God is amazing… I have discovered with the start of this New
Year that you have to be careful for what you pray for, because you just
*might* get it… I prayed for a deeper
walk with God. I prayed that if there
was anything that God wanted to change within me, that He would bring it to my
attention so I could (with His assistance) change it. Because of that innocent, naïve, truly
heart-felt prayer I am currently experiencing one of those “ouch” moments. Have you ever had an “ouch” moment with
God? Well, I can honestly tell you that
the scripture:
“For the word of God is living and active
and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of
soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and
intentions of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His
sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we
have to do.” (Hebrews 4:12-13)
The above scripture is true, when you pray a genuine prayer
asking God to reveal to you the things you need to change, He says, “alrighty
then! I was waiting for you to ask, now let me reveal it to you,” and then He shows
you. Now I don’t know about you, but I
happen to be really hard headed and it takes me a while to figure out what it
is God is saying to me; to say we have a patient loving God is not an
exaggeration. What God revealed to me took
me by surprise, and I share it with you so that you can search your own hearts
and see what it is He is saying to you.
He told me that I need to work on trusting Him more, for every part of my life and I need
to put that trust in action. OUCH…
My post previous to this one dealt with realizing when a
Word comes from God that you feel a confirmation in your spirit about it. I felt a confirmation in mine, one that made
me know that this word was true. If you
get quiet before God – so that it is just you and Him, what is it that He is
saying to you? And what are you doing about it?
He never speaks to me in a loud commanding voice, His voice
is always soft, gentle, loving and patient with me. I was listening to a Christian Conference on
a CD I had purchased from a ministry, when I heard His quiet voice tell me, “Kelly,
you don’t trust me.”
“Sure I do Father,” I responded. “Of course I do… What do
you mean I don’t trust You?” And He
began to show me the areas of my life where I have either tried to handle
things on my own accord or areas that I haven’t trusted Him enough to give over
to Him. OUCH. As each area that I haven’t
allowed Him to handle came across my mind, I felt a confirmation in my spirit
that He was right. Although He didn’t
say it to me in an accusatory manner, I felt ashamed of myself as I realized,
as much as I love Him, I haven’t trusted Him completely and it is something in
my walk (in order to have a more intimate relationship with Him), I need to
work on. You see, trust and faith go
hand in hand. If you don’t “trust” God
you also don’t have faith to believe He will do what He says He will do,
because if you did – you would have trusted Him in the first place. OUCH.
So not only do I need to work on trusting Him, but I also
need to work on believing that in trusting Him (and showing Him this by my
actions and not just by my words) that I can believe that God will do what He
says in His word He will do.
“Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what
we do not see.” (Hebrews 11:1)
I could get real personal and transparent with exactly what
those areas of trust are – and I probably will in future posts, but for now
what He has revealed to me still smarts (OUCH) and I need to think, pray and
digest the areas in my life that He has shown me I have lacked trusting
Him. Now that I know what those areas
are, I need to make the adjustments in my life to change those areas so that I
can walk by faith, trusting God that He is able and trustworthy for me to hand
Him each one.
What is God saying to you?
Are you listening? If He has revealed something to you and you are still
“smarting” over that revelation, are you making the changes you need to make in
order to have a deeper walk with Him? He
didn’t say it would be easy, but it is definitely worth it.
“Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold
of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what
is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called
me heavenward in Christ Jesus. All of us, then, who are mature should take such
a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will
make clear to you. Only let us live up to what we have already attained.”
(Philippians 3:16).
I had to ask myself, if I am not trusting God, who can I or
who am I trusting? There is nothing that I can do in and of myself.
'Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,' says the Lord .(Zechariah
4:6)
God desires to bless us, He desires to minister to us, He
desires that we will live life abundantly.
When we trust that He knows so much better than we do, we realize that
His plans are so much better than our own.
We just need to trust Him. I am recognizing
that part of trusting Him is recognizing that I need to bring every thought
into submission to Him.
“We demolish arguments and every pretension
that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every
thought to make it obedient to Christ.” (2 Corinthians 10:5)
This is something that is not easy to
do! Especially if you are an independent,
worldly intelligent person! But this is where the decision as to who we are
going to trust – ourselves or HIM enters in.
As God revealed to me that this is an area that I need to work on in
order to grow closer in my walk with Him and accomplish the work that the Lord
has me to do, He showed me some of the
areas that I have not trusted Him in and I actually found myself feeling rather
foolish. Prayer requests and desires
that I have brought before the Lord only to take them back to try to figure out
or fulfill on my own. Imagine not fully
believing that the Creator of the Universe could not handle a measly prayer
request? I found myself humbly asking
God for forgiveness. More and more I
realize that a relationship is a two way street. It is one where it should not only be made of
words, but of actions. God wants us to show Him (as He has - and does - show us) how much we love Him.
"And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him." (Hebrews 11:6)
That double-edged sword cuts deep. But in the same way that it cuts, it reveals what needs to be healed and if we allow ourselves to be open to it - it does just that, heals. What OUCH moment are you having? What is it showing you about YOU? You can bet that whatever it is, the pain is for your good, don't trust me on this - trust Him.
That double-edged sword cuts deep. But in the same way that it cuts, it reveals what needs to be healed and if we allow ourselves to be open to it - it does just that, heals. What OUCH moment are you having? What is it showing you about YOU? You can bet that whatever it is, the pain is for your good, don't trust me on this - trust Him.
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