Often when I drive, I look in nature to find God. God is all around us and in us. If we open up, he will come in and Sup with us.
Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if any man hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into him and Sup with him, and he with me.” Revelation 3:20
I was working for Ruppert Landscape Company, and I would always see this sign among others “BE PREPARED TO STOP.”
At the time, I was looking for promises and blessings from God. He showed me and the Church Deuteronomy 28, and if we were faithful, a time of refreshing would fall upon us, and God would bless us with the supernatural gifts and blessings of Abraham and put us as leaders in the world.
And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the Lord thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth. And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God.
👉🏾 Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the field.
👉🏾Blessed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep.
👉🏾Blessed shall be thy basket and thy store.
👉🏾Blessed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and blessed shalt thou be when thou goest out.
👉🏾The Lord shall cause thine enemies that rise against thee to be smitten before thy face: they shall come out against thee one way and flee before thee seven ways.
👉🏾The Lord shall command the blessing upon thee in thy storehouses, and in all that thou settest thine hand unto, and he shall bless thee in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.
👉🏾The Lord shall establish thee a holy people unto himself, as he hath sworn unto thee if thou shalt keep the commandments of the Lord thy God, and walk in his ways. Deuteronomy 28
The Lord restabilized his promises through Christ to those who would be heirs to the promises he gave to Abraham to Isreal and now to the end time Church under the New Covenant.
“The Spirit confirms that we are the children of God and if children, then heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ.” Romans 8:16-17
Thus, the inheritance of Abraham is endowed to those who belong to Jesus, who “are no longer slaves but sons; and if sons, then heirs through God” – (Galatians 3:29, 4:7, Titus 3:7, Hebrews 6:17).
I know I just gave you an excellent little sermon, but you must understand God’s promises to know why God told me several times to “PREPARE TO STOP.” YOU SEE, FOR ABOUT 24 YEARS, I’ve been waiting for this rain to fall. During these years, it’s been a very long, intense road, and I mean extreme! I would spend many years explaining, but those going through the molding procedure and walking out of the lighting tempests know what I’m talking about. If you don’t, you will, and I’m not saying this to discourage but to uplift because that is where you will meet Jesus and get to know him intimately. And you will know yourself and your purpose of why you are on this earth.
I’ve waited a long time, not because God planned it, but because of my choices. God didn’t always inspire them. In fact, those shortcuts became longcuts, but the briers AND Thornes yanked off the carnal man. Now that I was back on the righteous path, God told me to Be PREPARE TO STOP!
I didn’t understand it because I had a career at Ruppert, and because the promises linger a while, we often find ourselves complacent. You see, there was still an icing that God had to do, which would take place away from working for man. As time passed, God spoke to me through his words and nature, and the message was clear, Be PREPARED TO STOP!
It finally made sense that God wanted me to pass from one chapter to another. But this chapter would show me more of me that smothered out more of him. I must decrease that he must increase (John 3:30) in me, or I would never meet the time appointed to be whom God planned me to be on this earth. I need to catch up, and I’ve delayed my course. We all find ourselves off course because we get off the path.
And, at times, we are influenced by the enemy too often. God told me to BE Prepared to Stop.
Be Prepared to Stop?
MEANING: Decrease speed as you reach the intersection. Prepare to stop and yield the right-of-way to vehicles and pedestrians in or heading toward the intersection. You must come to a complete stop at a YIELD sign if traffic conditions require it. When you approach a YIELD sign, check carefully for traffic and be prepared to stop.
What was God telling me and telling you? If you tell yourself and everyone around you that you are waiting on God, THIS IS WHY YOU MUST COME TO A COMPLETE STOP. You aren’t waiting on God. God is waiting for you to respond to his will. Sometimes God will decrease your speed or even bring you to a complete stop because you can’t get it!
Sometimes you must yield up particular pleasures, certain loved ones, jobs, activities, goals, businesses, establishments, houses, and relations because while driving, your mind is earthbound when your citizenship is heaven bound. Righteousness is life. While the matrix of the world keeps us heaven-bound, this earth will be wiped away, while the garment of Christ will prevail. Many will not be ready because they don’t want to be prepared to stop! It’s a choice; they don’t want to decrease speed or yield the right-of-way to others and forgive and work for the salvation of themselves and others. Pedestrians are sinners, and the intersection is the crossroads of learning, yielding, putting away sin, and obedience. We want to live in the fast lane with the pedal to the metal and receive a form of rightousness. Fast forward, I no longer work for Ruppert Landscape, God supplies my needs, but he had to put me in a desert place where I could hear him and only him. I confessed my transgressions, and the sins I committed in the past became 3D. God had to put me to a complete stop and put money, people, wife, kids, and everybody out of my sight and put me in place to hear him. I listen to him now and see him walking on water. And the work I’m doing now is my own business, but it was given to me to support me through this spiritual recession.
I know this isn’t the rain, but this complete STOP qualifies me for the rainfall (Abrahamic blessing), and when I grab hold of God, the rain is going to fall; God gave self-employment to take care of my family until the rain comes like God took care of Elijah in the three and half year drought upon the rebellion of Isreal. Guess what God told me to do? This OAJ (owning your own Job) isn’t my resting place, and It’s time for the rain, which is the blessing of Abraham. Guess what he told me about this temporal OAJ? BE PREPARED TO STOP!
By Pastor Scott Hinton
