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Does your heart ache for someone you love to know Jesus that way you do? To experience His love, His peace, His joy?
Do you feel like you are constantly pulling them along, like on a leash, begging them to just catch up?
Last Thursday I wrote here about God’s gentle reminders that He is still here even when I feel like He has forgotten my prayers – my needs.
This post is the follow-up and occurred later that evening.
I have been reading Andy Stanley’s book, Visioneering, which as can be expected is excellent. It is about the visions God gives us – visions for our families, our careers, our ministries, ourselves – and how we can work alongside God to see those visions to completion. Andy uses the book of Nehemiah in the Old Testament to teach the lessons God gives us through Nehemiah’s vision to rebuild the wall around Jerusalem.
I opened up the book to find myself beginning the chapter entitled “Distractions”. Andy outlines three distractions that sometimes curtail our visions – opportunities, criticism, and fear.
Opportunities.
When I read these pages describing how opportunities – good opportunities – can distract us from our vision – the vision God gave us – it was as if I believed all over again.
Andy begins where he left off in Nehemiah, Nehemiah 6. In this chapter Nehemiah is almost finished rebuilding the wall around Jerusalem, and he gets an opportunity. Sanballet and Geshem, Nehemiah’s opposition, send a letter to Nehemiah asking him to come and meet with them. They think that Nehemiah and the Jews are planning a revolt and that Nehemiah is working his way to becoming the king. Neither which are true. However, they are getting nervous, and they are very persistent in getting Nehemiah to come and talk to them. They ask him five times! But Nehemiah did not give in to this opportunity. He responded to them,
“I am carrying on a great project and cannot go down.” (Nehemiah 6:3)
God had spoken to me. Not just in these pages, but throughout the day with the two “good opportunities” and the reminder that He is still here. His voice was so clear and so real.
The two possible opportunities that I had been presented with earlier were good. There was not anything wrong with them, and they would have been an answer to my prayer. When I heard about them I got excited and relieved.
However, they will not lead to the completion of my vision. They are distractions that could keep me in the cycle I am trying to break. They could keep me from the great project God has given me.
That does not mean there is no purpose behind the presentation of these opportunities. God has reasons for allowing these possibilities to come my way. Maybe it is to remember that God is still present and working in my circumstances. Maybe it is to open my eyes to distractions that can get me off course.
I am grateful for God’s voice last week. I am thankful that he speaks to me and opens my eyes to distractions that take me from the great project that He does not want me to come down from.
How have you faced the distraction of opportunity that could keep you from the great project God has called you to do?
A place to grow long and grab hold and soak up what gives life.
The dirt barely broke when the pointed iron went in.
Just crumbled.
Not wanting to make room.
Push after push,
stomp after stomp,
the dirt gave up a little more,
opening itself up and making room for what is to be.
“Do you think Jesus ever dug holes?” I whispered.
“I think He still does”, he responded.
The prayer I need answered is getting close to its deadline. God knows all about it. I haven’t pestered Him about it day in and day out, but I have definitely continued to remind Him.
The other day I reminded Him . . . again . . . but this time there was a tint of fear behind my words. I want to believe Him and trust Him, but . . . what if (fill in the blank)?
What if I hold on to the truth that God will direct my path (Proverbs 3:6), and then He doesn’t show up in time?
What if, as I have declared to others that God will tell me what to do (Matthew 10:32-33), I look stupid?
What if I get it wrong and go in a direction other than His plan for me (Romans 8:28)?
The next morning I had a conversation with someone who had a possibility for the answer I am seeking. Then that afternoon came a phone call with another possibility.
I am not sure yet if either of these possibilities are God’s answer to my prayer, but they were gentle reminders that He is still here. He still hears me. Even when I think He is not being proactive, He is right in the middle.
I thanked God for His reminder that He is God, and He is still here.
How has God subtly spoken to you to remind you that He is still here?
I try to keep his feet out. Well, I try to keep all of him out but especially his feet. His feet are what he uses to get in. His foothold is the prerequisite to the rest of him. When he’s in and and his feet are firmly planted he becomes something stronger. He becomes a stronghold.
How do we keep Satan from creating a stronghold in our lives? It starts with keeping his feet out.
In 1 Corinthians Paul wrote to the Christians in Corinth, and he said, ” ‘I have the right to do anything,’ you say—but not everything is beneficial. ‘I have the right to do anything’—but I will not be mastered by anything” (1 Corinthians 6:12 NIV).
Some Christians, after understanding that they were saved by grace and not works, thought that they could do anything they wanted. However, Paul quickly rebukes this thinking by explaining that just because something might be sinless doesn’t mean that it is beneficial. Why? Because it may cause a foothold.
So what? So it causes a foothold. What’s the big deal in that? Paul goes on to say that we are not to be mastered by anything. The foothold makes the stronghold possible. The stronghold is the master. We become the slaves.
Let’s play this out with a common and legitimate example.
On Monday I drink a glass of wine. That is fine. It is not a sin to drink a glass of wine. So I have a glass of wine.
On Tuesday I drink a glass of wine. That is fine. It is not a sin to drink a glass of wine. It is not a sin to drink a glass of wine two days in a row. So I have a glass of wine.
On Wednesday I drink a glass of wine. That is fine. It is not a sin to drink a glass of wine. It is not a sin to drink a glass of wine three days in a row. So I have a glass of wine.
On Thursday I drink a glass of wine. That is fine. It is not a sin to drink a glass of wine. It is not a sin to drink a glass of wine four days in a row. So I have a glass of wine.
On Friday I drink a glass of wine. That is fine. It is not a sin to drink a glass of wine. It is not a sin to drink a glass of wine five days in a row. So I have a glass of wine.
A month later I realize I have had a glass of wine every day for the past month. I like the wine, and I realize I look forward to it. I plan for it. I rearrange my schedule to get it. I get irritated when I can’t have it.
Now I have a new master, and I am slave.
The days were footholds that in time turned into something stronger – a stronghold – that no longer just has a foot in my life, but has its whole body it my life.
How do I look out for footholds in my life?
1. I “pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17 NASB). Throughout the day I am talking to God even about the most minor and seemingly unimportant things. Why? Because the smart comment I made to my husband could lead to something stronger. The anger I felt towards the cashier could lead to something stronger. The jealousy I have about my friend’s blessings could lead to something stronger.
2. I ask God to show me my weaknesses (Psalm 139:23-24 NIV). There are things that I struggle with that other people may not. They have their own struggles. So for me it is best that I not be involved in situations that will perpetuate those struggles even though they might be quite all right for someone else. I ask God to search my heart and show me where I need to be careful.
3. I monitor my desire to “sit at His feet” (Luke 10:38-40 NIV). Sometimes I don’t feel like praying. I don’t feel like reading my Bible. I don’t feel like doing my Bible study. This is when I try to perk up and pay attention because I know I am highly vulnerable. I try to be very intentional with the time I spend with Jesus.
How do you look out for footholds in your life so that they don’t turn into strongholds?
Yesterday I followed a bit of advice from someone I do not know, but who seems very wise, Lysa TerKeurst, the author of several books including Made to Crave and the president of Proverbs 31 Ministries.
The question to her on Twitter was, “What is your advice for a woman starting a ministry?”
Lysa responded, “Ask God for your assignment each day and start with what’s in front of you.”
Since Lysa has started a ministry before I am thinking this is great advice! So as I sat in the big, fluffy chair where I meet God each morning I said to Him, “God, today I am asking you to please give me my assignment for today”, in a sweet, sing-song voice as if His assignment was going to be one in which I could just sing my way through, check off my list, and go to bed feeling like a better person.
I didn’t think any more about it.
About an hour later I went to the computer and opened my email expecting to see the same old things I get every morning – a few emails from friends, Facebook notifications, newsletter subscriptions, etc. – and there it was. My assignment from God.
Suddenly my arms got heavy feeling like they were dragging the floor. Nerves welled up inside me causing me to shake. Fear overcame me.
God, I didn’t mean this! This? I can’t handle this! I’m not good enough for this! What are You thinking?
I was almost paralyzed.
After God got a hold of my mind, I realized, “Did I really think asking God for an assignment would be anything that I could handle on my own?”
A popular saying is “God never gives us more than we can handle”. We assume this is in the Bible because we say it so much and hear it so often. In actuality this statement is not in the Bible. The verse that this statement tries to emulate is “He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure” (1 Corinthians 10:13). So in regards to temptation, yes, God does not give us more than we can stand, and He always shows us a way out.
But I wasn’t being tempted. I was faced with a task that I did not feel adequate enough to handle. God does give us tasks that we cannot accomplish on our own, especially when we pray bold prayers and ask for them.
Why does He do this?
The very next thing I did yesterday morning, after God got a hold of my mind, is I prayed. I went to God and told Him that I am not wise enough, strong enough, spiritual enough to handle the assignment He had given me. Then I asked Him to please work through me, use me, be my hands, give me my words, so that His purpose could be accomplished.
If I was able to accomplish this on my own, then I would have no need to turn to God. I would carry out the actions that I thought needed to be done, and I would receive the credit, ultimately putting myself higher than God. See, God’s tasks require the supernatural – supernatural wisdom, supernatural strength, supernatural patience, supernatural endurance.
Then when I’m asked questions such as:
“How are you so strong?”
My answer is: “I’m not. God is.”
“How do know that?”
My answer is: “I don’t. God does.”
“How do you get through this?”
My answer is: “I can’t. God can.”
God gives us more than we can handle so that He can show us His power, His sovereignty, His grace, and His love through us. We see His majesty, and we have faith that He is who He says He is and that He does what He says He is going to do.
What do you do when you feel like an assignment from God is too much for you to handle?