“God, I’m tired of being here…in this place. I’m ready for something new. I’m ready to move towards the place that you have for me—the blessing, the favor, the fruit of what I have been believing for. It feels like I've been here forever, unable to escape my reality? How much longer God? When will your promises prove true in my life?”
This, is a prayer that I’ve prayed so many times throughout my journey. This, is a prayer that I’m positive you have prayed during yours. It’s a prayer that we pray when we're at our wits’ end. It’s a prayer that we pray when we’ve done all that we can do to believe God, and still, we feel that we have nothing to show for it. It’s a place that reveals our perspective. It’s a place that we arrive at when we’ve forgotten who’s carried us thus far. This is what I have seen in my own life. Every time I found myself in a place of weariness, each time I was at the end of my rope, I realized that I had lost perspective. I had forgotten where I once was. I had forgotten that my Savior rescued me from the pit of despair, and He brought me to a place of hope and faith that I had never seen before. Sure, I wasn’t where I wanted to be, but I was far better off than I once was. When I took a look back at how far God brought me, it gave me the strength to continue to believe Him for more.
If you are at your wits’ end, and you don’t know how to keep moving forward in faith, just remember. Remember the place that Jesus rescued you from. Remember how He reached down from heaven and placed you beneath His wings. Remember each time He showed you mercy and grace. How many times has He sent His favor ahead of you? How many times has He protected you, and provided for you?
The fact that He was with you, is the proof that He will never leave your side.
Remembering God’s faithfulness reminds us that He will continue to be faithful. But, we must remember His faithfulness with the understanding that He is always wanting to reveal Himself in a new way. This is important, because often times, we use God’s track record as a template for what He will do next. But doing this, will only limit how God can move in our lives. God will never force his will onto us. Yes, He wants full control, but first, we have to let go of our grip. He wants to lead us, but we have to be willing to follow Him. God is always working on something new, but the only way for us to be able to receive that newness, is to take the limits off of Him.
I am the Lord, your Holy One, Israel’s Creator and King. I am the Lord, who opened a way through the waters, making a dry path through the sea. I called forth the mighty army of Egypt with all its chariots and horses. I drew them beneath the waves, and they drowned, their lives snuffed out like a smoldering candlewick. “But forget all that— it is nothing compared to what I am going to do. For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland. (Isaiah 43:15-19 NLT)
In this passage, God is speaking to the Israelites that were exiled in Babylon. He reminds them of His track record. He reminds them that He was the one that rescued them from their oppressors, the Egyptians. He reminds them that He performed a miracle before their ancestors, enabling them to escape through the Red Sea. He reminds them of His greatness and faithfulness. But then, He tells them to forget all of that. Why? Because He didn’t want to be put in a box. He wanted them to understand that the way He intends to rescue them this time would not be the way that He came through for them the first time. He was essentially telling them to take the limits off. He wanted them to understand that He is not limited by what limits them. They might have been limited by the Red Sea, but He was not, and although they might be limited in their current situation, He stands outside of those limits.
Our limits are an invitation for the glory of God to be displayed in our lives.
Where are you limited in your life right now? What is holding you back from doing the thing that God has called you to do? It may seem like there is no way out; it may feel like you don’t have enough, but your limitations are not limits to God. He stands outside of your situation. This means that He can do whatever He wants to do, whenever He wants to do it. When we give our situations to Him, He moves around the pieces that we never knew existed. He works in the details, making the impossible…possible.
Jesus looked at them intently and said, “Humanly speaking, it is impossible. But not with God. Everything is possible with God.” (Mark 10:27 NLT)
“I am the Lord, the God of all the peoples of the world. Is anything too hard for me? (Jeremiah 32:27 NLT)
Has God spoken a word over your life? Maybe He has put something in your heart that seems impossible? His word says that there is nothing too hard for Him. His word says that there is nothing impossible with Him by your side. So, whatever it is, agree with it.
We don’t have to understand how He will perform the miracle, but we must agree with Him.
When God speaks a word, we usually want all the details. How will you do this God? When, and in what way will you do this God? But the thing is that He won’t divulge any of this information to us. He expects us to believe in His word…by faith. If we do not believe Him, we can not expect to experience His power in our lives.
In Mark 6, there is an account of a time that Jesus went to His hometown hoping to do miracles, only He couldn’t. They people of the town knew His family; they knew Him. And because they believed they knew all there was to know about Him, they weren’t in a place where they could accept who He really was. They didn’t believe that their Savior was standing right in front of them, and because of this, Jesus was unable to work in their lives.
Jesus left that part of the country and returned with his disciples to Nazareth, his hometown. The next Sabbath he began teaching in the synagogue, and many who heard him were amazed. They asked, “Where did he get all this wisdom and the power to perform such miracles?” Then they scoffed, “He’s just a carpenter, the son of Mary and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas, and Simon. And his sisters live right here among us.” They were deeply offended and refused to believe in him. Then Jesus told them, “A prophet is honored everywhere except in his own hometown and among his relatives and his own family.” And because of their unbelief, he couldn’t do any miracles among them except to place his hands on a few sick people and heal them. And he was amazed at their unbelief. Then Jesus went from village to village, teaching the people. (Mark 6:1-6 NLT)
We must never get to a place where our past with God causes us to miss His presence.
Because of our experiences with God, we assume that He will show up in a specific way. And when He shows up in a way other than what we’ve expected, it’s hard for us to accept that it’s really Him. But our God is an unpredictable God. He might tell us that He’s coming, but it certainly won’t be in the way that we are expecting for Him to arrive in our lives. We see evidence of this in the Gospels. The children of God had been waiting for their Savior, but the problem was that they were expecting Him to arrive within the limitations of their own reasoning and traditions. Jesus was nothing like what they thought He would be. They expected a judge, but He arrived to save. They expected Him to come for those that thought they were righteous, but He came for the sick, the broken, the sinners. Everything that He did went against the template that they had for Him.
I will not judge those who hear me but don’t obey me, for I have come to save the world and not to judge it. (John 12:47 NLT)
Jesus answered them, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do. I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners and need to repent.” (Luke 5:31-32 NLT)
What happens when Jesus shows up unexpectedly? What happens when He shows up in a way that seems unorthodox? Will we be open to receiving from Him? Or will we act as the Pharisees did, and turn our faces away from our Savior?
When we read the scriptures about the behavior of the Pharisees, most of us cast judgement on them...we can’t understand how they could be so self-righteous. How could they cling to their traditions, and refuse to open their eyes to the Savior? But if we are honest, we all have a little of the Pharisee spirit in us. We all have traditions that we don’t want to lay at the feet of Jesus. We all cling to things that are keeping us from seeing what God wants to do in our lives. We are all blinded in some way…and this is what I believe God wants to show us today.
We have to be willing to let go of the old if we want to receive something new.
“And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. For the wine would burst the wineskins, and the wine and the skins would both be lost. New wine calls for new wineskins.” (Mark 2:22 NLT)
We are always trying to bring the old into the new. But I believe that God is saying, “If you want to walk into this new season that I have for you, it will have to be with a new mind…a new perspective.” We can’t walk with God, and receive the impossible with a closed mind. We have to be open, and willing to go wherever He tells us to go. We have to be willing to do whatever He wants us to do. That is what our seasons of waiting are for. Many times it feels like we are waiting on God, but what if it is the exact opposite. What if in these seasons, God is actually waiting for us? What if He is waiting for us to let go of some of the things that we have been holding on to. What if He is waiting for us to surrender areas of our lives to Him, so that He can transform us, and enable us to walk in purpose?
He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them. So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now! This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! (2 Corinthians 5:15-17 NLT)
Scripture tells us that anyone that belongs to Christ is a new person…the old life has passed away, a new life has begun. But, we have to understand that becoming new is a process. It’s a process of releasing our past to Christ, so that He can give us a future. This is where you are now. This is why you feel stuck, this is why it feels like nothing has changed. You are being made new…right where you are. And the process of being made new is not something that we can always see when we are in the middle of it. But when we look back, we will have proof of what God has done in our lives.
So what do you do right now…in the middle? You look back, and praise God for all that He has done. But then you forget all of that, because that is nothing compared to what He is about to do…He has something new for your life. He intends to make a pathway through the wilderness. This means that He will make a way where there is no way. He will make rives in the dry wasteland. This means that He will provide everything that you need for your journey. And remember to keep an open mind. God is not limited to what seems possible. He is not limited by our human understanding. He stand outside of it all. He will do whatever He needs to do to keep His promises. The burden is not on you. You don’t have to feel the weight of bringing God’s vision to pass. Your job is to surrender to Him. You job is to believe His word is true. Your job is to obey His instructions in faith, and then wait on Him. He…will do the rest.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, thank you for redeeming me. Thank you from rescuing me from my past, and for giving me the opportunity to have a new life in you. Today, I have been reminded that I must surrender my life to you, so that I can receive the new things that you have for me. As I spend time in your presence, I pray that you would begin to show me the areas of my life that I need to give to you. And I trust that as I surrender, you will renew my mind, and enable me to walk in purpose. And thank you Father, for reminding me that you are in control. You have always gone before me, and you have never left my side. Your goodness is proof that you will continue to work in my life. I trust you, and I can’t wait to see the new things that you have for me. I love you. In Jesus’ name, amen.
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