Good morning saints!! Isn't it wonderful that we are no longer called sinners, but saints? Even friends of God!!! WOW!!!
I've been thinking much on waiting on the Lord, and yesterday at church Pastor John was talking about hearing Gods voice, which ties in very nicely to what I wanted to blog about.
I will try to stay on topic, but don't be surprised if I go down a bunny trail or two.
I've been walking with the Lord for 12 years now, in that time, I have had some amazing encounters with the Lord, after realizing God equips the called, and not calls the equipped, I have spent the first few years getting to know who this Jesus was, and many other things about our God. Ahhh the honeymoon. I'm still on my honeymoon with Him.
I have and still have amazing people who speak into my life, who champion me, who will tell me when I might want to have a different thought, than the potentially hurtful one I was having. That's a good friend, not that we ought to walk around correcting each other all the time, people need to know you love them, and want the best for them, and, we need to have their permission to do so, one invests in ones life, and love is the money.
As I grew stronger and yes, weaker in the Lord, I began to desire to live in my purpose, to fulfill my destiny, but had no clue what I was doing, and frankly, most people I had met, did not know what to do with me, I only knew there was a something, BUT GOD...He knows what He is doing, sneaky Jesus, is always up to something good!
As I began chomping at the bit several years later, after my salvation, and giving Jesus my heart, I tried several thing to "get me there" where is there? Will I ever get "there?" Many times, I tried creating what I thought God wanted me to do, hmm, that is not working out so well.
I began to just relax, because that is what my pastor said I get to do, I was reading scripture daily, finally, it took me a long time to develop this discipline, I served at my church, I was involved in outreach, cleaning toilets, praying for Israel, anything I could do to "help God" get me to where I was suppose to be, serving Him in any capacity is great, and we ought always serve, as Jesus was a servant to all. We get so hung up on titles, when His was "servant" WOW! Our motives need to be pure, not with an agenda.
The truth is, God has a calling on every soul that has been saved, the truth is, God did not need my help, He worked with me, and helped me not only give Him my heart, but more than that, He wanted my entire life too! Well, good luck with that Jesus, my heart is hard as a rock. LOL, like I could resist His love.
One day, a few months ago, I was chattin with my Pastor, Dr. Julie Jacobs, I as I was heading out the door, I let her know what I was going to do, I expressed my concerns, and anxiety regarding my fear of “going in the wrong direction” she turned to me and said something to the effect of, I need to stop worrying about my taking the “wrong turn” God is leading me, and I can relax and trust Him to open the doors that need to open, and close the doors that need to be shut, when HE SAYS!! Funny, I knew that scripture for years, but now I was getting to experience it, which made all the difference.
So I learned, wait on the Lord, be quiet, as Pastor John says, and listen for His voice leading you, look for the doors that are open to you, and walk through them, if they are closed, well.. don't. Pretty simple, and... not. We get to learn to be still, be quiet, what God called me to do, is not hat He called you to do, you may be called to be a stay home mom, which no thank you, could I ever do, nor would want too, it is more than I could handle. Or perhaps you are called to work in the market place, let me tell you, I worked at a grocery store when i returned from a mission trip in a Muslim nation, and I prayed for more people there, than anywhere else.
For the past several years, I kept hearing the Lord saying “SUDDENLY” suddenly what? What are you talking about Jesus? “SUDDENLY”, is all I kept hearing, and I relaxed and trusted Him in the process, even though it was and is not always easy. Well, let me tell you, for all the years I was chomping at the bit, to walk and fulfill my destiny, I do not know what that looks like, other than a continuation of not just giving Jesus my heart, as in the day I was “saved” but to give Him my life. What's the difference Luca? I'm glad you asked. We have all heard the scripture “work out your salvation with fear and trembling yes? Well just what exactly does that mean? First of all, we have not been given a spirit of fear, right? But we do have fear. So now what? Well, it does not mean we wont experience these emotions, of feelings, God gave us emotions and feelings, but it means we are not immobilized by fear, controlled by fear, rendered useless by fear, let me tell you I have fears all the time, when I preach sermons, when I'm speaking in public, or approaching people I don't know, I have many fears, but that does not mean I am going to stop what I know I was designed to do. So I put the fears under my feet, and move forward in spite of how I feel, as soon as I make that decision, everything seems to shift in my favor, its the Lords favor.
What if this “fear and trembling” are not what we think? The Greek for “fear" is phobos, it where we get the word Phobia, which can mean to have reverence or respect, it does not mean we fear going to hell, or damnation, it may instead may be the righteous and awe filled reverence of God, every believer ought to have. It doesn't have to be the trembling of a guilty sinner, because we are no longer guilty of sin, past, present, future, Jesus already did it ALL, All in Greek, it means ALL! Instead of guilty as a sinner, it is more of a trembling of an encounter with the glory of the Lord! And when you have an encounter with God, you will NEVER, EVER be the same, and that is what we saints NEED!!
Luca, what the heck are you talking about? What does this have to do with waiting on the Lord? Well, everything. Working out my salvation is not a one and done, check, now I got my get out of jail free card, and I can go to heaven, there is more to a wedding, that just getting married, it is only the beginning. I began understanding, I get to not only give Jesus, my heart, but my life, He has proven Himself to me to be trustworthy, to be good, and He was willing to go as low as any could ever go, the death on the cross, which brought me life.
It took me time, to let the Lord work in me, and He could only go as fast as I could handle, facing this “working out my salvation” It is a process, we get to go through all the time, God has already approved of me, and, He wants me to be strong enough so I won't crumble under the weight of His glory, right? He won't throw me into the deep end and yell SWIM LUCA SWIM!!!! He spends time with me, willing to show that He loves me, cares about me, loves me, I get to give Him "All of me" Good song by the way, all of me, why not take all of me, sorry, I told you I might go down bunny trails. So now I have given Him my life, and He has full access to me, and, I still get to work on things, things that have hurt me, things that make me feel angry, God gave us feelings and emotions, we ought not ignore we have them, but learn how He wants to use them, to advance the kingdom, another topic all together.
What if we stopped thinking and worrying "Am I where I suppose to be?" But instead just accepted the fact that God does have us right where He wants us to be, and when we are ready, He will bring us to the next level of ready?
Working out my salvation, the Bible says He only leads us in victory and triumph, the Psalmist says it is HIS NAME and His reputation at stake, not mine, whew!!! That takes a load off my mind, I can just serve Him, follow Him, love and adore Him, kiss Him with kisses of my love and He will lead me where HE leads me. Working out my salvation means, He and I get to heal the wounds of my heart and soul, these wounds keep us from being able to move forward, and...if we let Him, and we have people in our lives, who care more about seeing us walk in His shalom (wholeness) than their own objective, we will grow from there. As my pastor always says “People don't care ow much you know, until they know how much you care. This has been a launching pad for me, and, it takes my being in a place, that says, Lord, right now, I care more about doing what I want to do, that facing those giants that have hurt me, God loves people, but I didn't love people, I can love people who are “easy” to love, but God wants us to love people who are “hard to love” as well, people like me, I needed a half a dozen people to sit on me for years. We need God, in order to even love God, and I certainly NEED God, to love the people I don't like! MY LORD, this is a whole new level of having Gods heart. Am I there? HECK NO, but I'm willing to let Him heal my wounds, and work out my salvation, in awe and joy, that we get to.
I hope this blesses someone, if there is anything you want to ask, please don't hesitate, I like hearing from you.
Luca
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