God's Message to Quest...

Thanks for taking the time to read this beautiful message of encouragement that a dear friend sent Team Quest many months ago. Today the words are so meaningful to us. When you pray for Team Quest, if God gives you a word, message or scripture passage, please feel free to send them on to us. God uses you, our complete TEAM to speak to us. Thanks for your support.

This week my mind has been centered around things of Quest, and I have been praying earnestly that God would grant words of wisdom that I could share with you. I understand that I am not one of the main decision makers, but I do believe that God does use outsiders to deliver messages, as I know you believe as well. After many hours of prayer and seeking, I feel I do not have an answer as to what you should be doing, or purchasing, or which decisions should be made... but rather, I feel as though it is more my place to just encourage you spur you on in these times. Yesterday in my devotional I read about Spiritual Perserverance, and I would like to put the whole substance of the devotional in this e-mail, in hopes that you too may be encouraged through it.

"Perserverance is more than endurance. It is endurance combined with absolute assurance and certainty that what we are looking for is going to happen. Perserverance means more than just hanging on, which may be only exposing our fear of letting go and falling. Perserverance is our supreme effort of refusing to believe that our hero is going to be conquered. Our greatest fear is not that we will be damned, but that somehow Jesus Christ will be defeated. Also, our fear is that the very things our Lord stood for - love, justice, forgiveness, and kindness among men - will win out in the end and will represent an unattainable goal for us. Then there is the call to spiritual perserverance. A call not to hang on and do nothing, but to work deliberately, knowing with certainty that God will never be defeated.If our hopes seem to be experiencing dissapointment right now, it simply means that they are being purified. Every hope or dream of the human mind will be fulfilled if it is noble and of God. But one of the greatest stresses in life is the stress of waiting for God. He brings fulfillment, "because you have kept my command to perservere..." (Rev 3:10).Continue to perservere spiritually."

After reading this devotional, I was reminded of the e-mail you sent regarding waiting on God, and how it is not right to rush nor manipulate his timing. And I truly believe that God will make known at the proper time, exactly what he is wanting you to persue and take hold of, and when he wants you to do it.

I also want to throw in another thing here. As I was praying and fasting on Wednesday, I was praying for a word for Quest, and he gave me the word "REDEMPTION". At first I thought the word to be odd, and did not what it meant. So I started thinking of what it means to be redeemed.... things like being made new, or to get back came to mind. But being curious about this, I explored further in the dictionary, and found meanings like "set free; rescued; saved; delivered; liberated; made good; carried out; a deliverance or rescue." This was still not quite what I was looking for...still I needed guidance. So I looked through the concordance, looking up verses on redemption, and three stood out to me. Psalm 130:7, Isaiah 353:9 and Exodus 6:6. Upon reading them, I began to recieve a greater understanding of what this word might mean. I do not want to spiritualize things and say that the verses I just mentioned are directly relating to Quest. But thorugh them I came to a clearer understanding. I do believe that this is one more assurance to us, that God is taking back things for his glory through Quest, and by redeeming what seemed to be lost. I urge you to pray as well and see what this word means to you, and to Quest. To see what God lays on your heart. I myself feel it is yet one more confirmation that things are moving in the right direction.

As things continue to come together, be encouraged! There will be hard times, and decisions that will seem to not quite make sense, but you know they are the right ones to make. God is not always predictable. Continue to be sensitive to his leading, like I know you are. Be the example of Servant Leaders that Chirst has called us to be. Stand firm, daily seeking Christs vision, and not mans. There will come a time when God will rise things up, and there will be such tension as things begin to come together, and made ready to be put into action...And just as a woman has her pains before childbirth, there will be such joy and great reward when the new creation in Christ comes to life.

Be encouraged. Be blessed.