Guess who’s back? Back again, Nushie’s back tell your friends, okay I’ll stop before I completely lose all of you and I haven’t even got to the real stuff yet. I know it’s been a month and a half since my last post and most of you have probably came to the conclusion that I’ve given up on yet another blog but to be honest sometimes the spirit moves and sometimes it doesn’t I’ve started on a couple of different posts but haven’t felt strong enough to share it with you. But after digging deeper this Sunday the Spirit decided to smack me in the face with a little bit of a revelation, this post is about being obedient to God and the works of the Spirit.
How can one define obedience in the Christian world? We
refer to it as the little voice inside our head, the gut feeling, basically our
conscious that tells us what choices to make and which road to take. God doesn’t
only speak to us through our conscious but through signs, the word and in
prayer. I can honestly say that in the past month I have been numb to His word,
I still had my quiet time and prayed every now and then but my mind was so
focused on things of the flesh, wrapped up in my daily routine that the light
that once shined so brightly started to dim, I focused on my everyday instead
of my one day. I felt as if the Spirit left me and that my selfishness and lack
of effort in connecting with God on a deeper level completely pulled me away
from Him and no matter how much I tried to make the fire burn again, it was
working. But if I take a step back and look at the bigger picture, God was
always there, He has always been there, He spoke to me through the word
numerous times, but I was too stubborn to listen, blinded by what I wanted
instead of what I needed.
This is what we do, in our jobs, our decisions, our
friendships, our relationships, when God tells us to take a right, we take a
left because we think it’s the right way. We justify why we think going left is
the best option, we manipulate the situation to make it appear as if it’s God’s
will and we try and put His purpose in our
decisions. And when things don’t work the way we planned we lift our heads up and ask God “Why did this happen to
me?” and I can just imagine God saying “I told you so, I know what’s best for
you and my plans are far greater than the plans you have for yourself” yes, I did just adapted that from Jeremiah.
One thing I can suggest is to be on the lookout for those signs and if something in your heart is telling you that “this
job”, “this new friendship” “this decision” is not right for you and you know
that it will only end up with you being disappointed, it’s probably the Spirit prompting
you to make a u-turn and get back on track. If it’s not according to His will,
then we should be willing to make a decision to walk away from the things we
want because it isn’t necessarily the things He wants for us. Remember the
devil comes like a thief in the night trying to steal your joy and happiness,
and by you doing life your way you make it so much easier for him to shoot you
down with fear, rejection, loss, anger, resentment basically anything that separates
you from your mission, calling and purpose that God has set out for you.
On the way back from Langebaan two weekends ago the Spirit spoke to me, I
took out my iPhone and jotted it down and I feel it’s important that I share it
with you. As Christians we like to focus on how Jesus died on the cross for our
sins, we focus on the sacrificial love that is Christ, but we often disregard
the fact that the real miracle occurred 3 days later when Christ rose from the
dead. He defeated death. His disciples believed He was gone for good, some lost
faith and others doubted His resurrection. We are often so focused on what we
have lost, so focused on the things that don’t go the way we hoped or planned forgetting
that somewhere, somehow God is already at work, pre-planning our victory,
restoring our loss, reviving our spirit and when we are presented with the
miracle we need to be bold enough and confident enough to step out onto the
waters in Faith knowing that we can’t chose our destiny when our destiny was already
chosen for us by the creator, the King of Kings, the alpha, the omega, the
beginning and the end. (Sorry thought I would try be a pastor there, it sounds
so much better when they say it...)
Be obedient to God’s will and I can assure you that favour
will follow your every step, invest time in speaking to God, He will respond,
and put God at the center of your world, if you follow the light you will never
truly be lost.
