Would You Follow?
Four hours of road travel gives you time to think. That’s the opportunity I had recently on a weekend trip. On the way back home, God spoke to me. He asked if I would be willing to leave that which I find comfortable and familiar to pursue His will for my life. That question really got me thinking. Would I trade the comfort and atmosphere that I’ve been accustomed to for a spiritual climate that may not be the same? One that may take more effort to break through?
This idea is kind of like what I’d imagine farming is like. A farmer spends enormous amounts of time preparing a single field. After all that time you wouldn’t want to move onto another field that’s not your own. It would be different and strange. You would lose the experience and knowledge that you had gathered about farming at home and, although the principles would remain the same, many of the ways in which they were applied would be different. It may even be a strange and foreign environment in which you feel unprepared.
Spiritual opportunities mirror this experience. We may be prepared in one place, but have to learn to apply those tools and procedures in a completely different field. Thank God that we don’t have to start over completely when transplanting and following his will. God can give us ability beyond our experience. The comfortable field that we’ve grown accustomed to during training becomes something entirely different, no longer the place where we know everyone and how they will react to what we’ve said. “Home” becomes a strange environment where we must learn to work all over again.
It doesn’t just happen when one moves on from a geographical location, crossing political boundaries. It may happen (as it did to me) when you move to a new job or a new school — any place where you are not used to operating. The wonderful thing is that through all of these circumstances and situations God is with us and will lead us and guide us through every field our lives may pass through. The question still remains: will we be willing, wherever we are and whichever way we were going, to go along when God asks us to follow Him?
quote:The wonderful thing is that through all of these circumstances and situations God is with us and will lead us and guide us through every field our lives may pass through.
That is awesome. God is with us through those situations.
Psalm 71:21
Thou shalt increase my greatness, and comfort me on every side.
It is through Him, we move and breathe and have our being….there is nothing to compare it to, just a stong desire to know Him in spirit and in truth. The only question a Christian does not have to answer is: Am I spirit-led? You will know and He will be your comfort no matter where you are, in all circumstances and you will have confidance in Him and not in ourselves.
Great article…Reminds me of the message Bishop Hanson preached this weekend… “Work with me here”.
It reminds me of that song: Lead me Lord, I will follow! Such a great reminder and challenge. We must make the decision to follow Him, risking everything that is comfortable and that we hold dear. But it reminds me of a quote: “He is no fool who gives that which he cannot keep for that which he cannot lose.” God’s promises are true and everlasting. His reward is worth it; following His bidding is more important than our qualms or fears. Great article Josh!
“We may be prepared in one place, but have to learn to apply those tools and procedures in a completely different field.”
Wow. This is definitely encouraging. It really makes me to stop and think “what is God preparing me for?” The Bible says “But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.” I Cor 2:9
That is the question. The more people that make the right choice, the more God has to use in His great end time harvest. Trusting Him feels different when you are out of your comfort zone.