Hello everyone! I hope you can hear me because my voice is a little weak today.
I just want to share something real quick. I’ve only got a few minutes, but this is something that I’ve been sitting on for a while that I’ve had in my heart to share, and I feel like God is saying to share it now regardless of my voice and my limited time this morning.
There’s a phrase that I’ve often said for many, many years over my life.
An example would be like if I hear about a sale or I think about something in a store, and I later decide I want to go back and get it. And then as I’m thinking about it or talking with someone about it, I say this phrase (or I used to say this phrase) where I would say, “Yeah, I’ve got to go back and get that pretty quick because I’m afraid that if I wait too long it’s going to be gone,” or something along those lines.
Or maybe I’m supposed to meet somebody somewhere, and I might say, “I’m afraid I’m going to miss them.”
Or maybe I have a deadline looming and I say, “I’m afraid I’m not going to have enough time to get it all done.”
These are phrases that I would just frequently toss out there all the time, and a number of months back (maybe it was last year; I don’t remember how far back) God really started highlighting those words “I’m afraid that.”
When He did, I kind of pushed back and said, “But God, I’m not actually afraid. It doesn’t really matter that much if the sale is gone or the items are gone by the time I get back to the store. I just don’t want it to be. But I’m not actually afraid. It’s not actually fear.”
His response was kind of like I felt like He said, “Isn’t it?”
He kept pointing it out until it got to the point finally where I can’t utter those words anymore. I can’t even think them. It’s like He stops me every time.
I think what He’s been showing me is that even though I don’t think it’s fear, and even though maybe according to a lot of definitions that we have it’s not fear, or it’s maybe not even worry–it’s just a thing we say—it still matters because our words have power. It still opens a part of my life to fear.
And even if I feel like it’s not doing that, it’s most certainly not living in trust with a Heavenly Father who’s promised to provide for my needs–and not only to provide for my needs, but to be a good Father! You know in the Bible, Jesus says, “If a son asks for bread or a fish, a good father will not give him a stone will he?”
So no matter what, those words are not the right point of view. It’s not the right path that God wants me to take.
The path that he’s been leading me down instead is to first ask Him whether that thing that I want to go get at the store or those things that I want to get done or those people that I want to meet up with–if those activities that I’m wanting are in line with His will. First say, “God do You want me to go get that thing at the store? Do You want me to get this done today? Is it important to You that I get this done today? God, do you want me to meet those people today or is the timing off?”
So first ask for His will.
And then, if I feel that it is His will (or sometimes I don’t feel like I have a clear answer but the desire is still in my heart and so I pray, “Lord give me the desires of Your heart–make the desires of my heart mirror the desires of Your heart)… and so if the desire is still there, then I’ll start walking and moving towards whatever that thing is.
But I leave it up to Him. I don’t say, “I’m afraid that it’s not going to get done.” I just leave it up to Him if it gets done today. Then if God wants it to get done today, then He will bless my efforts and bless the work of my hands and ordain my steps and my actions and it’ll get done. And if it doesn’t get done today, then I’m okay with that because I surrendered this to Him. Even my ability to accomplish things in a day is His. Or if I get there at the store and they’re gone, then I wasn’t intended to get it. But if He wants to me to have it, then it’ll be there when I get there and there’s no need for me to say that I’m afraid it’s not going to be there or there’s not going to be any left.
So this is for me. It’s been a small thing, but even though it’s small I kind of feel like it’s been a major shift in my life because of how many probably thousands of times that this has come up in me. Therefore these little teeny tiny bits of changes kind of signify a significant shift.
So that’s what I wanted to share this morning, and I hope it blesses someone out there! I hope that you are encouraged to continue moving forward in your walk with God and discovering the things that He has for you that He wants to show you, and share with you, and give to you, and grow in His relationship with you.
So many blessings on your day today!