I just love multiple part blog posts!
It makes me feel like I have this million-person readership obsessively refreshing their browser windows waiting for the rest of the story. But wait, that's someone else's life.
It makes me feel like I have this million-person readership obsessively refreshing their browser windows waiting for the rest of the story. But wait, that's someone else's life.
The verses below are from Matthew 7, and Francis talks about them some in Forgotten God. I’m sure many of you are familiar with them, but do yourself a favor and re-read.
"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. "Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!"
Am I saying that the Lord will miraculously give me McDreamy/McGodly if I pray hard enough before bed? Ha…that’s almost funny. But...if we pray toward things that the Lord has promised us anyway (not a dream Porsche, dream husband, or dream job…but peace, joy, wisdom etc.) then He'd love nothing more than to give those things to us just because He has already promised them to us. For example, James 1:5: “But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.”
I've learned heaps and bounds this past month or so about our lives in Christ. I've been clinging to verses that point out who we are as his children...and so many of those talk about being fearless. For most of my life, I've let my fears be my guide, as well as my protector. I don't cry out to God in any and every situation, but rather I sit back in my panic and indulge myself in every fearful "what if" that enters my head.
I'm trying to retrain my brain now. Before fear takes over and floods my thoughts, I want my first reaction to be, "God is here....and He knows all about this already!"
Oswald Chambers said this in My Utmost for His Highest: "Prayer is not only asking, but is an attitude of the mind which produces the atmosphere in which asking is perfectly natural. “Ask, and it will be given to you . . .”
So all of this was happening when I decided to officially and finally quit my job a few weeks ago. I got sick of the complacency and decided I wanted to place myself in positions where I would be more forced to rely solely on God. Sadly, Santa Barbara has not been that place for me. But this next step is going to force me to rely immensely more on the Holy Spirit's guidance than I ever have. Which I'm SO excited about...and yes, slightly petrified.
See? Told you it wasn't all just about a boy...
1 comments:
There is so much wisdom in this post. It spews ‘faith thinking’ like a johnny pump with a busted gate valve.
For some reason, God does want us to ask him for guidance instead of just assuming He will guide. Keep on asking and keep on following. My guess is, He's probably got more than a few beautiful situation possibilities waiting out there for you.
Knock and the door will be opened to you.
(…“heaps and bounds”—very cool).
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