Divine Encouragement and Inspiration

The oarsman, trusting in Me, does not lean on his oars and drift with the tide, trusting to the current.

Nay, more often - once I have shown the way - it is against the tide you must direct all your effort.

Even when difficulties come, it is by your effort that they will be surmounted. But always strength and the Joy in the doing you can have through Me.

My fishermen-disciples did not find the fishes ready on the shore in their nets. I take man's effort and bless that.

I need man's effort - he needs My blessing. This partnership means success.

miguel de Portugal commented then: We must remember that, once we apply our (reasonable, not frenetic) effort and "no fishes are caught" then it is because it is not His Will that we catch them at that point in time; thus, we should cease and desist that particular route and seek the one with the "Divine flashing sign". The one we keep ignoring because it may not be the one we want.

When He encourages us to be persistent, He means to be persistent in prayer, that is what He means - Prayer and not action.

Action comes into play once He has shown the way.

Summarizing: We must be persistent in prayer until He shows the way; then, we must apply all of our effort in such direction. If we find a closed door and it does not open upon our prayerful request, do not bring it down by force and go through it. Look for the one He has opened for you and go through it.

A great deal of man's misery is the result of forcing closed doors until they open, and then "triumphantly" going through them and into a disaster.

A YouTube Lyric Video - Thy Will be Done - by Hillary Scott, was brought to our attention recently. It is a lovely and passionate prayer of surrender to the Will of God.... or so the composer/singer thought. What we saw, however, was a frequently seen situation:

A faithful soul, who sincerely wants for the Will of God to be done, but, but as God earlier showed the way, the soul refused to see it or recognize for what it was - the Will of God, thus making the wrong choice. This poor soul, consumed by the ensuing suffering, continues to plea endlessly for something that was right before his/hers eyes and which, if it had been recognized in time, would have avoided much suffering.

Providentially the content of the Lyric Video matches very well with the Divine Encouragement He chose for today.