Can we have a heart to heart today? You see, I believe that the majority of us truly long to see the hand of God move in our lives. We really long to hear God speak to us. Deep down inside we just want to know what God would have us “do” in certain situations so that we can then follow after Him whole heartedly. But yet, in our longing to see God move, we fail to realize a key point: we must be willing to seek Him out like never before…even when we don’t feel like it. And with that, when He does speak, He just may ask us to do hard things…things that we would rather not do. Let me explain.
When you have some free time, let me encourage you to read through the book of Exodus, better known as the story of God’s radical deliverance of the Israelites. You see, the Israelites were under the bondage of the Egyptians; “the Egyptians worked them ruthlessly.” As the Israelites continued to cry out to God to deliver them, He used Moses to help them escape and through that escape, He performed some amazing miracles within their presence. God was truly concerned about their suffering and He wanted nothing more than to deliver them.
But after rescuing them and performing miracles before their very eyes, the Israelites began to grumble and quarrel. They began to lose sight of everything God had done within their presence. And unfortunately, I see a lot of this today.
So many times in life, we just want to see God move. We want to see Him perform mighty miracles in our lives. Miracles like:
Getting out of debt
Getting healthy
Reconciliation of a relationship
Obedient children
A new job
Extra income
But yet, we fail to miss the one thing, the most important thing: seeking Him like never before, even when we don’t feel like. Instead we grumble and allow ourselves to get so caught up in what we want and the miracles that we want to see take place, that we completely forget to seek Him with every fiber of our being. Sure, we throw up a prayer here and there and hope that that will do, but we actually don’t take the time to really seek Him.
Believe me when I say, I understand because I too have been there. Just like you, there are days where my mind is in a fog because I’ve allowed it to focus on everything else but Him. The truth of the matter is if we really want to see God move, then we have to be willing to give Him everything we’ve got! Stop looking for the answer and “deliverance” from others, go directly to the one who longs to meet your needs like never before.
You know, I find it interesting that in John 5 we find a paralyzed man who had been sitting by a pool for 38-years! When Jesus saw him lying there He asked him a very important question: “Do you want to get well?” This question is HUGE because the hard cold truth is that there are some people who just don’t really want to get well. Yeah they say they want to get out of debt, they want healing to take place in their relationships, they want to get healthy, but they are unwilling to do the work that is needed.
Friends, things in life are not always easy. Many times you will be called to do hard things. And really, this is what separates those who will “win” in this lifetime from those who won’t; those who are willing to work hard and do what they have been called to do.
After Jesus asked the paralyzed man this question his response was, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.” Oh my, here’s another HUGE lesson for us: don’t wait around for other people to “help” you! You have to make the decision to move forward, to push through and do the hard things that must be done in order to see God come through like never before! Just as Jesus said to the paralyzed man, “Get Up”, Jesus is saying the same thing to us today; it’s time to “Get Up” and get moving!
So today, let me ask you, where in life do you need to just “get up” and get moving? If you want to see God move like never before, seek Him like never before and then when He speaks, do what He says to do.
Know that there will be times when it seems as though God doesn’t hear you or that He isn’t responding to you. Keep pushing through; He hears you! There comes a point where you have to really ask yourself, “am I committed to seeking after Him whole heartedly even though I may not get an answer right away or maybe not even get the answer I was looking for?” God is looking for those who will never give-up; those who truly want Him like nothing else. Think of it this way-as women we have this longing to be pursued by a man like never before. We want to know that that guy is really into us and that he wants us and no one else. We want the phone calls, the love, the dates, the chats, etc. We want the attention; we want to know that he wants no one else but us. Friends, it’s the same way with God. He wants to know that to us, He is our everything and that we will fight for Him like never before. If you want God to speak to you and to perform miracles right before your very eyes, then seek Him like never before.
“The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still”
Exodus 14:14
Know that I say all of this in love as I too am on this journey with you. I’m not perfect and I’m learning on a day-to-day basis just how much God wants to move in each of our lives. He loves us with an everlasting love and He wants nothing more than to fight on our behalf; that’s how much He loves us.
My prayer is that you will join me in “getting up” and giving Him everything we’ve got! And then, let’s stand still and watch what He does on our behalf!
Believing in YOU!
Jen
