TEXT: (Matt. 6:32) - "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added to you."
My life is filled with testimonies of God's goodness and awesome power as I'm sure your life is as well, when you stop and think about it. That's part of how you increase your faith.
Think how God came through for you in the past. Write them down if you have to, no matter how small the incident may seem to be. On a day when you're in a real hurry and God has a parking space waiting for you right in front of your destination, that is just as much of a miracle as a miraculous financial blessing when the times are tough.
When you keep a log of God's blessings in your life, you suddenly realize that He has never let you down. He may not have come through the way you were expecting but nevertheless He came through.
Sometimes, what seems like a trauma at the time, when you look back at it, was God's way of getting your attention for some divine purpose. He had been waiting for you. The problem was that you've been too busy to hear His voice of guidance.
I am reminded of a paragraph in the book, "Elijah Task", which states, "If God has to remove everything in your life that is important to you in order to get your attention and get you where you are supposed to be, He will do it."
The above-mentioned quote is the basis of what this testimony is all about. The testimony I am about to share with you is part of a larger testimony described in detail in one of the books in my mini-book series, "Guided To the Light."
I've been living in Los Angeles since 1978. I came out here knowing only a few people. So I had to pretty much build my career from the ground up. It's been a slow, methodical climb, building my career in television, film, industrial and educational films, plays and most recently, voice-overs.
I've had a number of survival jobs in between my acting jobs ranging from security, temporary agencies, taxicab and substitute teaching, just to name a few. Finally, in 1992, I was making enough as an actor to live on residuals and session fees.
Suddenly, from 1995 to the first half of 1997, I had the slowest audition/interview period ever experienced since being in Los Angeles which turned into little to no income from acting. This began with an unusual series of events.
A new agent I had just signed with at the time was suddenly fired during the reorganization of her agency. I soon found a second agency. Shortly afterwards, the owner of that agency decided to close down. I then remained with one of the second agent's associate agents, who merged with a third agency. I didn't go out for auditions one time over the next year. Then the two agents in that agency had a major disagreement and split up. Since the previous year was so slow, I decided to stay with the third agent.
Three months later, the third agent vanished into thin air without warning. He was there one day and then "puff", the next day his office was empty with no warning or word as to what happened.
Almost three years had passed during all of these events. With no acting jobs during this time, before I knew it, the residuals that were previously sustaining me had reduced to insignificant amounts. Things had gotten so slow that I had to go back to my old survival job of graveyard shift, security work.
During the shift on my security job, the devil immediately attacked my mind with the old "You're a failure" angle or "You're going backwards now, you might as well give up on your crazy goal."
I responded with ministry tapes, gospel audio tapes, bible study, prayer and whatever else I could find or think of to offset the devil's attack.
The graveyard shift was perfect in that there was very little activity during the shift. I found myself praying and studying the Word more than I ever had before, just to keep a sane mind while warding off the devil's constant mental attack.
"Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added to you" began to ring in my spirit nightly. During all that quiet time on each shift, the Lord's quiet voice instilled several revelations in to my spirit.
REVELATION #1
"If this is what it takes to get quality time from you, the maybe this should be your career choice and not acting."
Around the same time, another dear friend of mine prophesied that the Lord wanted me to rise to a new level in spreading the Word, which was practically non-existent at the time. She explained that "works" are fine but the Lord wanted me also to spend some quality time talking to Him more.
MY COMMITMENT - God's timing for the prophecy was incredible, as usual. It was very easy to talk to Him at that time because, once again, bills were starting to add up. However, unlike earlier in my life, I was doing my best to live by the Word. I remember that I had a total of $2,500 in creditor deadlines that had to be paid yesterday. Attempting to relax my mind, I went fishing and talked to God like He was sitting next to me on the riverbank.
MY BLESSING FROM OBEDIENCE - Later that day, when I got home, I went to the mailbox and there was a residual for $3,000 net in the mailbox. I almost had an accident on my way to the bank, shouting and praising His name in the car. The lesson I learned from that experience was "Trust God and have faith!"
REVELATION #2
"If you are going to be useful to Me in the entertainment industry, then you need to minister to at least one person in every project you're involved in. It may be to a group or just to one person. Sometimes you may just need to be that listening ear or sometimes you'll be ministered to by someone else. I'll determine which form of ministry is needed from project to project. You must be ready at any time."
MY COMMITMENT
I responded, promising to commit and be ready to minister as directed.
MY BLESSING FROM OBEDIENCE - Almost immediately, I was cast in several consecutive "guest starring" roles spanning over the following television season. The lesson learned here was "the blessing from obedience and seeking God first." Everyone was asking me what did I do to get all this work? Get a new agent, new pictures or what? Whether they liked it or not, the answer was a direct testimony about my commitment to the Lord. For some people, I could tell my answer was ministering to them. For others, I could tell they'd wished I had given them a different answer. Still, the seed was planted and will hopefully take root over time.
REVELATION #3
"All of our desires are goals based on the talents we each posses. But that's only the small picture. The big picture is that the various directions our talents take us are designed to make us "spiritual beacons" in our chosen field. This will allow us to spread His word. It is when you refuse to become that beacon that God has called you to be, that you have problems succeeding in that field.
COMMITMENT - I have committed that whenever I have a divine assignment or vision from God, I will act on it in a timely manner. Typing this testimony was a divine assignment because originally all that was written here was clear revelations in my spirit.
MY BLESSING FROM OBEDIENCE - the blessings from being obedient to this revelation continue to this day. Whenever God wishes to adjust my path or talk to me, everything in my life comes to an abrupt halt. I have come to learn whenever that happens, God is saying, "we need to talk. You're getting distracted from the assignment I have given you."
If I am too busy to obey immediately, it is almost as if all the blessings run away from me and brings everything to a halt until I talk to Him and get back to the assignment at hand. Oh, but praise God, when I am obedient and follow his lead, blessings flow from all directions.
So if you ever come to a point in your life when nothing seems to work right for you or everything seems to be out of sync in your life, it could be that the Lord is calling you to take that step closer to Him. Or has He given you an assignment that you've been reluctant to act upon? If either is the case, you're standing in your own way until you allow Him to take complete control of your life in every way. Go for it! Let go and let God!
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