A Mighty Warrior's Footprints of Love

By Steven W. Grove

We serve a mysterious God who speaks to us in ways that seem to stretch the ordinary. In turn, He grabs us with the tug of His extraordinary love to send His children a message of heavenly proportions. Experience A Mighty Warriors Footprints of Love and see for yourself how God uses His message to be a personal piece of your journey with Him.

In A Mighty Warriors Footprints of Love, God leaves behind His footprint of love in the form of visions and dreams to unlock the mysteries of His desires for His people. See how God uses the evidence left behind to encourage, enlighten, and empower you to become that which He has predestined you to become.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Nov 22, 2013
• ISBN: 9781490815824

Steven W. Grove

Steve’s career has revolved around education and coaching. For the past twenty-five years, he has been teaching careers in construction at a career and technical school. Although recently retired from a fifteen-year coaching career, he most recently was an assistant coach for the Dickinson College men’s soccer program. However, the Lord was ready to change the course of Steve’s destiny. In the spring of 2011, Steve was awakened to the call of the Lord to write a book. When confronted with what to write, the Lord started to respond by giving him a series of visions and dreams. These visions and dreams, and the interpretations and messages of each, became the main subject matter in each of the chapters within the book. Steve has a wife, two children, and a son-in-law. Steve, his wife, Wendy, and his son, Corey, reside in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, while his daughter, Jessica, and son-in-law, Matt, reside in West Palm Beach, Florida. Besides Christ, Steve values time spent with family as the most critical portion of his life.

Book preview

A Mighty Warrior’s

Footprints of Love

STEVEN W. GROVE

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Copyright © 2013 Steven W. Grove.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Scripture quotations marked (TNIV) are taken from the Holy Bible, Today’s New International Version, TNIV. Copyright © 2001, 2005 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Front and back cover photo art produced, provided and used by permission from Chad Shives

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A Division of Thomas Nelson

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

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ISBN: 978-1-4908-1583-1 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4908-1584-8 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4908-1582-4 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2013921038

WestBow Press rev. date: 11/12/2013

CONTENTS

Foreword

Introduction:   Our Mysterious God

Chapter 1:   Sharpened By Fire

Chapter 2:   Fear Not What Lies Ahead

Chapter 3:   The Prayer Box

Chapter 4:   The Advocate

Chapter 5:   On The Rock I Stand

Chapter 6:   A Beautiful Season

Chapter 7:   Living Free In The Tree

Chapter 8:   Hold Your Ground At All Hazards

Chapter 9:   Dusty Ole Bottle

Chapter 10:   Brushstrokes From Heaven

Chapter 11:   The Narrow Road

Chapter 12:   Sifting Sand

And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall have dreams.

- Acts 2:17 (King James Version)

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Special thanks to….

Wendy, my wife, who relentlessly prayed for the Holy Spirit to become an active part of my life and faithfully listened and watched as God used the inspiration of the Holy Spirit to help me write this book. Your branches are exceedingly abundant in fruit because of your faith and obedience to God. I love you and can’t wait to see what God has for us as we pursue the prize together.

My daughter Jessica, son Corey and son-in-law Matt, for lending a patient ear to the messages of the visions and dreams the Lord shared with me and for allowing the Lord to make them a key component in the enrichment of my life and the writing of this book. God knew that without you this book and my life would not be complete. I love you all!

Chad Shives who put extraordinary faith in God to put just the right touches on the final artwork for the front and back cover of the book. God spoke and you listened. Your God-given talents are amazing my friend!

FOREWORD

Hebrews 1 In the past God spoke… through prophets at many times and in various ways. And God continues to do so through His people. I have known Steve for over 12 years (at the writing of this book) and it has been awesome to watch his spirit-man come to life with the revelation of the Father’s heart. The Lord has chosen to speak with Steve through visions and dreams and in turn Steve has shared that journey with us. As you enjoy this book, allow the Holy Spirit to bring a fresh revelation to your heart! It’s what Steve would want, and what your Heavenly Father desires.

Joseph Pickens, Lead Pastor at Christian Life Church, Chambersburg, PA.

This deeply moving book, A Mighty Warrior’s footprints of Love, is a wonderful description of Jesus, our mighty warrior who fights our battles for us. The footprints He leaves behind shows evidence of His great love for us, and His desire that each one of us follow Him in complete and reckless abandon.

This collection of visions and dreams that God has entrusted to Steve will bless and encourage the reader to seek a deeper and closer relationship with our Mighty Warrior, King Jesus. I’m honored to know this man of God who has obeyed the leading of the Holy Spirit in sharing this message with the body of Christ.

Pastor Steve Barnett, Visitation Pastor, Christian Life Assembly of God, Chambersburg, PA

INTRODUCTION

Our Mysterious God

I abruptly woke one morning to the soft sound of God’s voice whispering the word mysterious. I lay there for some time contemplating the word and the message He was trying to send. It’s hard to determine from one word what God’s intentions are. However, after some time, He revealed His message.

He pricked my heart and said, Why do people perceive me as a mysterious God whose kingdom is shrouded in a greater haze of mystery?

I told Him His ways are so unordinary and He uses such extraordinary methods to communicate that we struggle to perceive His true message. On top of that, we can’t see Him, and living on faith alone seems to stretch our minds to the perception of who He is. Therefore, we find God to be like a mystery that needs to be solved.

His response shook me to the core. He said, The reason people think I’m mysterious is because they don’t see the evidence I leave behind in their lives. Because they are blind to these breadcrumbs of evidence, they don’t get to know me in an intimate way. If my people would spend time looking back into their lives, they would find more than enough evidence to solve the mystery of who I am.

He had my attention. I started to heed His response and reflect back on my life. It wasn’t long before I started to find the very evidence He was talking about. I thought about all the influential people God placed in my life who had a significant part in shaping who I am today. Each person became a vital ingredient that, when blended with the others, created the special recipe God Himself designed.

God was quick to remind me that those individuals where not in my life by chance. On the contrary, God supernaturally placed each one into my life at strategic times so He could mold me into the person He predestined me to become. As if that wasn’t enough to convince me, He took me back to the very moment in time when my wife and I met.

We were at the stoplight at the intersection of Lincoln Way West and Franklin Street. I was with a friend in his van, and Wendy was with a friend in Wendy’s little white Mustang. My door was next to Wendy’s door as we sat at the red light waiting for it to turn green. We were two people totally oblivious of each other, and now we found ourselves side by side at the intersection of destiny.

I turned to my friend and said, Wow, those girls are cute.

He in turn said, If you think they’re so cute, roll down the window and ask them if they would like to hang out.

I immediately rolled the window down and encouraged her to do the same. As she did, I asked her if they wanted to join us, and she turned to her friend.

With an apprehensive look she asked her friend if she knew who we were and if she thought it was okay to hang out with us. Her friend said yes, she had seen us around and thought it wouldn’t hurt to hang out for at least a little while.

We hung out that night, and before long we found ourselves dating. In six months we were married. Thirty years later we are still happily married and looking forward to thirty more. That night proved to be a crucial moment in our lives. It was, as God reminded me, a moment in time that froze for just a second so God could put in motion the plan He had for us.

His supernatural finger stirred the fate of two youngsters who, up to that point, were destined to never meet. He’s the one who picked the perfect moment. He’s the one who turned the light red. He’s the one who compelled my friend to pull beside Wendy’s car. He’s the one who stirred the minds of our friends to reply in such a way that would bring us together.

It was a moment frozen in the supernatural spiritual world. Like a footprint, it stood as evidence left behind by the only God who could orchestrate such an event in our lives. It was a moment in time that revealed God’s love for each of us and His desire for us to come together and live a life together that would glorify His name.

God’s reminder of the evidence of His love in my life leaves me with this to say about this book. God has chosen me, an ordinary man, to scribe the messages through the evidence of visions and dreams, which serve as a reminder of the footprints of love left behind from a Mighty Warrior who has already gone before us.

God wants you to bask in the light of His Word and make the mysteries of the visions and dreams the pieces of evidence that reveal the mysteries of our Father in heaven. He wants you to make each vision, dream, and message contained therein to be a personal piece of your journey with Him.

May God bless you as you read A Mighty Warrior’s Footprints of Love.

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CHAPTER 1

Sharpened by Fire

Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before. I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.

—Philippians 3:13–15 (King James Version)

Paul threw down some powerful words in that passage in Philippians. You can feel his heart pour out the groans of his inner being. He wanted to do whatever God wanted him to do. He rejoiced in the revelation