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As quoted from the book “Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim-Based Society” by John H. Hovis Page 173.
Want to see God more in your life? My suggestion, stop waiting on Him to show up and take a step.
So many people are paralyzed in their faith. I can't tell you how many people I see sitting around waiting on God to spell out their every move. So many of these people are either at the point of desperation due to being disillusioned at God's apparent lack of caring or are either heading to that point very quickly. They see God not answering their pleas for direction as either there is something wrong with them or something wrong with this God that is suppose to love them. Both of these conclusions couldn't be further from the truth.
It isn't that God is ignoring our cries for direction, it is that He is trying to get us to exercise our faith muscles. How can we ever develop our own faith if God spells out every step we are to take in that important decision we are asking God for direction on?
I'm starting to view it this way. God gives us four answers to our prayers when it comes to decisions in which we come to Him for guidance. I hate to be a buzz kill with this next statement, but one of the answers is not going to be the fullness of what to do like you want God to give to you. That just isn't in the cards so let's mourn that loss as quickly as possible and move on to what God is going to give us as answers to in our prayers.
First answer is a clear and resounding yes. That yes isn't necessarily going to come with a five page business plan for your to follow. Even God's yes is going to come with the requirement for us to trust Him and take steps that we will need to decide on our own. I'm not saying that we are to ignore God with the next steps to take. What I am simply saying is that God's yes still requires us to have faith and that faith will be challenged by what is to come after His yes.
Second answer is a clear and resounding no. Just like the yes answer, the no answer isn't going to give us crystal clear direction on what's next. The no answer from God is, again, a means by which our faith can be built in ways that make it easier and easier to see God moving in our lives in future directions.
The third answer from God is wait. Wait is an interesting answer in that timing is usually the issue. God isn't controlled by time but He has a time specified for everything. What you are putting before God might be too soon or it might be too late for the best results from God's perspective to happen. Waiting requires patience and patience is a real faith builder.
The fourth answer is one that I feel is not talked about all that often. This is the answer that I believe happens when we feel like we aren't hearing from God at all. I call this answer, do what you feel is on your heart. This is the answer that is the most uncomfortable for me to implement. Doing what I feel is on my heart has gotten me into a lot of trouble in the past and I really don't want to go down that road anymore.
I believe that God's silence is often times a statement of trust. He has put in us all the faith we will ever need to move powerfully in this world. There are times when God hears our petition for direction but knows that we have been matured to a point where we have all the input we need to make the decision ourselves. This is a very powerful place to be as a follower of this God that loves us. It is also a place where we need to be sure we have weeded out as much of the human motive for self in our decisions so as we don't use this answer to simply do what we want to do and think God is going to bless our decision.
No matter what answer we get from God the key is to move. Just sitting around waiting for the yellow brick road to appear for us to follow is foolish on so many levels. Taking a step is often times the most powerful exercise of faith a follower of God can put into play.
Take a look at today's Bible reading as it relates to moving out in faith.
The steps of a man are established by the Lord, And He delights in his way. Pslam 37:23 (NASB)
Every step is established by God. Even the steps He doesn't tell us about is known by Him. So much so the case when we seek God for direction. Even the "wrong" steps we take are ordained when we are taking them in faith filled ways. This statement doesn't give us permission to do whatever we want, rather it is a faith filled statement of fact that says God is bigger then even my sometimes misguided decisions.
Are you in a place where you need to make a big decision? Are you seeking God's direction? That's fantastic. He is so pleased with you. Now do something really scary - take a step when you feel you have been given one of the four answers we talked about earlier. After you take that step - go back to God and see what's next. Keep taking steps - one at a time. I know process will seem slow, maybe that's the answer God has for you - slow down! Know this, progress is at the pace of Heaven's bidding anyway - that's what today's reading is all about.
Trust in the fact that God is for you, he is with you, and, His best is what He wants for your life. Put your requests before God and don't get stuck. Take a step and see where God leads next.
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