I think this question is (or should be) on the hearts and minds of every engaged Christian in this hour. God’s ways are not our ways, and His thoughts are not our thoughts, but He is willing to reveal them to us. However, He doesn’t do so casually. God is not a gossip, or someone who needs to “get his words in” daily! He speaks to those who turn their ear and heart toward Him, whispering secrets, mysteries, and insights.
He does not lay out the entire plan for us. If He did, we would “take the plan and run with it”! We would do it our way and say it was His way! We are human and certainly we will always try to figure things out as we struggle to comprehend what we are experiencing and witnessing around us. With each step, as we realize that we cannot figure things out, we yield ourselves and thoughts to the Lord. “Have your way, Lord. Have your way”!
This is a time of required faith in ways that perhaps are extremely unfamiliar to us. They are stretching those who will allow them to … way out of the box! I am finding myself desiring to yield to the Lord at a deeper level as I realize that none of our natural plans have gone the way we would have liked. In doing so, I am not willing to simply give up what I believe in my heart to be God. What I am doing is taking the shift of my focus off a particular outcome, and asking the Lord to speak to me that I might know how to stand.
I believe that one of the ways we get into trouble is by trying to “say what God is saying”. This is our natural process of trying to make sense out of things that, quite frankly, make no sense to our natural minds or to what we see around us! We search around us and within us to discover, “What is God Saying”? In other words, “how do we make sense of this”? Where we get into trouble, is when we draw conclusions that perhaps are not at all what God is saying! When we start being the “press secretary” for the Holy Spirit by explaining that “it’s this way or that way”, we enter into the shifting winds of tempest and feel ourselves being tossed to and fro. There’s no condemnation, for it is the human way. We were given a brain to think, to formulate decisions and opinions. It’s when we cross the line and draw a natural conclusion to “let God off the hook” for what we thought He was saying. Of course there is a time and place for correction of what we’ve spoken or believed that were not exactly as we thought they were, but that is not the subject we are on.
I am saying all this, to say … I have been asking the Lord, “How do I believe in this moment? Lord, what are you saying and doing? How do you want me to align my stance in order to be accurately hearing You? Holy Spirit, there is a deeper level of choice being presented to your people in this hour. How do I (we) discern the proper positioning of our faith?” I know what I feel and believe TRUE in my heart, but I am seeking clarity as I grasp this faith-instilling choice I see and hear being issued. I’m not going to call them sides, but rather, levels of alignment that we are being called into.
I am seeing that the shift I am being called to make is not by way of choosing a side, but rather a LEVEL. How high, how deep, how wide can I expand my own understanding as I yield and allow God to express and relate His ways concerning this current issue of my faith? It is not my job to say, “What the Lord is really saying is …”! No! It is my job to continue allowing my spirit to yield to God, and to quiet my mind, will, and emotions that have wanted to see a certain outcome.
I continue to believe that God will do what He has said He will do. My shift, is that I do not in any way comprehend how, when, or with what expression He will do it. I do not choose to buckle under the pressure of having to conform to what the world, or even God’s people of certain stances, say are the right way. I am seeking to go deeper and higher into God’s heart as I yield my will to His. Standing firm and steadfast in the words He has spoken, and holding my palms open as to exactly how that will look.
I believe that if God had answered our prayers in the way we “saw” them being answered, we would not have been brought into these levels of opportunity of deeply-rooted faith. Roots planted by the streams, yielding fruit in their season, and relying upon the tree or vine as our source.
In some ways, I am leaving this a bit vague, as I do not want to direct what you think or how you choose, as to the levels of faith you enter into with the Holy Spirit concerning our election, our nation, the outpouring of the Spirit of God, and how these manifestations will be framed by the Lord. This is a season to draw deeply upon the Lord and enter into your stance based upon that, and not man’s interpretation of what we are seeing play out around us. It’s easy to say, we believe God, and at the same time, to frame His display by our own limitations.
There are many videos, articles, and opinions available, with differing views of what God said, or what God meant by what He said. Or, how God changed His response based upon what we did or did not do, but we must let it come down to this … “What is the Holy Spirit saying to each of us deep within our spirit”? How can we yield more deeply to Him when we are tempted to turn to the right or to the left? (Let me clarify that by saying right or left, I am not speaking of political parties or ideologies, I am speaking only of the stability of the stand we choose to take).
When you turn to the right or turn to the left,
you will hear his voice behind you to guide you, saying,
“This is the right path; follow it.” Isaiah 30;21-22
I am challenging you, along with myself, to STAND, yield to the Holy Spirit, and to choose what level of faith we are ready to hold onto. We must find ‘the wind of the Spirit’ and understand that it doesn’t happen by licking our finger, putting it up in the air, and seeing (feeling) what the atmospheric temperature reads. It matters what the internal thermostat of the Spirit of God is speaking deep within our beings where He resides and makes available to us the deep things of Christ.
Last night I awakened to the Holy Spirit whispering the following words to me, in response to the questions I have been asking Him about how to position myself in the stance I continue to take. I only want to hear from heaven, and stand strong in my faith, not necessarily my opinions.
“Every battle requires it’s own strategy. You cannot fight the same every time or the enemy will know exactly what you are going to do next. Situations are different, and so, you must devise your plan while taking into account what must be accomplished. Don’t be afraid, just wait, stay strong, keep your faith and let my plan unfold”. I was then impressed with Isaiah 45. 4:45 am, Feb 11, 2021. (Interesting note on the time … Isaiah 45 is entitled, “God’s Shepherd, Cyrus”
I will close with this … “The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.”’ Numbers 6:24-26.
May you find peace within the hiding place of the Holy Spirit who is our peace, who is our wisdom, who is our counselor, and at the same time have the courage to hear His voice as you choose levels of faith to stand with heaven! God said to me, I repeat … “Don’t be afraid, just wait, stay strong, keep your faith, and let my plan unfold”.
As for me, I will stand strong, wait upon the Lord, and not be tossed about by other people’s levels of faith or expressions of faith. God bless you, my friends!
