If there is one thing that stands as the most important lesson to learn for the dark days of tribulation ahead, it must be learning how to walk in the Spirit. How to listen to His Voice.

How many times do we read of the Messiah closeting Himself away in the desert, or taking time to go up to the mountain, to be alone with His Father? The only way He could continue to fulfill His mission on earth was to make sure He continued to spend quiet, lengthy times with Abba in order to to be filled with a fresh anointing and to know where to best go from that point.

A number of months ago, I was intending to drive across town to run an errand. But Yah had me go via a completely different route that taught me better how to listen to His Voice and to walk by the Spirit.

The following is the testimony I wrote:

Had an awesome series of events that occurred today which I must share for freely I have received, so freely I must now give!

I had needed to reach a destination on the opposite side of town from where I live. The best, most logical way to get there is to take the major freeways that ring Portland, Oregon.

But Yah had me trace a very unusual route using Google maps, one which was winding and snaking, and confusing at best, one which would more than double my time to get to my destination.

Obedient, I allowed Yah to guide me on this route that I had mapped out on Google. At one point, I made a wrong turn, missing one of the streets I was shown on the route and as I was going to turn around . . .

A huge sign on the right hand of the road said: Christman Picture Frames. I had never seen this place before, and I certainly had no need to buy a picture frame.

I went inside, and a lady maybe in her mid 20's stood at the desk asking how she could help me.

"Well, this is going to sound strange, but I was told to give you this." I withdrew from my pocket a tract and pressed it into her hand.

She took it immediately and, as if nothing strange had happened, said, “Oh, great." As if it were the most normal thing in the world.

I said shalom and hurried back to my car.

When I was trying to get back to the original route, a log cabin-styled barber shop caught my eye, but I drove past anyway.

Then I got back on the route Yah had shown me, and I saw one of the biggest, most immense churches I had ever seen. It was called Tabernacle something or other, and I only saw it out of the corner of my eye. The church was huge. I drove past it but knew something was important about the structure.

I got lost a few more times, winding through the rugged hills of Portland, and passed a massive multi million dollar Country Club. Again, it caught my eye, but I drove past.

I finally reached my destination, and as I completed my business, I gave the head woman a tract. She studied it intently and thanked me.

I knew Yah wanted me to trace the same winding route, even though I could cut my time in half by, again, just taking the logical course of action and using the freeways to get back home.

This time I made to sure to stop at the multi-million country club. Elegant chandeliers, rich red carpet, a glassed wall looking out onto a sweeping green golf course all caught my eye -- I was entranced by the sheer wealth. Yah said, "This will all fall. All of it."

As I was stepping out to leave, I turned to the woman, a lady maybe in her 30's, at the lobby intake area and again said, "I know this sounds strange, but I was told to give this to you."

"To me?" She said excitedly, as she took the tract.

"Shalom!" I said as I left.

I went back to that wrong turn and parked my car in the log cabin styled barber shop. I stepped inside and the friendliest, bald headed barber greeted me. I gave him a tract, and he thanked me.

I finally retraced my journey and found the immense tabernacle looking church. It was a Tuesday and I knew it would be locked. I went to the front of the church, and sure enough all the glass doors were locked.

I was about to turn away when an elderly woman appeared and asked me if I needed anything. She had opened a side door I had not initially seen.

"Yes, I was told to give this to your pastor and the church elders here."

She took the tract and her face glowed, "Oh, ok, great!"

In wonder, I breathed, "Shalom."

She got the biggest smile on her face, and said, "Shalom to you too!"

It was only after I was leaving that I realized I had just stopped at one of the biggest 7th Day Adventists churches in Portland, Oregon.

I returned home, stunned, amazed and glorifying Yah.

This is the step by step, moment by moment leading His people must learn in these coming dark days. Absolute precision in the Torah of Moshe, and absolute clarity from His Voice, will be the two guard rails that will give to those who wish, the promise of Philadelphia in the coming years. To find out the promise given to the Assembly of Philadelphia, read the first part of the Book of Revelation.

* * *

That day still burns fresh in my memory. This was not something I had planned out. I simply had to make myself available to Yah and walk in His leading -- even if that leading didn’t make complete sense at the time.

Imagine Avram, over seventy years of age, comfortable in the desert town in which he had lived for most of his life. His father, brothers, sisters, aunts and uncles had all lived there for decades. His whole life was in Haran.

Then the Voice, soft and still, but unmistakable -- commanded: “Get out of your country, and from your kindred, and from your father’s house, and go to a land that I will show you.”

In a moment, Avram had to leave everything he had known all his life, uproot his wife and nephew, and head west into Canaan -- a land he had only known from rumors. Powerful, war-like people dwelt in the lush hills flowing with milk and honey. The thoughts racing through Avram’s mind as he began to head westward must have filled him with doubt and concern.

Yet he obeyed. He followed Yah’s Voice. He learned to walk in the Spirit.

Spending time with Abba, learning to listen to His Voice and then doing what He says often strips us from our comfort zones. Yah doesn’t bother to explain everything to us beforehand. He gives us step-by-step instructions, and only by obedience does He then reveal where He would have us go next. This keeps us totally dependent upon Him, enlarging our faith.

The chaos and trouble that will soon unleash across this earth will be beyond imagination. This is why the scriptures declare that “men’s hearts will fail them”. There is no way to “plan” for this time period. One must simply learn to rely on the Creator of all things. Waiting on Him. Listening to Him. Following His guidance.

This is absolutely essential. The alternative is fear, panic and placing yourself in danger by going somewhere Yah has not told you to go. We must learn to hear and follow His Voice, because in the Tribulation this will make the difference between life and death.

No matter how chaotic events begin churning across this planet, the very knowledge that we are exactly where Yah wants us to be, doing exactly what He is tellings us to do, will keep us in His abiding shalom.

We must, in the words of the Psalmist, learn to “be still and know that I am Yah.”