You met a man who celebrated God with you, and that’ s nice. But what does this have to do with me?”
A whole lot. If you spend your whole life grasping for happy in the future, you’ ll end up missing God’ s transformation in the present. You’ ll run after something but you’ ll never catch it. I know this to be true because I have lived this way. And one thing I have come to terms with is that if we want the Spirit’ s power to crush our momentary fear, the only place that will happen is in the here and now.
Will we believe God can change us right here, or will we continue to pull on a wishbone and hope our best dreams come true?
I know, my collaborators in fear, that many of you are just like me. And in this moment, right here, your excitement is starting to wither. Why? Because you’ ve hardly lived in the moment and you feel horrible about that. Let me tell you something: God does not point His finger at you. He doesn’ t give you demerits. He doesn’ t send you to your room without dinner. He speaks life. Let’ s allow it to soak into us and be with Him in this very moment:
Child, I am with you. I will strengthen and help you; I will uphold you( Isa. 41:10). You can feel afraid, but know this: I will sustain you no matter what— I will not let you fall( Ps. 55:22). Still feel anxious? Pray. Petition.
46 SMG Solutions
Offer thanksgiving. And let My peace waterfall on you( Phil. 4:6 – 7). I give you My peace; don’ t you believe? It is peace I leave and peace I give, not like this mad world offers but as only I can— so don’ t even fuss with all that madness( John 14:27). Turn your shortness of breath into deep breaths, for you have not been given a spirit of fear but of power and love and a sound mind( 2 Tim. 1:7). You don’ t have to fear the intensity of love; you see, My perfect love casts out fear( 1 John 4:18). My consolation is what will bring joy( Ps. 94:19). Come, get to know Me. Come, get to see how much I care about your crossed arms, your shaking hands, your jitters, and your allover-cold sweats. I see it all, and guess what, My child: there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus( Rom. 8:1). So pull up a chair and let Me do what I do best: minister to your heart murmurs.
I don’ t want to let these words fly by unnoticed. I don’ t want to stay the same. Do you?
Part of beating what you always do is realizing what it is. I know that I am prone to stay in the status quo, like a teenager with her head stuck in her smartphone, both avoiding and dissing instruction.
Just thinking of this also makes me think of my son. Sometimes I have to tell him to put on his listening ears.
Normally this happens when I am on the verge of going berserk, and after I have repeated myself for the fourth, fifth, or sixth time— and my insides are about to spill rage all over the kitchen floor. It is my last-ditch effort that says, This is the moment when you absolutely must listen. It is the moment when everything is on the line if he doesn’ t hear me. It is both my way to ensure things don’ t fly over his head and to really reach deep into his heart.
With this in mind, I wonder: Will we put on our listening ears to hear God?
Father God, we don’ t want to miss You anymore. Will You help us to hear the call to be brave? We believe, by faith, in Your power to teach us, to lead us, and to help us venture to the heights we are deathly afraid of. Illuminate these paths by the current of Your Spirit. But most of all, give us eyes to see and ears to hear through the entirety of this book. Amen.
No One Said It’ s Easy
When I look at myself, I see a girl who wants to be brave but isn’ t so certain she actually can be. I love all those generic affirmation memes online— Go, woman, go! and Nothing can stop you! and You are better than yourself. Half of me gravitates to them, wishing they were true, but after reading a hundred and one of them, I have never seen them