Walking in God's Faithfulness:Testimonies of God's Timing with Michael Klassen

5ampodcast.com

In this podcast episode, guest Michael Klassen shares his journey of faith and testimony of God's perfect timing in life. 

Growing up in a Christian home, Michael learned about God's faithfulness through personal experiences and the people he met. 

He tells poignant stories of how prayers were answered at the right moment, including a man's transformation at a carpet store and a divine encounter with a young refugee.

 The episode emphasizes the importance of keeping a journal to remember God's past works and encourages listeners to remain still and silent, reflecting on God's presence in their lives.

Northwestern

Music from #Uppbeat

https://uppbeat.io/t/northwestern/hometown

License code: ECXWHTQKMTAJN9JS

You've listened to one episode and you know you'd love to hear more of the same great content.

Now what?

It's easy.

Give it a try!

https://www.youtube.com/@JustTalkinAboutJesus

https://jan-johnson.com/

https://justtalkingaboutjesus.com/

https://janjohnsonauthor.substack.com/

https://www.youtube.com/@JustTalkinAboutJesus

Thanks for listening!

If you have a story to tell, check out the form on my website- justtalkingaboutjesus.com.

I'd love to connect with you!

No, really.... hit me up!

Transcript

Michael: We all have stories of the Lord's faithfulness, of the timing of God. And some people think they have to just brute force their way through life. I have found that we don't. But we have to die to self and flesh gets in the way, but we have to walk in that faithfulness.

Jan: Hello everyone. Welcome to Just Talking About Jesus. My guest today is Michael Klassen. Welcome, Michael.

Michael: Well, it's great to be here. Thank you for having me.

Jan: So you had me where I read that you always had a hunger for truth, community and spiritual filling. Yes, Sounds like my kind of guy. Yeah, this is the place we want to be. So tell me a little bit about yourself. What's your testimony? What, you've been a Christian all your life?

Michael: Well, certainly love the Lord. And I was fortunate enough to grow up in a Christian home with generations of Christians on both my parents sides and just fortunate that we were in Sunday school and vacation Bible school and we learned a lot about the Lord. But yet even in all those things, there's still so much to learn from the Lord through personal discipleship outside of the church setting. And certainly you meet some pleasant people in church and some unpleasant people in church. And yeah, so I learned a lot, I think, from the people that God has brought into my path over the years and went to Bible college after high school and kind of learned that there was more that I needed to learn. There was a lot that I didn't know and. But the, the great thing about it was the opportunity to press in to the Lord, to know him on a personal level, not just through a corporate or family tradition model. And you know, and then it's one step in front of the other. And I think we all have different obstacles that come in our ways. And some people have very dramatic things that have happened. And I don't feel like I've had like dramatic pitfalls or anything like that. But I think one of the things that I have learned over the years is the faithfulness of God and that he's true. What he says he will do might not be on our timeline, but the timing will be perfect.

Jan: What kind of ways has he shown that he's been faithful?

Michael: Oh, there are so many. And one of the things that I've learned is to keep a diary or a journal of what the Lord has done. Because we need to look back. And if the people that wrote the Bible, of course they wrote under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, but they still wrote what the Lord gave them. And so when we write down what we have Then we can look back. But there was my wife and I had moved to a new city. And man, there's so many times where being like working for ourselves, not having the regular 9 to 5 and having a bill due and then just bringing it before the Lord and then getting a phone call, we would say maybe out of the blue, but it's not out of the blue. It's from heaven, I suppose. And it would be more than what we needed, or it would be the same amount as what we needed. And I would think of the Bible verse, you have not because you ask not. And when you do ask, you ask with wrong motives. And there's a lot in that verse. So there's been many examples of that, of the Lord's faithfulness through finances and provision and other things. But one thing that I do want to share is we went to this church and there was a lot of people in that church who were maybe struggling with the faithfulness, knowing and experiencing the tangible, let's say manifestation or creation of God's power in their lives. And so we were having a men's breakfast, the pastor and a few other guys, and there was this retired minister who would, who would join us. And he worked at a carpet store. And I had opened my mouth multiple Wednesdays or Thursdays and I had talked about the goodness of God and that he, Jesus Christ brings the abundant life and not he doesn't give as the world gives. He doesn't. We don't have to buy the ticket first to get ride the ride on the roller coaster. The, the abundance is given to us without any strings attached and he doesn't give as the world gives. So I had been talking and so I think I, I unfortunately I don't remember his name. It was probably about 10 years ago, not quite 10 years ago, nine years ago now. And he kind of looked at me like, okay, Michael, you're going to like put up or shut up because I'm tired of you talking about this stuff. And he said, okay, just let me tell you something. I'm working at the carpet store. My sales are terrible. I'm not getting any commission and things are not good financially for my wife and I. And I said, well, that's not God's plan for you. I said, let's pray right now because God is going to show himself faithful in your life today. And so we prayed and he went on his way. I went to do my thing. I didn't see him for about four or six weeks. And he was there at the breakfast and I said, hey, how are things going? It was about six weeks. And he said, Michael, you are, maybe you will believe what happened to me, but I gotta tell you. He said, I got to the carpet store and he was the last one to arrive. And he said, Michael, they put me on the phones. And he said, Michael, you had just prayed that God was going to bless my day and he was going to bring in sales for me. And they put me on the phones. He said that's the worst place you can be in our store because people don't call in, they walk through the door. And he said, Michael, no sooner did I sit down than I got a phone call. So about 30 minutes after he walked through the doors, found out he was on desk duty. He said, Michael, I got this phone call from this retired 82-year-old teacher who lived in an expensive part of town and had about a 2000 square foot condo there, about 1500 to 2000 square feet somewhere in there. He said, Michael, this guy insisted that he needed it done right away. And so I had to go off the phone desk, leaving the store to go do an estimate. And he said, so not only did I not want to be on the phone, so I got put on the phones and this guy phones at the start of my shift and I have to leave the phone desk to go do this estimate. And he said, Michael, I walked into that guy's place and so keep in mind this is right around 2012ish, something like that. He said, Michael, that guy should have had his carpet changed in 1982. And he said, Michael, this guy bought the best of everything. He said, I have had that one sale put him at the top of the sales chart for those about those six weeks that we hadn't seen him. And so that was one of the examples of speaking the words of abundance and God's plan and favor in our lives over. Over. One of my, one of my friends from church. There's another example of this young refugee came to our church. He was sitting behind us one day, I didn't even know who he was. I heard the pastor say his name and I felt like I was supposed to give him a certain amount of money. And so I had it with me. Then the following Sunday he wasn't there. Then he wasn't there the next Sunday he wasn't there. The third Sunday he was there on the fourth Sunday and he was again, he was sitting very close to us. I introduced myself, I said, I feel like the Lord wants me to give you this amount of Money. And he was like, he was shocked. Case that was a Sunday we were in church, and I saw him go talk excitedly to one of the, one of the people kind of connected to the pastor and they, they would help the refugees and stuff. And, and I didn't really know him, but I later found out that he needed some work. So he came to work for me and maybe two or three months later he said, Michael, now that I've gotten to know you, I have to tell you what happened the Saturday before you gave me the money. And I was like, okay. He said, well, a friend of mine needed, needed a certain amount of money right away to do some immigration papers so he could get out of a refugee camp. And so I said, so did he call? Was that like the Sunday that I gave you the money? I said, that was the night before that he phoned you? And he said, yes, it was the night before. And so I said I would go and pray for him at church on Sunday. And I said, well, Mogus, I had that money in my pocket for four weeks waiting for you to come to church.

Jan: Waiting for God's timing.

Michael: Waiting for God's timing. So the Lord's timing is always perfect. And I'm just so thankful to the Lord that as many as are the sons of God and the daughters of God are the ones who, you know, it's. Whosoever will, we can enter into that. And we all have stories of the Lord's faithfulness, of the timing of God. And some people think they have to just brute force their way through life. I have found that we don't. But we have to die to self and flesh gets in the way, but we have to walk in that faithfulness.

Jan: So first of all, you have had things happen to you and you write them down, just like Joshua says, let's erect a monument here so that people can remember what God did.

Michael: Yes.

Jan: Which is a form of that, you know. And then God uses you as a vessel to just pray for somebody and just stop and say, no, huh? We're going to pray about this and we're going to some abundance that comes to you, which comes around, you know, and then he uses you as a vessel to give. I mean, it's just like that's what it's all about, right?

Michael: Yes. Amen.

Jan: You know, we had a similar situation. We have a bunch of sponsored kids with unbound. And so we went to visit this new one in. Most of ours are in Guatemala, but we went to visit a new one in Ecuador. So Ed had my Husband had gotten a letter, an original letter from this kid, and he says, oh, thank you, that you're going to build a house for us. And we're going, oh, okay. Because we didn't know some wires got crossed. And there had been another kid in Guatemala that he was going to help build a house for, and some wire guy cross in there, and she's like, oh, okay. So at any rate, we go to visit this kid and his family in Ecuador and the dad start. And they had a cinder block house. I mean, it was all done. The house is done and whatever. And so the dad starts telling us about how. How the day that Ed had chosen his son to. For us to sponsor, he had been on his knees because he was a bricklayer, you know, and he knew you had a trade, but he just didn't have any work. And he was just desperate for. For how he's going to support his wife and two kids, you know, and, you know, and he's just crying out to God, I don't know, just, please, I need help somewhere. I need work. I need whatever. Like that. And that was a day that Ed ended up sponsoring him. And so it was just like. I guess it just amazes me how God places people, you know, like, he knows what our heart is, and when we're willing to just do whatever he wants us to do, he places, I mean, somebody in Ecuador that prays, and God beams it down to my husband, like, okay, you're the guy that's going to do it. And of course, he ended up doing the houses for both kids. But it. Both. But. But God provided, you know, when he asked you to do something, he provides.

Michael: Yes, yes. And we can flow. There's a lot of talk in charismatic circles. You know, many years ago, there was the idea of the river of life, and there were songs about the river of life. And so the idea that we can flow with the Lord. And there's. Yeah, there's so many outside of, like, what we hear from the stages and, you know, the. The glitz and the glamour, that kind of window dressing. But when we can be still and know that he is God, man, it's just so refreshing to see the Lord do something outside of maybe the manipulation that comes from people or the, the big talking points or the political things that, that we can be still and know that he is God and be in his river and in his flow and that. I know distractions is always a big part of life and of people saying, like, Peter and Paul would both talk about people being Made merchandise of. And, you know, Jesus flipped over the tables of the money changers and drove them out with a whip that he manufactured right there with his MacGyver. Together, we might say, but it's marvelous when we can be still and know that he is God. And one of the things I think fits with this is if we do. I'm working on a little project and the subject of silence and the benefit of silence came up where Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist, had had a period of silence. And you know, various other people through scripture, you think of the woman that had the issue of blood, she was ostracized from the community, so she had a period of silence. The man sitting by the well, he had. Or the pool, he had no one to help carry him to the water to put him in the water. So he had a period of silence. And there's men, many others in the Bible where there's a period of silence. You know, you think of Jesus, his time fasting in the desert, and Paul, three years in the desert. And it's just, it's a marvelous thing to think of that intimacy with the Father that develops when we can quiet ourselves from the demands of the world.

Jan: Yeah. Wow. That.

Jan: Yeah, that would be a neat, neat thing to follow through and explore on there, I think too, you know, so when I. My first husband had a. A brain tumor and was paralyzed, so, and, and people say, well, what can we do? Can we do? Oh, we're God, we're fine, whatever like that. And finally somebody saw I, we weren't fine, but, but that little pride thing, and somebody says, you know, you're robbing me of a blessing by not allowing me to help, you know, and that's just always stuck with me. But, but what happens is when we give, we are blessed. Back when you were praying over your friend, not only were you blessed, but he was. When you gave to the refugee, you were blessed as well. Just even with just that feeling like I, I'm doing what God wants me to do, right?

Michael: Yes.

Jan: You know, that sense of, of I'm right where God wants me to be right now. But the flip side is those two people you mentioned, now they see what God can do, that their prayers be answered, and then they're empowered to keep spreading it. You know, it's just. I just think it's so fascinating how God does that.

Michael: It's. It's wonderful how it works, and it's wonderful how we get to decide how we want to co labor and co create with God. And I was in recording an episode for 5am podcast today. I was chatting with this fellow about the. The time of deception that came for Adam and Eve and they were created and put into a garden. And if we think of how the Israelites had manna for today, and we have, in a sense, through Jesus, he's the bread of life. But we have. Jesus said, we have enough for today. We don't have to think about tomorrow, because tomorrow has enough trouble of its own. And I often think that must have been the case for Adam and Eve, that God would come and visit them in the cool of the day and he would teach them and he would show them what their potential was in being fruitful and multiplying. And the enemy came in with a shortcut and, and you could bypass all that cool of the day, learning from your creator. Just eat this fruit and boy, oh boy, you're gonna like, do not pass go. You're gonna go straight to the finish line. And the reason that I mentioned that is Paul talked about in giving at the church in, in there, I realized first church was first century church was a lot different than what we have today. But he was talking about how we can determine in our hearts beforehand what we're going to give so that we can't be made merchandise of or be a manipulated giver. We can be a cheerful giver in whatever circumstance. And I don't mean just the offering plate. And we have all of this backstory to Christianity that Adam and Eve or Joshua or other people didn't have, but they still had revelation. Well after the Holy Spirit was poured out on all, all men and women. And as we see in the Book of Acts. But the Lord is just so loving and faithful to watch over his word, to perform it in our lives, that we can have that confidence that as we're walking with the Lord, he will direct our paths, but he'll also help us make good decisions. And then we get to help people. It's like when we have a word in season and out of season.

Jan: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Jan: Talk to me about the Law of Divine Life.

Michael: Oh, yes. Well, this. So this is all connected. And this is a theory that I was wondering if I should call it Law of Divine Life or Law of Creative Life. And I kind of wanted it to be a little bit offensive to certain mindsets of. Not that we are not gods. We have a God who created us, but he created Adam and Eve and the human race for very special purpose. And what I was working on with the Law of Divine Life or the law of the creative life was that God was putting this creative power into his creation. So he had the angels, he had. Somewhere along that way, he had the angels, and Lucifer fell from heaven, probably created a very large crater here on Earth. And. But he gave this ability. If you think like a man and a woman, husband and wife can come together and they can create another human life. And we can also create and learn things. We can build houses for ourselves or for others. And so the idea behind that divine life or the creative life is that there is so much potential that God has put within his children to multiply and be fruitful. Like Jesus said, occupy till I come. And so it's kind of in line with the themes of 5am podcast. Being purveyors of hope, but still being able to create and refresh those around us and build something for generations to come.

Jan: Yeah. Okay. Yeah.

Jan: Tell us a little bit about your podcast. You're an Earth Kaiser.

Michael: Well, yes, I grew up on a farm, so we had morning chores and as I often say, our parents didn't give us curfews, they gave us responsibilities. So regardless of when we got home at night, we were still getting up early. 6:30 or 6:00', clock, whatever it was, to milk the cows, feed the sheep. Milk the cows. Yeah, do that kind of thing and water them and then get ready for school or get ready for work or whatever the case was. So I come by it honestly of appreciating the value of early mornings. And my wife and I like to think that we are purveyors of Hope at 5am podcast. And Napoleon Bonaparte said, leaders are dealers in hope and working in news and other things like I've done in my career, that can be very depressing. And sometimes life is challenging enough as it is. So we wanted a place where people could go and read articles that were positive things about gardening or entrepreneurship, motivation, knowing that we can. We can change in our filthy rags for clean garments, that kind of thing. And that. That I think really spells out kind of who and what 5am podcast is.

Jan: So get up and get hopeful.

Michael: Yes, yes. And to know that there's so much potential within each of us to bless ourselves but also bless those around us.

Jan: Yeah. Yeah.

Jan: Well, you've interviewed a lot of people. Do you. Do you see a common theme with. With things that are brought up or what have you?

Michael: Yes. It's been very interesting to me over this last year or so that we've been interviewing people and we've gone away from just writing the articles to doing the. The audio visual podcast part of it, of people realizing that if it's to be, it's up to me. And no one's coming to save you. You know, we hear that once in a while. No one's coming to save you. Well, we have a savior, Jesus Christ. But I get that. I get the idea that Jim Tracy was one of our guests, said, if it's to be, it's up to me. And so when we. When we think of all the distractions and the different voices. I've also worked a bunch in politics behind the scenes, volunteering and working with politicians and people that. That want something, they want to give you something, but they're always going to take more than what. Than what they gave you or what it's. Look what it looks like. But of course, Jesus Christ is not that way. He doesn't give as the world gives. And so I think back to what Adam and Eve had in the garden, and I realized that we still have the opportunity to be a blessing to those around us, to bless ourselves. And if one of the things my wife and I love to do is growing plants and gardening and things like that. But we know that if we plant a cherry tree today, there's good cherries, tomorrow there's going to be four generations or five generations who are going to enjoy those beautiful, sweet red cherries. There's going to be generations and decades of pies made from that one tree. And that's just planting one seed in the ground. And I think it's. John 12:35 talks about that seed falling into the ground and dying. But the life that springs up from that really is a wellspring of life.

Jan: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Jan: I think it's interesting just to see, like, with the interviews I've done, there have been kind of common themes on trusting God, redemption. This is where I was and this is where God took me, you know, this is what I hope to be doing, you know, and to come across or even just the things that we're passing down to our kids or the next generation, you know, those kind of things, too. But it's interesting how that works together, you know?

Michael: Yes. Well, all things work together for good.

Jan: We know it.

Michael: Those who love God and who are called according to his purpose. And there was a period of time just a few years ago where the Lord was. He Put Proverbs 3, 5, and 6 on my heart. And I wasn't enjoying my job at the time, and my wife and I were renting a home. We weren't Owning at that time. And we didn't really like the city that we were in. So there was a lot of, we don't know what we're doing here, Lord. And it was my. My mom was saying it to me, and she'd given me like a card or a book that had that Proverbs 3, 5, and 6 in it. And so I turned that verse into a song. And even though I didn't like driving to the office and there was. There was a seed oil plant very close to the office. And so when that was working, the whole area smelled atrocious. But I had been given this Proverbs 3, 5, and 6. And I said it so much, I turned it into a song that I would sing to myself. And I would say, I have been called here for today, and I am going to apply Proverbs 3, 5, and 6. Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge him, and he will direct your paths. And so. And I would. Then I would talk to myself about that verse. And if this isn't happening, maybe it's because I'm not doing this. And if I'm doing this, I know that this other part of these verses is going to come to pass in my life. And it worked out. And I know that the Lord had me there for a specific period of time, and I was. I had to remind myself, not my will, Lord, but yours be done.

Jan: Yeah.

Jan: And, you know, I mean, sometimes there's just like, okay, what is going on here? This is like, is it always gonna be like this? Or. And then it's kind of like, do I make something happen? Or what is. You know, I mean, it is kind of. It's not gonna happen unless I do it right. You know, I mean, that same idea, but it just. It's kind of that waiting on God to find out, yes, this or whatever. I just wrote a Bible study, and basically it's discovering a journey. But. But we. We make out a map of our life with the rubric of because of this, this happened. Resulting in. And as we go through those things, then we're looking at the book of Ruth and Jonah and Joseph and David and just how. How that same thing fell for them and how God had them in waiting periods sometimes or morning periods or things that are happening. And yet look at how much God was doing in the back. All of those, you know, just crazy.

Jan: Yeah.

Michael: The waiting time is not pleasant when you're in it, because. And especially in our day and age where things are so into instantaneous. But looking back, you see how I needed that waiting period because I had to become the man that God wanted me to be. I had to become the employee that God wanted me to be. I had to become the coworker or the son that God wanted me to be. And I very often thought about Abraham and the trouble with Ishmael and Hagar and thinking, lord, please, I do not want to create an Ishmael. And so that was. Sometimes that would get you through the waiting period of, I am going to wait for the Lord because I know he's faithful. I know he'll provide a ram for the sacrifice as we read about in scripture. And I do not want to condemn the world to an Ishmael.

Jan: Yeah, yeah.

Jan: And it just. I mean, look at. Look at Joseph. Joseph wasn't ready at 17 to be a leader.

Michael: Yes, that's right.

Jan: Take him through all of these things, whatever, to. To build him up to be, you know, and create circumstances that he was able to be in, you know, So I don't know. It's fascinating what God.

Michael: Yes. And part of the waiting is that's how we learn to count it all, Joy. And that is challenging. That's a challenging textbook.

Jan: Challenging. Yes.

Michael: And final exam, so to speak. Remembering to count it all joy. And some people go through some very, very difficult, challenging things. Like you, and you were talking about your first husband and even the humility of saying yes. I had a staff member that we were working on this crew together, and he had gone through a lot of very rough periods of his life. And one of the things I talked to him about is if somebody wants to give you something, you know, don't in your pride, reject it because you want to give them an opportunity to bless you. Like, let me buy you a cup of coffee and a dessert thing. Let me bless you in this way. Because the Bible says that when we refresh others, we ourselves will be refreshed. And that's one of the things Susan and I talk about. 5am podcast. If we can refresh five or 10 people today, that means five or 10 people might come and refresh us. And isn't that wonderful? And then they'll go and refresh other people. And what a blessing that is in the waiting to understand that we can count it all joy. And then we have an opportunity to be blessed and be humble, to receive, which sometimes can be a really big challenge.

Jan: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Jan: And. And our pride does get in the way of that. Well, it's almost time. I want to know where people can find you.

Michael: Oh, yes. Well, 5ampodcast.com, okay, is the best place. We're on all the usual suspects like TikTok and Instagram and Facebook and all those places. But if you go to fiveampodcast. Com, you'll find all the links and you'll find all the episodes, and we have some great fun conversations with some very interesting people.

Jan: Yeah.

Jan: Great, great, great. Yeah.

Jan: I just started listening and I just. It's. I'm blessed so far.

Michael: Oh, good. Well, thank you. That's what we want. We just want people to come in and be blessed. And trying to find something to listen to or watch seems like such a challenge these days. So it's nice when we can have people just like ourselves sharing their stories.

Jan: Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Thank you so much.

Michael: Oh, my pleasure, My pleasure.