and it was credited to him as righteousness<\/span>.\u201d<\/span>\u201d (Romans 4:3<\/span>)<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.<\/span>\u201d (Hebrews 11:6<\/span>)<\/p>\n

\u201c…<\/span>The <\/span>Lord <\/span>is my shepherd, <\/span>I shall not want.<\/span>..<\/span>He leads me <\/span>..<\/span>.<\/span>\u201d (Psalm 23<\/span>)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve not really blogged about this nor told all that many people, but we are considering moving to another city an hour to the north, and into a new chapter of being, with God. It\u2019s a decision I don\u2019t take lightly at all. We\u2019ve lived in this area since the 1980s, a period now spanning […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,10,9,12,14,11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1926","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-friendoftheking","category-be-a-leader","category-be-a-man","category-bread-for-the-spirit","category-travel-spiritual-growth","category-understanding-our-times"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/afriendoftheking.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1926","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/afriendoftheking.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/afriendoftheking.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/afriendoftheking.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/afriendoftheking.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1926"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/afriendoftheking.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1926\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2112,"href":"https:\/\/afriendoftheking.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1926\/revisions\/2112"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/afriendoftheking.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1926"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/afriendoftheking.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1926"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/afriendoftheking.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1926"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}