How to Nurture Divine Connections with People audio video notes. We need to pray every day for divine connections. We need to pray God will bring into our paths the people we need, and weed out the people from our lives and paths who hinder our growth in God. God will bring the right people, but if we continue attachments to the wrong people, it will hinder our progress, or detour us from experiencing divine connections.
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By Pastor Delbert Young
How to Nurture Divine Connections with People
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How to Nurture Divine Connections with People
Psalm 37:4-5, Ecclesiastes 3:11, Acts 9:26-27, 2 Kings 5:1
If you look at life, life’s a series of connections with people. The great news is God already has those connections lined up for you. The Bible teaches God gives you the desires of your heart.
Psalm 37:4-5 DELIGHT YOURSELF in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart. COMMIT YOUR WAY TO THE LORD; TRUST IN HIM and he will do this
This doesn’t only mean the Lord will make happen what you desire down deep. It also means the Lord himself placed those desires down deep inside you, to begin with. For the desires of your heart to happen, it will require you to come into connection with specific people along the way. So, if God placed the desires in your heart then God already knows with whom you need to come into connection ten years from now. This is God’s part. Your part is to delight/enjoy the Lord. COMMIT YOUR WAY TO THE LORD and TRUST IN HIM.
Single people, God already has your mate lined up. You don’t have to struggle or try to make things happen. In fact, if you do, you might get the wrong one. All you do is commit your way to the Lord and trust in him.
How to Nurture Divine Connections with People
Too often, we all try to make things happen in our own strength. It’s when we mess up. People marry the wrong person, get the wrong job, or live a life of misery because they forced and manipulated stuff to happen. We all know people who did exactly this. However, there is a real freedom in knowing God will give us divine connections. It means you don’t have to play up to someone or manipulate a situation. This means you don’t have to worry if you haven’t met the man or woman of your dreams. This means you don’t need to be frustrated because you haven’t met the right people yet to get where you want to go in life. God has it all planned for you. Your primary concern is to commit your way to the Lord and trust him.
How to Nurture Divine Connections with People
A divine connection is when you look back and know meeting someone had to be God.
You were at the right place at the right time. One of my first divine connections, I know was a divine connection, was meeting my wife. I was the leader of our MYF youth group. Our group was going to summer camp, but I couldn’t go. I had to work and there was no way I could get off. However, someone, without being asked, came along and said they would work for me. I was able to go to the camp for the last few days. It was at this camp, I met my wife and some years later, we married.
Coming to this town to pastor was a series of divine connections. I was searching for what God wanted me to do. I went to several churches and ministered, but none felt right. One night I received a call from the area Presbyter of the A/G telling me someone referred me to him and asked if I would come and minister. I did, met some of you, we felt it was a divine connection, and here we are 24 years later. God will take care of our lives and he has the people we need lined up for us. Stop worrying. If you will commit and trust the Lord, he will give you the desires of your heart.
If I look back at every major event in my life, spouse, meeting a life-long friend, a special door opening, or a special event, I didn’t make happen or manipulate to happen, I see divine connections.
How to Nurture Divine Connections with People
Concerning friendships and relationships, if someone doesn’t want to be your friend, don’t worry about it and get depressed.
It’s their loss, not yours. It’s God saying, you don’t need them to fulfill your destiny and if you manipulate the relationship, they could cause you to miss a divine connection. We go through different seasons. Maybe you were great friends with someone for 10 or 15 years but you seem to be going in different directions now. The season changed. You’re still acquaintances, but realize this season is over and God is trying to take you to a new divine connection.
Ecclesiastes 3:11 He has made everything beautiful IN ITS TIME. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.
The connection was a beautiful thing IN ITS TIME, but God is concerned about eternity in your heart. You are somewhere between your beginning and end. You can’t fathom it, and you cannot figure it out, so what’s the answer? Commit to and trust God for divine connections.
I watch young people (and old people) get depressed when the person they care about “breaks up” with them. I tell them don’t do this to yourself. It simply means God has someone better for you (I don’t mean the other person is a bad person – rather not the best for you). Trust God. The season is over.
How to Nurture Divine Connections with People
I watched my own son, for years wait for his wife. He knew this principle and truth. You can ask him if it paid off. He is happily married with a beautiful family. He could have easily forced things, but he didn’t. Lance committed himself to the Lord and put his trust in him. There was a divine connection. Lance had a friend from LaFayette who, at the time, lived in Mississippi in an apartment complex managed by a beautiful young woman. His friend invited Lance to Mississippi hoping he would meet her. Lance went. They met. The rest is history. God has a divine connection for you too.
John Attardo lived in Canada. Angela Kittle worked in Chattanooga and through a series of job opportunities, friends, etc., John hears about Angela and gives her a call from Canada. There they are today. It can be a summer camp, a trip to Mississippi to see a friend, or a phone call from Canada, but God has a divine connection for you if you will commit your way and trust him.
How to Nurture Divine Connections with People
This is true in every area of life, not only marriage.
God has people lined up for you concerning your education, the school you need to attend, the occupation you need to pursue, or even the hobbies you enjoy. I love to fish off Panama City Beach, FL. I met a deep sea captain and he took me under his wing and taught me how to do it right. God cares about everything and if you will commit to him and trust him, he will connect you with everyone you need in life.
We need to pray every day for divine connections. We need to pray God will bring into our paths the people we need, and weed out the people from our lives and paths who slow or hinder our love, and growth in God. God will bring the right people, but if we continue the attachments to the wrong people, it will hinder our progress, or detour us from meeting the right people. As sure as God wants to bring us divine connections, the devil wants to bring us wrong connections. Life is too short to connect to the wrong people.
How to Nurture Divine Connections with People
Realize spirits are transferable. When you enter into a relationship with someone, you don’t enter only into the natural. You get the spiritual as well. For example, if you are around someone who is extremely jealous, a jealous spirit will get on you. They will place jealous thoughts in your mind. You young people get around friends who are rude and disrespectful. Before long, you back-talk your parents and are disrespectful to adults. Maybe a person isn’t honest. If you get around a person, you will do dishonest things and lose your integrity.
If you are spending your time with the wrong people, you will not be on the path you need to be when the right people cross the path you should be traveling.
People ask, “Where are my divine connections?” It could easily be you are spending your time with the wrong connections.
How to Nurture Divine Connections with People
People say, “I made a mess of my past. I messed up my job, my marriage, my friendships, my addictions, etc. No one will ever want me around.” No. If you will trust the Lord and commit to him, God will bring your divine connections. Apostle Paul went years persecuting Christ’s followers. His name was then Saul and he chased Christ’s followers putting them in prison. One day, Jesus miraculously saved him and told him he would preach the gospel all over the world, but there was a problem. No one wanted anything to do with Saul. Everyone was afraid of him. No doors opened. Saul continued to commit himself to the Lord and trust the Lord.
Acts 9:26-27 When he came to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he really was a disciple. But BARNABAS took him and brought him to the apostles. He told them how Saul on his journey had seen the Lord and that the Lord had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had preached fearlessly in the name of Jesus.
Barnabas was a divine connection for Saul/Paul. This divine connection gave us most of the New Testament bringing untold billions of people to Christ. God had a plan. God already had Barnabas lined up for Saul. You may ask how you can fulfill your dreams and ambitions. All God has to do is send one Barnabas across your path. All it takes is God bringing one divine connection at the right time. Immediately, you go to a completely new level of life. One “phone call” from Barnabas, not only changed Saul’s life, but untold lives. One person saying, “Let me make a phone call and see what I can do,” can take your life to a completely new level.
How to Nurture Divine Connections with People
Have you ever heard the story about Billy Graham? He was running some meetings for The Christian Business Men’s Association. The crowds began falling off. Graham thought his meetings were about done. Then, one night, amazingly, the place filled with people, and cameras flashed everywhere. Graham asked what happened. A memo came down from a newspaperman named William Randolph Hurst. Hurst attended Graham’s service the night before and decided to give Graham a “boost.” He owned newspapers all across the U.S. He simply said, “Puff Graham.” It’s all he said – two words.
The crusade went on for 8 weeks. 350,000 people attended, but after this, Billy Graham Ministries accelerated. Overnight, Billy Graham became a national figure. Why? God sent a Barnabas. Two words from the right person, and one memo from a divine connection, can do more for you than you can do for you in an entire lifetime.
Did you know God would use a negative situation to bring about a divine connection?
Life Gate Church is the product of a negative situation. The A/G was about to ask me to part company. I left before they had the opportunity and several of us began what is today called Life Gate Church. Many of you met me and I met you – a divine connection – as a result of a negative situation. Therefore, when you are going through something not pleasurable, put this into your mix. God will work it all for good (Rom 8:28) and bring you a divine connection.
How to Nurture Divine Connections with People
You might be divorced or a widow. You may think you will be lonely from now on. No. God said it’s not good for a person to be alone. Remember Ruth in the Bible? She experienced an unfortunate situation. Her husband died, but God cared about Ruth. He knew she would face tragedy, so what did God do? He had Naomi, Ruth’s mother-in-law, lined up. Through Naomi, Ruth met, not just “a man,” but a righteous, wealthy, good man named Boaz. It was God’s plan for Ruth and through this divine connection, Jesus Christ happened down the lineage. So, maybe if you don’t need a Barnabas, maybe you need a Boaz or a Naomi.
My point is, that no matter who or what you need, God has a divine connection for you. Joseph had a divine connection with Pharaoh’s cupbearer. David had a divine connection with Samuel, and Silas with Paul. I could go around this church and point out divine connections God orchestrated when people committed and trusted God.
How to Nurture Divine Connections with People
2 Kings 5:1 Now Naaman was commander of the army of the king of Aram. He was a great man in the sight of his master and highly regarded, because through him the LORD had given victory to Aram. He was a valiant soldier, but he had leprosy.
Leprosy! The worst of the worst diseases. Do you know who Naaman’s divine connection was? She was a young servant girl who changed his bed sheets and swept his floor. She told Naaman’s wife about a prophet in Samaria named Elisah. God put this little girl into Naaman’s path so God could heal Naaman. People say, “This boy or girl is just a child. They cut the grass, or they go to school…” You had better listen. The boy or girl could be your divine connection. Young people in high school have spoken into my life.
Once God lined up a donkey as a divine connection for a man named Balaam. What’s my point? Don’t look at the color of skin, social status, or age. Look for God’s divine connection.
God has divine connections for you, but you too are a divine connection for people. Take time for people. Show you care. Meet a need. Put in a good word. Make a call. What if we lived with the attitude of “Who can I bless today? What one need in the world can I meet today? For whom can I be a divine connection today?” When we are a divine connection, we can rest assured, that God will bring us divine connections.
How to Nurture Divine Connections with People
Each of us can look back over our lives and see divine connections – your spouse, your job, a better position, salvation, an investment.
You look back and you know it was God. If he had it planned then, he has it planned again. The people you need are already lined up. When you pray, every day, thank God for your divine connection. Don’t try to make stuff happen. Commit yourself to God and trust in him. He will line the right people up for your life. There is a Barnabas when you need him. There is a Naomi and a Boaz. There’s a cupbearer and a Samuel. There is someone who will work for you so you can go to camp. There’s a friend inviting you to Mississippi, or a call coming from Canada. There is a servant girl when you need healing. Yes, there’s even a donkey.
God has planned it all out for you. You need PEOPLE. If you will commit yourself to the Lord and trust him, he will give you the desires of your heart.
How to Nurture Divine Connections with People
How to Nurture Divine Connections with People
Other Related Sermons:
People and Divine Connections: The Key to a Blessed and Successful Life
People and Divine Connections series
Divine Appointments and Connections
Do Not Force Appointments or Connections
God’s Purpose For His People Audio Series
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