Red Sea Experiences come in many forms. Every now and then we need need a shift of perspective, and it takes us being in the middle of the experience of God’s sovereign power to teach us us what it looks like. Take a walk with Jeneen to experience the shift you will need on this journey.
By Guest Blogger : Jeneen Bullen Kohler
One month ago, my family and I stood at what I referred to in my last blog as a “Red Sea” sort of crossroads. We were desperately in need of God’s grace in order to prevail and see our daughter successfully walk on dry ground to the other side. Today, as a family, we stand on the side of VICTORY! The cries of joy and the celebrations are over, but NOT the lessons I learned or the GRATITUDE I have for God’s amazing GRACE.
It was a journey indeed, but once again, our faithful Shepherd went before us, guiding us to the place of victory. I wish I could personally speak to each of you to relay just HOW God spoke to me during this process because it is difficult to put into words. However, I will try. I’ve been told that I always have a story!
Once I became aware that we were facing a desperate situation, I immediately went to God in prayer. To be honest with you, I prayed for four days with no release. I heard no answers and felt no peace in my heart for this particular request. It was as if a ceiling held my prayers captive. It was not until I began to make the eleven hour drive to my home state of Tennessee that I received a word from the Lord ensuring me of a victorious outcome. He plainly spoke, “I delivered her back there.” I had no idea at the time exactly what “back there” meant, but I clung to the promise of victory God was showing me.
Within days, God began to reveal His omniscience regarding our situation. He said, “You see yourself at the edge of the Red Sea needing deliverance as my people, the Israelites, did, but what they never realized was that I delivered them “back there” in Egypt. The crossing of the Red Sea was merely another obstacle that stood before them, but MY deliverance had already been provided.” “It is the same with your daughter! I delivered her “back there” and what stands in her way HERE is only a hurdle that I will help her to cross.” He showed me the place where he had delivered our daughter “back there!” I wept…
What I began to see was that God had delivered Alyse out of a desperate situation BEFORE any of us ever knew there was a situation. She did not even know! THAT IS OMNISCIENCE!!!!!! So often, God reveals a situation to us and we begin praying about it. Somehow, we believe that WHEN we begin to pray, it is God’s wake-up call to begin moving in the situation, but what God showed me was that HE had already delivered and taken care of our daughter before we ever knew there was a problem to pray about! When God called us to prayer, HE was simply choosing to partner with us. God can do it all by Himself. He is perfectly able. However, He chooses to co-labor with us.
Four days after the revelation that Alyse was delivered “back there,” God gave me a dream. When I awoke, He gave me the interpretation of my dream, complete with instructions for the part I was to play the next six days. The instructions were simply this, “Consecrate this day unto Me and in six days I want you to SHOUT and I will cause Alyse to cross this hurdle in victory. I was out of town, staying with my mom. Together, we consecrated the day unto God in praise, prayer, and fasting. On the sixth day, at exactly the moment Alyse was to be tested, we shouted together and God gave our daughter the above and beyond victory! Was I afraid of looking stupid? Absolutely, but I shouted anyway.
Please understand that faithful people were praying for us all the way from South Africa to California, so I am in nowise saying that “I” was the only reason for a victorious outcome. I can only tell you that God gave me specific instructions, for which I was responsible and I willingly obeyed.
I feel a sense of vulnerability in placing this information out before all my readers, but someone needs to hear this message:
- God has your life under control and in the palm of His hand even when you cannot see it.
- We are not always aware of His delivering Hand. Sometimes, it is disguised in the missed test due to sickness, missing the bus, being late to the meeting, etc.
- Do not follow the instructions you see for another’s deliverance. Seek God for the instructions He has specific to YOUR situation.
- Only do what God says to do. Often we stress ourselves out trying to fast for 40 days and quote scriptures for hours. If that is the instruction God gives you, then by all means obey, but there is a place of rest in the Lord while you wait and If all He requires is a shout on a set day at a set time, then SHOUT my friend. Do not respond as Naaman did in the beginning when he believed the command of dipping in the Jordan River seven times to cure his leprosy was absurd!
- Obedience is better than Sacrifice – 1 Samuel 15:22
I want you to know that you were created for VICTORY. We were made to be overcomers in all things because Christ lives within us. Do not allow your desperate situations to keep you in fear and doubt. God has already delivered you “back there.” So rest!
Jeneen is co-founder of Repairing the Breach Ministries, Inc. and a licensed minister through Worldwide Missionary Evangelism, Jeneen is given to the ministry of reconciliation, with a heart to witness individuals restored to wholeness of spirit, soul and body. Her ministry leans heavily on the pitfalls and triumphs of personal life experience.
To read more about Jeneen, click here
