Originally published Saturday, 28 October 2017.
Today is a day I wish never existed. It’s one of those days where it seems like all the stops have been pulled out and everything within you wants to shake your fists at very same God whom you long to adore.
Ever been there? Would you admit it?
Part of me clings desperately to hope, while another part wages war with the way things aren’t how I want them to be. I want to tell God I’ve prayed enough, believed enough, and had enough faith for him to act in the way I expect.
This kind of day is not the first for me, nor will it be the last. If you’ve have had one of these kind of days you know how they can knock you off your feet and make you think your foundation has crumbled.
If your foundation is the rock of Christ, it hasn’t.
If it is shifting sand, it was bound to give way eventually anyway.
When we try to stand firm on the remnants of all the ways we’ve tried to do things on our own, we’ll find ourselves collapsing. We become tossed to and fro and drown in the storms of life.
When we let those remnants of self and pride wash away with the tide, we find the solid rock beneath our feet. It is there for us to stand on and it’s centered in the eye.
That’s where I am today. Asking God to let the sand wash out while steadying my feet firmly in Him. I’m thankful to have many choices, because living out of a belief that you don’t have any choices limits you from seeing the plentiful fruit just waiting to burst forth.
In wondering what choices to focus on for today, I keep coming back to this: the Holy Spirit.
Choose the Holy Spirit.
Because the Holy Spirit is how God’s manifest power, wisdom, comfort, and courage can be found in each believer. The Holy Spirit was left by Jesus to be our helper.
{Read John 14 & 15; especially John 14: 16,17,26 & John 15:26}
The Holy Spirit equips us, encourages us, and edifies us. His presence in our lives enables us to find that solid rock, to stand firm on it, and to see that the sun will indeed shine again.
Have you put your life in God’s hands? Have you turned away from the sin which breaks fellowship with God? Do you trust Him?
If so, as a Christ follower you’ve chosen to follow Christ and his ways. Following isn’t always easy and sometimes it’s downright gut wrenching.
Anytime self gets in the way of the Holy Spirit working, self takes a beating. When we choose to let the Holy Spirit accomplish his work in us, self gets a reshaping. It’s painful too, but the end result is far more beautiful and incredibly powerful.
Reshaped spirit’s display more of the image of God in greater fullness and beauty. They experience more of the peace, joy, and freedom God has for us.
I want more and more. For me and for you. The pain of being pruned now is worth the bountiful fruit to come.
Many of you are walking through painful circumstances right now. Many are wondering how to get through today, tomorrow, and the years to come. Many are wondering how to make a decision when all your visible paths seems dark and treacherous.
Invite the Spirit to help you. Ask the Spirit to guide you. Don’t expect a mystical guiding in the way portrayed in media, in fact, don’t place expectations at all on what the Spirit can, should, or will do. God does not acquiesce to our assertions.
Invite.
Wait.
Trust.
Ask.
Respond to the nudge.
Those nudges sometimes feel like a little prick of discomfort which we want to ignore. Choose today to pay attention. Ask what it is there for. Seek God’s Word today and find out if what you’re sensing is in line with the truth of who God is and how he works.
I can’t tell you what the Holy Spirit wants to say to you today, but I can tell you the Spirit is present. I can tell you that God has something for you in this challenging time and the outcome is better than you can imagine, as long as you choose to let the holy, perfecting work of the Holy Spirit happen deep within your heart.
Oh friends, I can’ help but write with passion and vigor. I can’ help but plea for the hearts of all who call themselves Christians – allow the hard work to happen. What if we all did? What change might we see in the world around us?!
So many of us are longing. We are desperate for answers and solutions. Yet, we ignore the nudges in our souls day after day. We let our hearts grow hard and refuse to leave room for God’s presence, even though we keep asking for it.
We can’t continue this way. The only way to see ourselves freed from our areas of stuckness is to choose the way of God and the work of the Holy Spirit, time and time again.
You can do this.
The Holy Spirit will never be defeated and He is with you.
If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. John 14: 15-18
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