Now Think On This
by Steve Martin
“Do you see what this means — all these pioneers who blazed the way, all these veterans cheering us on? It means we'd better get on with it. Strip down, start running — and never quit! No extra spiritual fat, no parasitic sins.
Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we're in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed — that exhilarating finish in and with God — he could put up with anything along the way: cross, shame, whatever. And now he's there, in the place of honor, right alongside God.
When you find yourselves flagging in your faith, go over that story again, item by item, that long litany of hostility he plowed through. That will shoot adrenaline into your souls!” (Hebrews 12:1-3 The Message)
Hanging on our family room wall is a worn out record album. You can see that it had gotten much use during it’s time from 1976 on. The cover itself, framed in black with a glass covering, has special meaning to me. Whenever I see it, going in and out of that room, it reminds me of the need to keep walking in faith, and to keep my hand to the plow.
The black 33 1/3 vinyl enclosed within is entitled Hand To The Plow, one of Paul Clark’s many albums produced during the time of my early Christian walk. To this day he is still a Christian guitarist and soloist, though maybe not as well known.
On the front of that framed piece of artwork, in simple black and white color, is a pair of well worn, rather hairy hands. They surely had seen better days in their prime years. But these calloused hands were still holding onto the wooden plow. Obviously they were preparing the fields for another harvest yet to come. They had faithfully kept walking as the seasons went by.
Growing up in Minnesota and Iowa (located in the Midwest of America, for the sake of the international readers) I had plenty of summer opportunities to be on a working farm. Of the 11 uncles I had (both sides of the family) I remember at least four of them raising their families on farms. Each would put in the annual field crops, in addition to all the dairy cows, pigs, sheep, chickens or all of the above.
In those years from 1954 -1970, tractors had long since taken over the single steel blade as the method of plowing. But being aware of how the early pioneers had to sweat, endure, and pray to the Lord of the weather for favor, I understood what it would have physically cost to keep those hands on the plow to prepare the black soil.
Staying on the path takes courage and commitment. The apostle Paul wrote to disciple Timothy to be continually mindful of the prophetic words spoken over him in his faith walk. In order to do that in my own life I transcribed all prophetic words that had been recorded. Keeping them in a three ring binder for easy access, and also saved on my laptop, it is an encouraging reminder to go back and read what the Lord had spoken through His people.
We often need to be reminded of that which the Lord has revealed to us in our earlier years. In February, 2007, that was such a time for me.
After a period of discouragement in my life, I sought the Lord for a prophetic word. What amazes me now, looking back (October, 2015 as I write this), little did I know that three years later, in July of 2010, I would leave a $70,000 a year ministry director position, with full benefits, to start our own new ministry organization called Love For His People, Inc.
When I filed my income tax for 2011, my individual total taxable income had fallen to $11,000 for that year. Needless to say, either I had missed the Lord or He was doing a deep work in my spirit, soul and body. Not only for myself, but also for Laurie my wife. (We are thankful she still had her part time day care job.)
The following is a prophetic word that I still read as a reminder to this day. It helps me to keep walking the walk and my hands on the plow.
As transcribed from the cassette tape that was recorded that night:
Robbie Phillips, from Columbia, SC, met with a group at Michael & Mary Ann Blade's home in Charlotte, NC. Here is a word prophesied to me.
Robbie Phillips: We call for the blessings of God. Everything he puts his hands to, bless. Everything he puts his hands to, bless, in Jesus’ name.
It seems to me in your work – talk about plowing – brother it seems to me that you have been plowing and plowing and plowing and plowing and plowing and plowing. And there is a verse in Haggai. In Haggai it is in the negative sense but in your case it is in the positive sense, where the word of the prophet was that you have sown much but have harvested little.
And it seems to me that in the ministry that you have been in the last few years, that you have sown far more than what you have seen coming back. But it’s almost like as I see you are going down, like you have one of the old time plows and you have an oxen or a mule or something ahead of you, and here you are, just getting it done day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year.
And it’s like I see this tremendously long row, and there is this man standing there, and he has a linen garment on, he’s right out of Ezekiel, and you recognize that this is an angelic visitor, and you stop, and he says, “Steve, look behind you. And you look back and you thought you had been plowing, but in the distance, where you had plowed a long time ago, whole forests have sprung up, and they are seeding new forests, and right behind you there has been an acceleration of what God is doing in your ministry, so that it’s not just a place where you just plowed, but there are already small trees that have sprung up even a few feet behind you.
And I see about you, I think it is just trickling in now, but I see the blessings of God beginning to come now, to the point where they are going to overtake you. It talks about when you are faithful to the Lord, and in the 7th year when the land has the Sabbath, that you don’t need to worry about plowing and harvesting in that 7th year, because what you sowed three years before, and the next year and the following year, will all seem to come in on top of you at one time, and you will have more than enough, in fact you will have so much coming in, that you will have to move out some of the old to bring the new in.
And I see the blessing of the Lord and it’s like you have been looking and trusting God for His faithfulness and you are going to see a demonstration of the faithfulness of God and not just in spiritual things but in financial ways and material ways.
I see you, brother, you riding the high places of the earth with the Lord. I see you at 50,000 feet in jet liners just about all the time, flying all over the world. I see you a connector in the hand of the Lord. I see you being behind the scenes man, much of the time, major conferences and things like that, but the people that really know, the people that are the shakers and the movers in the Kingdom, the people that are well known, they’ll say that if you really want to meet a shaker and a mover, then you go and meet Steve Martin. He’s the guy behind the scenes, and he’s the guy that really gets things done.
And I see you being able to go to Scandinavian countries, European countries, the countries of the Far East, South America, all over the world, and I see you having contacts all over the world, and I see you being able to be used of the Lord to connect this person on one end of the world to a person over here and to bring things together in just the right timing of the Lord.
I see a tremendous amount of influence in your life, and I see that teaching anointing of your life. I see situation, particularly with leadership, it seems to me the Lord, just like with Elijah, suddenly “Boom!” out of nowhere Elijah appears, he wasn’t there one day and suddenly he’s the talk of the nation and I see the Lord just suddenly revealing you, revealing a teaching anointing, particularly for leadership and with leaders, and a lot of it having to do with the holiness of God, and your own personal, their own personal walk with God, the things that are near and dear to your heart, about right relationships with your wife and your family. How your relationships with that, how those dynamics work, things that really matter. The nitty gritty stuff that drive the kingdom. These things being those that are really near to your heart.
Being able to be a real impact to people who are key leaders. But I see that in a teaching format, even more so than your own personal encouragement and strengthening. I see the Lord giving you teachings to begin to bring to leadership, in due season.”
We know that not all personal prophetic words may come to pass, for a variety of reasons. (Another message for another day.) But there are several spoken in this word from that 2007 date that have since been fulfilled already. I anticipate that more of them will be in the years ahead.
I shared this to encourage you to keep believing the Lord on your faith walk. There are many days when things don’t look like they are moving; when advancement would be great if even just a step forward happened one day, rather than the two steps backward that seemed to occur yesterday. We must keep pressing on towards the goal set before us. (Philippians 3:14)
Winston Churchill is famously known for a simple but profound speech he gave, where he walked out onto the stage, said, “Never, never, never give up” and then walked off.
Scripture also encourages us to never quit, but to keep walking and standing firm in our commitment to the Lord and His eternal purposes.
“Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.
Stand firm therefore, HAVING GIRDED YOUR LOINS WITH TRUTH, and HAVING PUT ON THE BREASTPLATE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS, and having shod YOUR FEET WITH THE PREPARATION OF THE GOSPEL OF PEACE; in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. And take THE HELMET OF SALVATION, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” (Ephesians 6:11-17 NASU)
Days of trial and tribulations are coming even more so on the earth. For many believers in the Middle East and the Far East, they can’t get much worse than what they already are. But wherever we find ourselves, we are called to stand in the power of the Lord’s might, and be witnesses in the nations.
The Lord God Almighty, Victor of All, is on His eternal throne in heaven, along with many witnesses who have gone on before us, interceding and cheering us on.
Keep walking.
Now think on this,
Steve Martin
Founder
Love For His People. Inc.
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Now Think On This #195 “Keep Walking” by Steve Martin
Date: In the year of our Lord 2015 (10.23.15) Friday at 6:30 pm in Charlotte, NC
All previous editions of Now Think On This can be found on this Blog, and on the website: Now Think On This
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