Today’s release of Dancing on Water (DOW), Article 100, takes me to a milestone of greater faith, sacrifice, and courage in my walk with the Lord. Reaching this high-point in my service to the Lord is cause for celebration that inspires me to push onward and upward with Him.
 
It was in 2006 that I testified to several close friends of God’s prompting to write short articles that are aimed at encouraging and inspiring fellow believers to live above life’s circumstances in their daily walk with Him. However, not one word found its way onto paper to commence Article 001, until July 2020… after the passage of fourteen years! Why? Why all that time? Had God changed His mind? Had I chickened-out? No, none of those reasons fit my situation.
 
My Bible reading in the morning of October 26, 2021, was Galatians – the letter that Paul had written to churches in the northern region of modern Turkey. After explaining to his readers that God had chosen him, and had revealed His Son, Jesus to him, Paul said that he didn’t immediately ‘rush out’ to consult with any human being (including the apostles in Jerusalem), but instead he went away into Arabia… later returning to the city of Damascus (1:15-17).  
 
Three years after returning to Damascus Paul went to Jerusalem and stayed with Peter for fifteen days. He also met with James, the Lord’s brother (vv 18-20). Paul then said that he went north into the provinces of Syria and Cilicia before returning to Jerusalem. What did Paul do in these northern provinces? He didn’t say. How long did Paul stay in the northern provinces and where did he go to next? In chapter 2, Paul said, “Then fourteen years later I went back to Jerusalem again” (v 1).
 
For fourteen years God’s specially chosen apostle was kept hidden from our eyes! Although we don’t know what happened with Paul during this long season of mysterious covert happenings, we are free to speculate that God was ‘preparing’ His appointed agent for special work, primarily among non-Jewish pagans.
 
Friends, it’s a tendency of God to issue a call to someone of His choosing at a moment in time and then prescribe or permit that person to move over a protracted period of time along certain paths of learning, growing, equipping, and conditioning, to the point of being made-ready to commence His special work. Consider the lives of Joseph, David, and our Lord Jesus. Yes, Jesus in one moment in time was called and then spent thirty long years in preparation for His earthly mission… culminating in His death, burial and resurrection! Yes, Jesus underwent thirty-years of preparation for only three-years of public service!
 
I’m suggesting that the reason why it took fourteen years for me to put pen-to-paper to commence the writing of Article 001 is because that was the amount of time needed for slow-learning, amanuenses Bill to be made ready for the mega-task that lay ahead of him. 
 
Today’s article marks but one quarter of the way towards the finish line of my expressed goal of 400 articles. Lord willing, at the rate of one article per week I am hoping to cross the finish line midway in 2028. By God’s power and inspiration, I am determined to not give-up.
 
Friends, I’m praying for the preparation you are presently passing through, have passed through, or will pass through that has made/will make you ready for the special work the Lord has chosen for you. Having been specially chosen, the Lord sets about growing us, equipping us, and empowering us for that work. So, how does it feel being one of God’s specially chosen, prepared, and commissioned agents?
 
Best wishes
Bill