The challenge of walking with the God who knows me
Names changed throughout except in some cases where the person involved has been or is in ministry.
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If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. 2 Cor 5:17
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Hebrews 10:36
“You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.”
Finding a job in South East London with an electronics company, Eva and I had rented a one bed room flat but now with a baby on the way and some money in the bank it was time to buy. As one can imagine houses in London do not come cheaply. As we looked around we quickly came to the conclusion that we did not like any of the houses that we saw. Eventually however we came across an area that we had never noticed before. We went to an estate agent and he showed us the details of a house inside our range. We went to see it and for the first time we saw a house we liked. With other houses we had tried to think if we could survive there, but we actually liked this one. It was on the side of a hill overlooking the centre of London. There were two good-sized bedrooms and a third small one. The garden was in good shape, there was a spacious garage. In all these and many other ways, it met our desires and our prayers.
We went home to think about buying. I felt we needed something from God before embarking on such a major commitment as a house and a mortgage. We went to the Scriptures and there read “How priceless is your unfailing love! Both high and low among men find refuge in the shadow of your wings. They feast on the abundance of your house; you give them drink from your river of delights.” (Psalm 36:7-8 NIV) I sensed from this verse that Jesus not only wanted us to buy it, but that it would be a special place. It would be a place that would be his refuge and refreshment to others.
Having concluded that we should buy, we put in an offer only to be told that someone had already put an offer in with a deposit. I could hardly believe it, but Jesus had spoken I was sure he would clear the way. The next day we heard that the person who had put the offer down had pulled out. We were clear. We sighed with relief and went ahead with the next stages of the purchase.
There was an issue: the people they were buying from had a time pressure. If they could not sell by a particular day, then their seller would pull out. Well, the letter from our building society came a day late and the whole thing fell through. We then had to wait for the people we were buying from to find another house. They seemed to have one and then they had family problems so they pulled out. Yet Jesus had spoken, so we waited. After some months and found another house. Then there were more problems and they rang to tell us that they were pulling out and staying. That for me was the worst point. I was confident that Jesus would come through but how was I going to explain to people that we were waiting for a family that had decided not to move? Thankfully, three days later they came back on the scene and decided to go ahead. There were problems with the survey for that house. The chimney was not considered stable, we waited through a hurricane, would the chimney fall through the roof? It didn’t and finally we were able to put in an offer that ended with our purchasing the house, which has indeed been a place of refuge, a place of peace, and a place of ministry.
Jesus had given the word and he in the midst of our helplessness fulfilled it.
BUY THE HOUSE
