Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Opened and Closed Doors.

     When I have decision to make or am in a situation my prayers sound a little like this, "Lord, if this is not your will for me then please close the door, but if it is please open the door so wide that I know without a doubt that this is you."  Sometimes God will close the door, right in my face or open the door gently ushering me through to my next step.  Or even sometimes He will leave the door as is giving me the choice, based on what I know of Him and His word, to walk through it or to go a different way.  I wish I could say that I ALWAYS follow the Lord's leadings in these matters, that once I get the word that I confidently either walk through or stop knowing that He knows what is best for my life...but I would be lying if acted like I did.  Truth is, while it seems outrageous to say that in certain situations in my life that know better than God, my actions tend to speak for themselves.

     I have lost many spiritual fingers, a couple of nails and a lot of time trying to pry a door open or even stop a door from closing.  In my flawed humanness, I believe that by sticking my foot in the way of the door knob reaching its destination, I can somehow show the Lord that He most likely has failed to see what I see and if I just wait here long enough with my foot jammed in the doorway that His omniscient knowledge will catch up to what I know and He will change His mind.  Then there are those times that I continue to knock, no bang on that door all the while believing that He must have forgotten about me on the other side. Not realizing that at that very moment He is doing the very best for me because while a situation might look great in my eyes, He sees the destruction that it will bring and desires to spare me the hurt and whatever else negative ramifications that will come along with it.

   Then there is the other answer where the Lord opens the door.  You would think that whenever I get those that I tie up my Nike's or slip on my Vans or shimmy into my heels and skip through, smiling and confident.  Again, I would love to say that is always my response, but it is not.  I carefully walk over to the door and look through it but get a little nervous and go back to my comfy spot on the other side of the room to pray about it some more. "Show me Lord, make it super clear to me." I check out the door again this time coming from the side, pushing my body hard against the wall so that I don't accidentally fall through the open doorway.  Again, speed walking back to the other side of the room convincing myself that God hasn't really thought this through because it makes no sense.  "Lord, I am going to seek You harder than I have ever sought You before!  I am going to fast for forty days so that You can see that I mean business and that I trust you."  He can put a sign with my name on it (which He has before), give me a dream (have gotten those too) or continuously place said situation on my heart so heavy that it is all that I can think about.  Still doesn't mean I am going to willingly walk through those doors.  Usually something happens beyond my control that catapults me through, past my fears, doubts and questions, to get me where He wants me on the other side.  Once I am over there, I wish I would have went sooner.

     I can't possibly be only one that has reacted this way.  When God closes a door it may not be forever, but it is for right now and when God opens a door, He is leading you exactly where He wants you to be even if it doesn't make sense to you now.  I have the most peace, the kind of peace that surpasses all of my understanding when no matter how the situation looks to me I purpose in my heart to follow the Lords leading in my life.  Nothing can thwart the Lords amazing plans for our lives (Job 42:2), but we can delay them!  Stop delaying! Get in, buckle your seat belt and enjoy the ride!

"I know that You can do all things, and that no thought or purpose of Yours can be restrained or thwarted." (Job 42:2 AMP)

Saturday, June 8, 2013

The High Places.

     The children of Israel wanted a king, someone other than Jesus, so He gave them exactly what they asked for.  Some of the kings destroyed them, leading them further away from the Lord, while others followed in the steps of King David, leading them closer to Him.  However, the kings that feared the Lord did not do one very important thing, they did not remove the high places.  The high places were areas outside of the city where the people would go to create shrines for their many gods and to pray, seek and worship their idols  (2 Kings). While the intentions of the kings who loved the Lord were good, they unknowingly were leading the people back to the very things that the Lord wanted to free them from.

     In the past I have read about the children of Israel with my nose up in the air, baffled at their lack of discernment and trust in God.  Hello, didn't you guys see God?  You saw Him work, He brought you Quail by the thousands, Uh, and not to mention He led you by a cloud in the day and fire at night.  For goodness sakes, you guys walked for forty years and your shoes did not even wear down, you walked across a sea on dry land and you were thirsty and God gave you water out of a rock!  Quickly forgetting all of that, as soon as the Lord didn't respond how they thought He should in the timing that seemed right to them or God forbid they had to wait for ANYTHING, they high-tailed it back up the mountain to seek their other gods.  Sound familiar? As I read this, I was convicted.  How often do I take matters into my own hands?  More than I would like to admit.  How many times have I not been satisfied with what the Lord was doing in my life that I shimmied back up the mountain to the things that were once comfortable?

     Let's keep it real with ourselves.  While we may not physically climb up the mountain, in our hearts we have made the journey many times.  We have blatantly stepped ahead of the Lord while letting Him know that His way was not good enough.  Throwing up the deuces as we passed by Him saying, "I've got this God, I know what to do to make myself feel better, I know who can quickly fill that longing in my heart for now and those fleshy urges that I have? Pssssh, no worries, Jesus, I'll get them taken care of."  By not getting rid of those things in our lives that so easily ensnare us, completely surrendering them all to the Lord and allowing Him to tear down those things that hold a higher place in our hearts than He does, we deceive ourselves.  We are not as strong as we think we are.  It is way too easy to go back.  We need Him, above everything else, we need Him.  We need to allow Him to tear down those shrines in our hearts, to reveal to us those things that we are clinging to that are not of Him.  His timing can not be beat and His ways are impeccable, much better than we could ever orchestrate on our own.  I choose to trust Him.