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Friday, February 7, 2014

Where Is Our Power?

This is something I've been asking myself for a while - where has our Power gone? What happened to the days that we walked in confidence and authority in Christ?

I have seen a growing trend that we come to God with timidity - we ask Him for things, but we come to Him like we expect Him to say no. Like we need to ask just so, and only if we haven't eaten any processed sugars that week, and hoping that He's in a good mood.

But we don't need to hope. The Bible tells us to ask in His name, and we will receive (John 16:24). Sure, He doesn't always answer the way we hope He might - His ideas are often very different from ours - but that doesn't mean He's not answering us.

I don't mean to suggest that we should approach the King of Kings irreverently - He is, after all, King. But remember that we are called children of God - a prince is not afraid to ask his dad for something. He walks up to the same man that the entire kingdom is afraid to approach without an invitation, and just asks, fully expecting to receive what he asked for. Sometimes he will, and sometimes he won't, but the next time he wants something - back to Dad he'll go.

We should be the same. No, God won't always answer us the way we hope - sometimes when we ask him to show us His will on a matter, His will is that we go the opposite direction than we were hoping - but I guarantee He's got something better in mind.

When I was 18 and got the rejection letter from the college I was certain I was being called to attend, I thought it was the end of all things good and exciting in my young adult life. I spent almost two years feeling lost and wondering if I had missed something along the way. During those two years, I encountered more than a few circumstances that left me more confused and discouraged than ever, wondering how I had gotten so far off track from the amazing plans everyone assured me were mine for the taking. Then I got the call from Keifer about starting Lantern Press in Olathe, KS. 

What he suggested was more than a little insane, and I told him so in no uncertain terms. But even as I tried to convince us both that we were in no position to do anything that big, I knew it was God. There wasn't any writing on the wall, no audible command to move myself across the country - just a peace and a leading from the Spirit. But I'm a skeptic, so I set demands - before I would consider moving that far away from family and home, I needed a job. I had one within weeks. Next, I needed a place to live. This time, it was a matter of days before I received word from my contacts here - they had a place lined up for me to stay, free of charge, until I found a roommate and a permanent residence. After I finally agreed, and set a date to move, everything else fell into place. I got a job in Wisconsin for the next three months, and began making plans to move.

Some people thought I was crazy for expecting God to fulfill my expectations before I would take the step, and maybe I was. But then again - they thought Mary was crazy, too, and she ended up giving birth to the Son of God.

I guess what I'm really trying to say is that there's a certain authority comes with our status as Children of Most High God, and I think it's high-time we stand in it once again, before our enemy has us all convinced that our status as such doesn't actually mean anything.

1 comment:

  1. This is great! I can definitely sympathize with that lost feeling when things don't go as you'd expected. I've had a few of those moments in my life. I'm learning to be less bothered when they come because God is always faithful and always has way better plans, but it's a learning process.

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