Reading With the People of God #12 - the Good Lifeಮಾದರಿ

To Go or Not To Go

Developing a relationship with Jesus is as unique to each of us as our individual fingerprints, yet completely the same in the unifying word, SEEK. We must regularly seek the Lord because of Who He is. Jesus can and will provide us with everything we need, but FAITH is required. Remember that faith as tiny as a mustard seed is all that is required: the willingness to want, to want too.

Jesus fed thousands in tiny portions. Portions that, in human understanding, could never make a way. Our God is trustworthy. The only way to truly embody this truth is to step out in faith. Go where He prompts you to go, WITHOUT having to know every detail first. It's not really faith if you know every step before you move.

When Jesus sent out His disciples, He was grooming and pruning them to bloom into the next level of their identity in Him: apostles. He sent them out with “nothing,” yet they had everything…they had Him. They had Him with them because they had spent countless hours, day and night with Him. Getting to know Him, learning from Him, watching Him, receiving from Him, working alongside Him in little tasks, preparing them for larger assignments. Jesus knew that His disciples needed to know they could trust Him. Being placed in circumstances where you can not provide for yourself by planning and preparing for all possible outcomes seems to be a great way to build faith muscle. Muscles that form an unshakable connection to His faith and deep roots in trusting God alone.

We have His Word and His Holy Spirit, all of which are connected to Jesus, our Lord and Savior, in the throne room, Who is seated at the right hand of God our Father. When He tells us to go, it's not necessarily an actual physical destination. It can be, but first, we must learn to obey Him in the “small” things so that we can experience His hand moving in our lives and see His trustworthiness and Sovereignty firsthand.

God often asks me to “go” to a hurt within my heart. A hurt stuffed so deep that my everyday consciousness has been forgotten. Jesus wants to free us from fear and hypocrisy. I have learned through obedience to His go promptings such as these that He always provides spiritual blessings to my physical obedience. He will develop within each of us faith and trust to know that He is our provider and that we ourselves can add nothing to His provision to make it better.

God has placed within each of us unique giftings and talents. He is calling out to us to use these to further His Kingdom, but first, we must learn to walk before we step. And we must learn to crawl before we walk. We must become less, unlearning all that we have received outside of Him to be filled with His teachings and foundation. Nothing this cruel world or those belonging to it can shake us when our EVERYTHING belongs to and in Him.

Where is Jesus telling you to go?

* Primer contributed by Ardena Hamill, Celebrate Recovery encourager.