And what keeps getting me is that when God revealed His heart and spoke to me to let me in on what He was doing, it wasn't to get me to toil and labor and try to figure all of it out on my own, which is usually what I try to do. This time was different. I distinctly knew that His purpose behind the revelation was to prepare me, to stir up a greater expectation and faith in my heart and come into agreement with Him with fervent prayer. Not for me to plan and configure or make a way of my own, or to somehow insert myself in the middle...but to trust. In Him and in His way, which is PERFECT. He was going to do exactly He said - He gave me that full assurance and He wanted me to know that, believe that and be watching and waiting in hope for Him. He wanted not my work but my agreement. He was going to use me and work through me and wanted me just to be open to Him and all He wanted to do.
So ever since I've been running with that with more boldness and confidence than I ever knew I had (it's definitely Him and not me) and truly it is AMAZING what I have seen of this work so far. I can't even do it justice in describing it...all I know is that right down to the minute details God has GOT this. He is showing me and confirming it in every way, and this is only the beginning! There is so much more to come and definitely a process ahead, but as it continues I will continue to just believe Him and stand by what He has said. No matter what my eyes see at any given time or whatever obstacles arise...my God is able and I am fully persuaded that He has power to do what He has promised (Rom. 4:21). He WILL make a way. It is only by His Spirit that any of it is even possible and I am more aware of that and of my need for and dependence on Him than I've ever been.
More and more this truth in this verse speaks to and comes alive for me...
The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.
--John 6:29
It really is that simple. Not always easy, but simple. God says our work is to believe in Him - align ourselves with His heart and come into agreement with His will and His plan as He reveals in His Word. We do this largely by confessing with our mouths and believing in our hearts. This is how we were saved (Romans 10:9-10) and this is how He has chosen to continue His work in and through us and to advance His kingdom on earth - as His people confess with their mouths and believe in their hearts! This is what it means to come into agreement with Him and this act of faith is what pleases Him and what He responds to. According to our faith it is done to us (Matt. 9:29). God is not most moved by all that we do for Him but it's the faith in our hearts and our persistence in seeking Him (Heb. 11:6). Our praise and thanksgiving and confidence in Him above all else, especially when we don't yet see the answers or the outcome we might expect from our prayers (and often we are so results-focused or have such preconceived notions of what He should be doing that we lost sight of HIM, the Author and Perfecter of our Faith, and miss all the things He IS showing us and the amazing ways He is moving that are so above and beyond what we expected in the first place!!), moves His heart. It moves Him to action. In response to our fervent, faith-filled prayers and heartfelt praises He moves mightily on our behalf and in our midst to do immeasurably more than all we can ask or imagine (Eph. 3:20).
We have to know with everything we are that our God will never fail us or let us down. He is exactly who He says He is and He is always faithful to His Word - speaking and then acting, promising and then fulfilling (Numbers 23:19). So we pray and expect with absolute joy, we call on Him in praise and thanksgiving and boldly declare all that He is because God CANNOT fail. CANNOT deny Himself or separate Himself from His Word. As we become convinced of this we will see and know that He is deserving and worthy of our undivided trust and all of our praise and gratitude even before we see the fulfillment of His promises in our lives, before our eyes in the natural. And our praise and gratitude is fueled by knowing and loving Him, the amazing God that He is, and knowing and believing in full assurance that He will fulfill His promises in His time and His way, which is ALWAYS the best and for our ultimate good (Rom. 8:28). So we give Him praise NOW and constantly, in the process, every step of the way! We give thanks and praise above all just for who He IS. Always - this is where our worship and adoration should stem from. Then we thank Him and praise Him for every move of His hand that we see and for every move that we don't because we walk by faith and not by sight (2 Cor. 5:7). We wait in eagerness and expectation because we know more than anything else that He is faithful! And we partner with Him by devotion and persistence in prayer. Our agreement with God is what ushers in His will and releases His miracle-working to perform and accomplish it! God can do all things but without our prayers He won't. He doesn't need us, He is God and can do all things on His own...but He has chosen us to partner with Him and has chosen to work through us...He has given us the ministry of reconciliation! It is HIS work, ALL His doing, but He has committed the message to us. Think about how AWESOME this is:
We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.
--2 Corinthians 5:20
This is our job description, our identity! Christ's ambassadors through whom God makes His appeal to this lost world. The righteousness of God in Christ (2 Cor. 5:21), new creations (2 Cor. 5:17), gifted with the ministry of reconciliation and trusted with its message. Wow! How humbling it is, and what greater honor and privilege or what further affirmation do we need?!!
I say it's time to allow God to bust open the boxes we've confined Him, to shatter our preconceived notions about who He is and how He works and the expectation of the usual and normal and to actually begin to expect crazy amazing things from Him! If His Word is true, if it is reality, if He really is the all-powerful, almighty God that His Word reveals, then we need to open our eyes and believe Him for the impossible as His Word says we should - no limits, nothing too hard - does this excite anyone else??!! This is how we should wake up every day, excited about Him and on the edge of our seats (because He is always up to something NEW - Isa. 43:18-19) and in expectation!! Our God is AMAZING and He wants to show and reveal to us AMAZING things!!!!
Look at the nations and watch, and be utterly amazed, for I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told.
--Habbakuk 1:5
Wow!!! Dwell on that. He is ALIVE...in POWER...ruling above ALL...unpredictable...inconceivable...invading our reality with the realities of His kingdom...this is why we worship Him!! We do not worship a set of rules or rituals, we don't worship a God we can control, we don't put our faith in a dead Word. God is ALIVE and MOVING and INVADING, ALL the time and we will miss Him unless we move beyond religion and lay HOLD of His forcefully advancing kingdom! (Matt 11:12) We need to get in sync with and agree with Him for what His Word says, with hearts full of faith and expectation....believing Him for the signs of His goodness and faithfulness and the confirmation of His Word ALL THE TIME. We are either going to believe He is who He says He is in His Word or we are not, but there is no half way. There's no way to be indifferent when confronted with this reality. Believe Him! And then just watch...and be utterly AMAZED...
When we know God this way we will not want to waste one moment of one day NOT diligently seeking Him, not totally desperate for His Presence or hungry to see Him move...He is doing so many amazing, out of this world things around us all the time...revealing Himself in all new and exciting ways...incredible responses to our prayers and petitions...moving on behalf of His children...we just have to open our eyes. We have to be expectant and prepared. Proclaim and stand on His truth. Pray diligently. Cry out for His heart. Depend on His Spirit. Seek His Presence. Go boldly before His throne. Be zealous in pursuit of Him! (Rom. 12:11). We won't quit and won't stop, won't settle for ordinary when our God is extraordinary in every way!!!
Oh Lord so GRIP us with Your all-consuming love and powerful, all-sufficient grace. Rock us to the very core of our being that it would be impossible to remain complacent. So shake us up for You that everything in us just aches for You and for Your Kingdom. You are always moving...You are speaking...You are drawing everything and everyone to Yourself, bringing all things into alignment with You, pouring our Your Holy Spirit, invading this earth like an unstoppable, irresistible force, filling and covering the whole earth with the knowledge of Your glory (Hab. 2:14) - and we are in agreement!!! We are on board!! Let it be done on earth as it is in Heaven! We give you praise right now for how unimaginably awesome You are, beyond our ability to even comprehend! We acknowledge that it's ALL You, it's ALL by Your Spirit, and it's Your LOVE that does everything, and we are just so humbled that You would use us, Lord, as Your hands and feet and as the home for Your Spirit to dwell. And we love you so, so much Lord! Have YOUR way! Thank you that it WILL be done as You have planned and purposed!!! Thank you that Your LOVE is so clearly on the move in my life and in the lives of so many around me...seeking and saving, redeeming and restoring...in POWER and in GRACE...all across this earth...and we just say YES, Lord. GLORY to Your HOLY Name. We praise You for Your faithfulness. We long for You. Our eyes and our hearts are open and ready and ever expectant. Our HOPE is all in You.
Love is on the move
Revealing Heaven's truth
Love is on its way and it will find you
And anyone can run
Into the arms of God
Love is on its way and it will find you
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