05.03.06 thequest email UPdate

thequest family,

I wanted to let you hear from the heart of Larry this week. He's leading our INSTITUTE study on Experiencing God and doing a great job. Here is part of his story...


Probably the most frequent issue that followers of Jesus have is how to know God’s will in certain situations or as we face difficult decisions. Once we make that all important choice to follow Him, we want to know that we are doing His will.

The main reason that I retired as early as I could from my career with the Department of Defense was so that I could devote more time to serving God. I figured that shortly after I retired I would line up some part time consulting work for income and have some specific “assignments from God” that were in accordance with His will. That worked out early on as I did the consulting “gig” and Sylvia and I got to spend about nine weeks in Prague working with some GBIM missionaries. But neither the consulting nor the “big ticket” God assignments continued (and Kingdom Painting didn’t fare too well either), and I began to seriously question, “What does God have in store for me?”

Then when Sylvia suggested that we complete the Experiencing God study together I began to learn what it really means to know what God’s will for me is. It required a dramatic change in my thinking! I was expecting that God would provide a major way in which I could serve, like frequent short-term missions assignments or a full time job in a church in some capacity that really used my spiritual gifts. But that’s not what happened, nor is it really how God works.

Instead, I learned that God is always at work around me and as I pursue an authentic relationship with Him, He invites me to become involved with Him in His work. And His assignments are very often the “Here’s what I have for you today” kind, not the BIG long-term ones I was looking for. I also learned that my goal should be to know and do His will one day at a time. If I do that, then I’m automatically going to be where He wants me to be and doing what he wants me to do all of the time. And if He wants to give me a long-term assignment, then I’ll be prepared.

WOW! That was revolutionary, and it has really taken the pressure off. It’s also helping me to Experience God in ways that I haven’t before.

We have two more weeks in our three-week Overview of Experiencing God series in thequest Institute at 10:30 on Sunday mornings. Please join us if you would like to learn more about how to know and do God’s will and experience Him in a great personal relationship.

In pursuit of Godliness,

Larry T.


05.03.06 thequest weekly email UPdate