When we face a place of great change, questions surface from deep within our hearts such as: “Why am I alive? What do You want to do with my life? What do I do now?”
Our purpose is to live and move and have our being in Jesus (Acts 17:28), for here we experience the deep sustaining satisfaction of His purpose while we are transformed into His image. Everything else is distraction if our efforts are not birthed from communion with Him. We can run around in our own self-effort, seeking to make this way or that and then say, “I’ll do this as unto You, so please bless this new direction, new job, new relationship, new lifestyle.”
Prayer: You, oh Lord, do not lead us in such fevered directional changes. If we move out of time with You we have missed Your way. If You did not whisper purpose into our spirits then our actions are wood, hay, and stubble of our own making (1 Corinthians 3:12). Oh let our lives be gold, silver, and precious stone – work birthed from the intimate place with Thee.
Intimacy with the Almighty is a pivotal step in determining His purpose for us in each season of our lives.
Continuing in this communion with the Almighty will also help us avoid falling victim to the pitfall of interpreting our next steps based on the look of circumstances. Let us avoid the earthly wisdom of looking at circumstance to determine the way, but look to His heart and say, “What do you desire to bring forth in this?” Then ours is to proclaim it and call those things that aren’t into being, for life and death is in the power of the tongue (Proverbs 18:21). Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1). This is walking on the heights – not being limited by what circumstance reveals or even what our own imaginations can contrive, but coming to God and reasoning together of what He desires to do at such a time as this. He may guide us to stand or move – either way – we walk with Him so our hearts can rest securely and not fear.
The greatest solution the disciples could imagine for meeting the hunger needs of the crowds gathered around was to send them away to villages to get something to eat – that is man’s natural reasoning – what can we do, what is possible in our own strength and reasoning? But God had a different solution, an impossible solution for feeding those who sought Him. It went beyond man’s reasoning and all He asked was for a willing heart to offer all the resources in his possession, in this case it was a lunch packed for a boy. Oh let us offer every area of our lives such as those loaves and fish to Him and see what He will do.
Oh, how He will amaze us with a new way made, a way unseen and imagined.
Oh, how He delights to lead us in this higher way. Let us not simply rely on logic to try to manipulate a way through tight spots or to find our life’s purpose and work. Rather, let us meet with the Almighty and from this continual communion determine the way He wants us to take, a way that will draw all men unto Him, a way that will leave us never the same, a way that goes beyond all that we can ask or think, a way that will bring Him glory.
Let all of our efforts and choices be birthed from communion in His presence, otherwise we risk pursuing feverish efforts to find identity or feel self-important as we busy about. Let us find our footing on the path He would have us take, on the steps He has ordered for us, for He makes our steps secure (Psalm 37:23). Let us pour out from the abundance of fellowship with Him for here we will not grow weary but will run, we will not grow faint but continue to walk, we will mount up with wings as eagles (Isaiah 40:31) and go higher and further than we could have in our limited self-efforts.
Prayer: You are the author and perfecter of our faith. You are the beginning and end. You make our steps secure.
Oh Beloved, just five minutes in Your presence changes everything, it refreshes, it renews, it equips. It lifts our eyes beyond what we can see and gives us Your perspective. Oh Delight of delights, we long for Thee. I have found that You are everything.
Why do you fear? Do you think I would not lead you on? How you struggle and kick against the pricks, My love. Do not fret over your relationships. Do not fret over money or vocation, for are these not all just tools to offer to me, are these not just modes through which you can serve Me in the purpose I whisper in your heart. These are not your identity.
You become unraveled when you seek a way different from what I’ve orchestrated, when you seek to live outside the boundary lines I’ve set for you. “The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places” (Psalm 16:6). Submit your thoughts to Me, hold them captive and you will not be confused. Every thought is a seed that grows and when the stalks and leaves become overgrown you cannot see your way and you lose your footing. The branches crowd your mind with too many options that are not of My making.
Your satisfaction comes from Me, not man. Your pleasure comes from doing that which is birthed from our communion, our fellowship, our meeting. You work and feel My delight, and thus your heart is gladdened. The works of your hands and results are not gall mixed with hell fire, but the fruit is pace and abundance. Work for Me, work out of that meeting place with Me and you will never grow tired or weary. You will never be fatigued by man as long as you stay connected to Me. I drew away to pray to the father, I set this as an example. Always be in prayer, but then come to Me alone and meet with Me, for here is your power, productivity, illumination.
Psalm 37:23-24
“The Lord makes firm the steps of the one who delights in Him; though he may stumble, he will not fall, for the Lord upholds him with his hand.”
Matthew 14:16-19
“When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place. Hearing of this, the crowds followed him on foot from the towns. When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick. As evening approached, the disciples came to him and said, ‘This is a remote place, and it’s already getting late. Send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food.’ Jesus replied, ‘They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.’ ‘We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish,’ they answered. ‘Bring them here to me,’ he said. And he directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. The number of those who ate was about five thousand men, besides women and children.”
YouTube Video: The Glory of Christ | Hagan Anderson