A friend of mine made that statement the other night when he was preaching and it stuck with me. I know that God only has good (Ephesians 3:20, Ephesians 2:10) and that His thoughts toward me are good (Jeremiah 29:11) but sometimes it's easy to get sidetracked. Especially when the thoughts you are thinking about yourself or your life do not line up with "good". When you're looking around you and taking inventory of what's going on with you and for you and around you and start thinking, "Wait a minute, I'm not where I want to be. Why hasn't this changed for me? Why is this like this?" (side note: I think you can be in the perfect will of God and not seeing the good, not seeing everything you want, the increase, the results, etc because you are in coast mode, you can tend to think, "I'm where I'm supposed to be so all this is just supposed to work for me." But that's not the case, if it was, then why would we need faith? Or to rely on the HG at all? Knowing that I am where God wants me to be instills confidence in me to get through the rough patches, the tough times, the storms. It gives me confidence to believe and trust God. Then I use my authority and the Word of God to start affecting and changing my world and what I see. But this is a subject for another blog.)
It's so easy to let those thoughts run wild because they line up with what you see. But as someone who believes in the infallible Word of God I do not live by what I see or what I experience, I live by faith. Faith in the faithfulness of my God. Faith in His word being the truth and a creative force that can change, move, restore or create anything.
I think that is why Romans 12:2 is in the bible, you know, the whole renewing your mind verse? It says that in order to NOT be conformed to this world (to our own desires, to the measuring stick of the world, to the thought pattern of those who do not believe in the Word of God) we have to TRANSFORM OURSELVES by the renewing of our mind that WE may prove what God's will is - and then it goes on to say that His will is good, pleasing and perfect.
No one else is going to renew my mind for me. I have to. I can allow the thoughts of discouragement, defeat, loneliness, frustration and doubt to overtake me OR I can CHOOSE to PROVE what God's GOOD, PLEASING and PERFECT will for my life is by renewing my mind with HIS Word so that I can SEE HIS will come to pass in my life. It's a choice. Either I believe God and His Word or I don't. Either I'm going to trust Him to do what He says He will do or I am going to fight and claw and make my own decisions and do things my own way. It's much easier to submit to God, His way and His Word then to go off and try and accomplish what I want to on my own. Yes, my flesh fights me, sometimes pride fights me, insecurities fight me but submitting to God ALWAYS brings peace, ALWAYS brings increase, ALWAYS brings fulfillment and ALWAYS brings about His good, pleasing and perfect will.
In the natural, it doesn't make sense to believe God. It doesn't make sense to "have faith". It doesn't make sense to speak words from a really old book and think that those words are actually going to produce anything. Nothing God has ever told me to do has ever made sense to me. He's told me to stay places when I didn't want to stay. He's told me to go places I didn't want to go. He's told me to stand by people I didn't want to stand by. Heck, He tells us to love our enemies, to bless those who curse us, how does that make sense? The more things don't make sense the more apt I am to believe it's God and just go for it because His thoughts and plans for my life far exceed my expectations. (Don't get me wrong, I'm not reckless, I just don't freak out if things don't make sense.) He orders my steps. He has it under control. If I don't like the way things are going for me, it's up to me to talk to Him, find out what's going on and confess and trust in His Word. His timing isn't always what I like. His plans don't always make sense. But man, if I yield to Him, if I just say OK God, have it YOUR way. I am ALWAYS blessed. He ALWAYS does more than I could ever imagine.
It's worth it. I know I haven't even seen a glimpse of how much it's worth it or what all He is going to do for me HERE, in this life. But I know that I am walking it out. I know that I have a history of choosing Him. I know that He knows He can trust me to obey, no matter what He tells me because I've proved it out over the last 10 years. And I'm SO stoked. SO excited to see where He's taking me. It's the willing and the obedient who eat the good of the land, I'm both! I'm walking it out. Trusting Him. I'll see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. What He has put on the inside of me WILL come to pass. He is the author and the finisher of my faith. How cool is that? What He started He will finish. What He birthed will be delivered. It's not up to me to make it all happen. To find ways to bring what I see on the inside out. It's up to me to trust Him, to take Him at His word. To move when He says move. To stay when He says stay. To give when He says give. To submit when He says submit. Even when I don't like it. But that is what true submission is, eh? When you don't like it and don't want it and don't really agree. If you liked it, wanted it and agreed it would just be agreeing, not submitting :)
I want His will. I want His plans. I want His purpose. I want His timing. Because it's all good. In fact, it's better than I can imagine. When you feel pushed the most that YOU need to make stuff happen, that's when you dig in, pray in the Holy Ghost and get direction and wisdom from God. There probably are somethings YOU need to do. But chances are they aren't the things you think. They are the things that don't make sense to you but it's what God is directing you to do. Trust Him. Yield to Him. Submit to Him. He'll take you places you never dreamed and give you more than you imagined!
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