I got a call from my girls the other day and they wanted desperately to go to their Aunt Wendy’s for a camp next week that their cousins had told them about. Meanwhile, I have been working on something that would be even better.
I gave them a scenario that I thought would make it sense. I told them that if it was their birthday and all they wanted was the red ball they saw in the store that day, but as their parent, I knew we had something way better for them…like HUGE…like a trip to Disney World, then they wouldn’t want to settle for the red ball any more would they? I asked them if they could trust me?! Quietly…they said yes.
Our Father in heaven is sometimes like that…We can be so sure of what we want, but God has something even way bigger for us that we don’t even know about. We just have to trust Him.
This devotional, I got yesterday and it hit the nail right on the head…I think you will agree. My heart is all over this one.
What Is God Saying? Part 1
God is HUGE!
In the little glimpses he gives me as he draws back the veil, sometimes I am absolutely without words, speechless, dumbfounded, and overcome. He is so much bigger than we have ever experienced or can possibly conceive with our finite minds.
Stay low and stay close.
This attitude reflects a heart of humility before God and sensitivity to his gentlest whisper. This is the place of brokenness, repentance, and seeking God. It is meekness, bridled strength, the humility of wisdom, having no agenda but God’s. It is surrender and devotion, essential for hearing God. The only desire is to please him. When we think we have the victory, beware! There is great danger in thinking we are standing tall and strong (1 Cor. 10:12). Pride goes before a fall. God is stripping us naked, allowing us no covering but himself. He will not allow us to walk in anything but him. Only his life bears life.
Another area of staying low and staying close is spiritual warfare. In time of war, a soldier doesn’t move without the command of his commanding officer. One step of presumption will be disastrous.
God is radically changing the way we depend on him.
God has been saying, “Stay behind me.” I protested, “But God, don’t you always tell your friends what you are doing?” He said, “Yes, and I am telling you that you will not be able to know what I’m doing. You know nothing about trusting me. Stay behind me. And don’t peek!” I did not want to accept this. My lack of trust had to be refined. Something in me had to know, to do, to see, to understand. God calls it unbelief. I like flying by “visual flight rules.” God has called us to submit to “flying on instruments” when we can’t see where we’re going. We must be convinced in the deepest places that we can trust him. We will depend on him fully only when we come to the end of ourselves. We must learn to more quickly get to the cross with our dependence. Radical Love won’t let any person or any thing on earth meet my needs but him, so I won’t trust in them.
As important as it is for me to trust God, he wants to know that he can trust me.
Paul said, “Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful” (1 Cor. 4:2). Our faithfulness to God in all things, great and small, matters to him. His truth and his righteousness are established in our lives practically and experientially, by being tested one obedience at a time, by learning and application, by training and discipline, in trial and warfare. He must keep my heart tuned to his, or I perish.
The bigger the vision, the deeper the death, but missing God costs more.
The cross of Jesus will sweeten any trial, difficulty, or roadblock. God knows what we need even when we don’t (but think we do). We must learn to surrender our expectations of him that he perform according to our uncrucified agenda. The “new” requirement of God is the same as the old requirement: to come and die.
Bless and honor your authorities.
It has never been more important to bless and honor our authorities. The early church was told to trust God and honor the emperor (Matt. 17:25-27, Mark 12:14-17, Rom. 13:1-7). We honor the un-honorable because of their position, not their personality. If we take authority lightly, our prayers will be hindered. We reach for God on the other side of a closed heart and draw from him until he changes the heart. We rest in God’s ability to deal redemptively with our authorities, and we get out of his way.
Now It’s Your Turn
Take some time alone with God before your open Bible. Let Jesus open up his heart to you in his Word, personally, between you and him. Prayerfully reflect on your life in the Spirit. What is he saying to YOU? Pause and let him review the traces of his hand in your life. Ask him for a word of direction or promise. Make an altar stone of what he says by writing it down and writing it on your heart.
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Where are the traces of His hand in your life? He is all over mine.
I woke up early this morning to a very loud thunderstorm rushing through Houston. I laid in bed for the longest time reflecting on the thunderstorms God has brought us through in the last 10 years of our lives. They were “BIG mama-jamba” ones! Many I have shared…but many I have kept close. God was still God through every last one of them.
He also has always proved to have something better than I imagined on the other side. He is reminding me of that Truth today.
He is Real.
He has a plan.
He goes before us and knows each step – way before we tread through it.
He loves us even when we doubt.
Yesterday, we had a “tender moment” between Kevin and I.
He said, “It is just such a long road I see in front of me.” I reminded him of the flashlight story I have told before on here. We aren’t called to shine that flashlight way ahead of us – only at our feet. Where we are standing now.
I remembered feeling that same overwhelming feeling at Shands – so many days. I couldn’t walk. Like literally…the thought of learning to walk again seemed so overwhelming. But how was I to go home and raise those babies if I didn’t learn to walk.
Isaiah 40:31 says…
“But those who trust in the LORD will find new strength.
They will soar high on wings like eagles.
They will run and not grow weary.
They will walk and not faint.”
Now why does God do it backwards? His ways, are not our ways!
You Soar first.
Then you run…and not grow weary.
Then you walk…and not faint.
He must know something bigger is in store for us. So when I trust in Him…Soaring is where I will go first with Him
Keep praying Prayer Warriors! Three days of treatment down and 2 to go. We are hoping to be back at our apartment for a good night’s sleep on Friday evening.
We just want to walk with Him, trust in Him and seek His face!
Strong Tower 
I had never noticed that before about running before walking, but when you challenged me with that question, I reflected on it, and my thoughts are…
We must run to Him first before we can walk with Him.
I love you, friend! Praying every day!!
Our family has been going through what we see as mama-jammas. I’ve been reading devotionals this week of being filled with the Spirit and the role the Spirit plays in my life…a wake up call of sorts. His ways are not our ways and that’s tough to work through some days. Thank you for this. I continue to follow your posts and pray for you and your family daily.
Jennifer, I am so glad that you are here. I will be praying for your mama-jammas! Praying that the Holy Spirit will reveal Himself to you mightily! I don’t know what I would ever do with out Him alive in my life!