“The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness , but is long suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” 2nd Peter 3:9 (NKJV).
Have you ever felt anxious to do something? Like if you don’t act in this very moment, an opportunity will pass you by? Have you ever felt that if you aren’t constantly doing something, you’re doing nothing? Are you eager to answer the call… whatever the call may be and wherever the call may take you? That is what we are supposed to do right? Be ready to go? Drop everything and follow, no questions asked right? Well my friends, proceed with caution because that is not always the case. But Christ is calling you to save the world right? You must go! You must give it your all! You must do all of the things! But what happens when the excitement and the adrenaline where off? Where are you then? Do you still know what you left everything to go do? Do you remember why you made this decision in the first place?
Did you know that the devil knows scripture? Did you know he will use it against you to play on your weaknesses? He will quote it to you, twisting and distorting its meaning in your ears. He will try and mimic God’s voice, and he will succeed if you let him. He comes to kill, steal and destroy. He wants to take the calling God has on your life by all means possible, and he will do so by “calling” you to do what God has called you to do, but he’ll push you to do at his pace, not His pace. The devil rushes you. Pushes you to make decisions in the moment. He creates the illusion that this opportunity will pass you by if you don’t act now. He tries to rush you, so you don’t spend time with God and pray about the decision in front of you, and how it could impact your life.
The Webster’s dictionary defines reaction as “an action performed or a feeling experienced in response to a situation or event.” Take a second to really look at that definition. ReACTION… it is an ACTION or FEELING in response to a situation or event. Are we supposed to make decisions based on feelings? What are feelings really? Feelings are of the flesh. Feelings are fleeting. Feelings are circumstantial. Feelings are misleading. Feelings are in the moment. Feelings are temporary. Feelings don’t come to the grave with you. Now all this is not to say that we need to all be walking around without feelings, or we should pretend we don’t have them or push them down. Feelings are important, and they have been given to us by God. My question is are we going to react to our feelings or are we going to respond to our feelings? If you know me, you know that I am a reactor. I am the one who runs to the action, tries to fix everything, does things without thinking them through….do first think later right? This is something that God has really been dealing with me on. I can hear his gentle whisper: “Tori, I want you to respond to my calling for you, not react.” A response is well thought out to me. When I think of a response I think of something that requires thought, prayer and mediation. Responding also requires action… but all in good time. All in His time.
Remember earlier when I said that the devil uses scripture against you? That he knows it, and he can quote it? Well he did just that with me with this verse: “For as the body without spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead.” James 2:26. Paraphrasing, this verse basically says faith without works is dead right? I allowed the devil to distort that verse in my mind. I felt that if I wasn’t DOING something I wasn’t being faithful. This resulted in me doing to much. Biting off more than I could chew. I felt the need to make decisions in the moment, jump when asked to jump, and be ready to make any kind of changes necessary if needed. Not all of these things are bad, but I was jumping and doing because the world was telling me to jump, not God. I was doing what I thought people expected me to do… I was trying to meet expectations that I put on myself. I began to feel anxious, confused and directionless. I began to question my why. Then, in the way He always does, He came to me. “Do I make you anxious?” No. “Am I a God that rushes you?” No. “Tori, waiting is working.” Suddenly that verse had new meaning. It does not mean do nothing… it just means not yet. Waiting in quiet, calm faith is working. Waiting without expectations is working. Have any of you tried to wait for something that you want right now? Think about your last Amazon order… you wanted it as soon as you pressed the “order now” button. You were envisioning a drone dropping it off at your front door right? All kidding aside… WAITING IS WORKING!! Especially in this day in age where instant gratification is everything. I think it is harder to wait for something to come to fruition than making it happen. Waiting keeps us moving at His pace. When we WAIT, He opens doors no man can close. When we wait, all that we were waiting for is perfect… even if it wasn’t what we expected it to be.
Isaiah 64:8 says “But now, O Lord, You are our Father. We are the clay and You our potter; and all we are the work of Your hand.” Molding takes time. Molding only comes with surrender. Without surrender we are not pliable; without surrender we are hard. God does not mold us unless we allow Him to. With surrender comes humility. We need to let go of the idea that we have it all figured out. We need surrender our feelings and respond to Him; not react to our feelings. Matthew 23:12 says “and whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbled himself will be exalted.” Humble yourself to the Lord. Humble yourself to those around you… because you don’t have it under control… and you don’t have it all figured out. You don’t have to do everything…. He in you does. He has it under control, and He has figured all of it out for you… you just have to let Him in.
Hope Restored 