But consider how God describes Himself: all-powerful, all-knowing, omnipresent, not bound by the laws of time or space, without equal or superior to limit Him. He is totally unrestrained except by His own character. Anything He wants to do will instantly become possible. If we anger Him, only His mercy can save us from destruction. If we please Him, it’s because He enabled us to do so.

God is completely beyond our control. He is consistent, though sometimes He is unpredictable and that can scare us. And in the minds of many, God is not safe. It calls to mind this exchange from Volume 1 of The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis, where Lucy inquires about the great lion, Aslan:

“Then he isn’t safe?” said Lucy.
“Safe?” said Mr. Beaver. “Don’t you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.”

Power is always dangerous. That’s practically the definition. If a thing doesn’t carry the danger of changing what’s around it, then it’s probably not very powerful. The more powerful something is, the more dangerous it is, and we must exercise more caution in using it. Think of tools as an example: if you’re not careful, you can cut yourself when using a hand saw. But if you’re careless with a power saw, you can do far more damage in a shorter amount of time. Alternatively, a power saw could help you build a house quicker. Greater power carries greater risk.

So when we consider God, who holds all power, it’s understandable that some people are frightened by the thought. “Then He isn’t safe?” they ask. “I thought God was loving and kind. What’s this talk about danger and risk?” And the answer is just as Mr. Beaver told Lucy: of course He isn’t safe. Maybe we can fool ourselves a good portion of the time, but the truth is that there is an inherent risk in involving yourself with the Almighty.

Doesn’t sound encouraging so far, does it? But there’s more to the answer! God is not safe – but He is good. You see, what we usually mean when we ask “is it safe?” is a different question entirely. What we really want to know is, “can I control what happens?” With God the only option is to give up control. His design is to change your life, and that wouldn’t happen if you were controlling it. But God is limited by His character. When we give up trying to control what He does, that doesn’t leave Him undirected: He already knew what He was doing! Maybe it’s uncomfortable sometimes, or even frightening, but based on His character we know that God can be trusted… even though He isn’t safe.

“Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”  — John 14:27

Let’s ponder that thought; God’s peace is not likely to be experienced in a reasonable fashion, with a humanistic point of view. Proper worldly behavior is dictated to us daily by various forms of media, and airwave propaganda, all of which give off the stench of self indulgence. This broadcast, if put in the form of a book, would be titled “How to serve Self for Dummies!” After a introduction to this subconscious manipulation, we become fully trained in the art of entitlement.

It is a false sense of security when we find peace this way, an imitation if you will. After the senses are tickled and our comfort is established, we resist everything that challenges this ideal. It becomes our natural reaction and the peace that God wants to give us, a true and everlasting peace, is compromised. We are bombarded daily by questions that challenge our faith and our dream of finding peace. Be aware: the enemy is always working to compromise our relationship with God. Many times after these encounters we may question God in prayer, “Why did you do this?”, “What did I do to deserve that?”, “Can you even hear me?”, “Are you listening?”, “Can’t you see the pain and suffering in our world?” and “Why aren’t you doing anything?”

A proverbial tantrum!

These are all questions I have found myself asking at one juncture or another, and from these places my faith was tested. The peace that God wanted so desperately to give me was challenged. I have found that there are always two roads to take: one leads to understanding, the other to misunderstanding. One will leave you with true peace and the other will appear to be peace but will leave you with feelings of fear, worry, doubt, etc. One choice is made in surrender, the other in resistance.

The peace that God wants to give, that the world cannot, is only experienced through surrender.  To know God is to love Him, to love Him is to trust Him, and to trust Him is to surrender. That is always the result of trust. How we act during the times that are difficult for our flesh will determine whether we have peace or not. It’s easy to be at peace when everything is going good, but when things aren’t so good, what will I do?

I will either surrender or exact my will. Either I will resist, or I will surrender as Jesus did: “And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt” (Matthew 26:39). By His word we have understanding that He is in control. Trusting Him with control of our life is the doorway to enter into his rest. Peace be unto you!

When the patriarch Jacob realized that he was going to die soon, he gathered his sons together and blessed them — or more accurately, he foretold what each tribe of Israel would become. Judah was favored, but there is an unfamiliar phrase in the middle of his blessing:

“The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.” –Genesis 49:10

What is this Shiloh? At the time, Jacob’s descendants had not even left Egypt, much less established the tabernacle at the city of Shiloh in the country of Ephraim. There are more complicated explanations, but simply stated the phrase “until Shiloh comes” means “until the one to whom it belongs will arrive.” Jacob knew that the rule of his family truly belonged to God, and that one day He would appear to fulfill Israel’s destiny. History shows that the patriarch was right.

It’s an amazing story, but what does it have to do with us? Well, just like the aged Jacob, it behooves us to examine who the ruler of our life is. Who do I belong to? Myself? Or can I acknowledge that God created me, gave me life, and still cares about the way I live it? The Messiah has already walked the earth, but He must also walk in my heart: the rule of my life belongs to Him.

Righteous Branch

“Behold, the Lord, the Lord of hosts, shall lop the bough with terror: and the high ones of stature shall be hewn down, and the haughty shall be humbled. And he shall cut down the thickets of the forest with iron, and Lebanon shall fall by a mighty one. And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots: And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord;”  –Isaiah 10:33-11:2

Isaiah and his successor Jeremiah were sent to a spiritually dark nation of Judah. While it had fared better than the northern nation of Israel, Judah was slipping into idolatry — or perhaps worse, insincere Judaism. For some time the prophets attempted to change the spiritual climate, to no avail. Eventually the Spirit moved them to begin speaking of the restoration: the coming of the Messiah and His effect on the world. While the corrupt institutions of Judah were being swept away, the prophets said, hope still remained in God’s mercy.

“Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE Lord OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.”  –Jeremiah 23:5-6

Perhaps the greatest message of hope we can see in this passage is the symbolism of a branch. Branches are a natural part of trees. Unlike Gentile Christians, who are called “grafted branches” (Romans 11:13-24), this righteous Branch is part of the family tree of David. While there may be many corrupt branches of our life, it’s comforting to know that if we stick to God’s plan, the same righteous Branch will show up in our lives, too.

Those two words comprise the opening line of many lame jokes, so much so that when heard, the victim typically begins to groan before the second “knock” is uttered. But, being a good sport, the poor wretch selected for this joke of a joke will usually reply, “who’s there?”

As I was praying the other day, I found that God was revealing to me that the some of the things I’m afraid of or unsure about are actually part of God’s plan for a greater relationship with him.  And this is not a new thing. Here is the picture that came to my mind.  It’s hard to convey but I have tried and I hope it helps you somewhat.

Imagine yourself sitting in a shell of self protection. This shell has not been formed because you don’t desire to do something for God; although not everything is crystal clear, of course, generally it hasn’t been formed because you don’t understand what to do. But for whatever reason, it’s been programmed in your mind that its better not to do anything “abnormal” and stay in this shell, because then you can control and minimize the damage and pain if something backfires.

Maybe it’s a weird concept, but if God were to come to you in this state and ask you to do something for Him, that request might be something that would seem to be dangerous or wouldn’t make sense to you. But that’s because we can’t see past this shell of “damage control.”  The knock comes on the outside of our little shell: it’s Jesus calling us to a dimension of increased faith.

We hear the knock, but our “stinkin’ thinkin’” tells us that this voice — this knock — is just another failure waiting to happen. Jesus is shaking our little shell and our mind thinks it’s a horrific event. But breaking out of that fear will liberate us to see things we couldn’t see before. It will allow us to experience things we’ve dreamed of, but never imagined that they might be just outside the limits we’ve put on ourselves and on God.

In fact, the very thing you are afraid of might be what God is calling you to do. Does it seem scary right now?  Fear of failure, of what others think, of rejection, and of emotional pain: all of these bombard our faith, telling us to stay in the shell. “It’s safer in here.” But staying in a nest is not how you learn to fly.

I’ve found out over and over again that once you step out on His word, there’s nothing greater!  Talking an absolute stranger into being baptized is one of the most amazing things that has ever happened to me. Most recently, the “sacrifice” of time He asked me to make is turning out to be one of the sweetest parts of my day. So over this next week I would like you to ask yourself, and search your heart — is there something your afraid of? Maybe it’s a big thing, maybe not. But ask God again “is this you calling me?”

I challenge you: the next time your knees begin to knock with fear, ask “who’s there?”

This has lead to a change in my thinking. For about a month now I have been thinking of my life as a canvas. I have two general choices about who to let paint my life. The first choice is to paint my life the way that I see fit, to run my life myself, my way and generally not take anyone’s way but my own.

The other choice is to let God take control of my life. It’s a choice to let Him paint me into the picture that He has for my life, no matter where that takes me.

Now the difficult choice: do I let God begin by giving him the paintbrush? Or do I start with the paintbrush? I have been striving to let God be the painter of my life. That doesn’t mean that I am perfect and always let him paint my life. Sometimes I still get worried or anxious and try to take the paintbrush back.

But whenever I’ve done that, I’ve seen afterward that the painting has a big blotch on it where the master painter has to come fix things through repentance and His forgiveness. He has to set my painting back to the way that He planned it to be.

I want to let God direct my life. I want Him to paint my life into the beautiful masterpiece that He has for me. How has God helped you to give Him the paintbrush of your life? Share your thoughts in the comments.

You have potential energy stored in you. Imagine that you were caught on fire. The potential energy will be consumed . . . but what if that fire was the Holy Spirit? What if the fire consumed you but still burned within, leaving as the only trace of who your former self a pile of dust and ashes. Imagine that when you were gone all there was left to burn was God’s desires, intentions, plans, and purposes for your life. Imagine what that fire could do.

This is how I want to live my life, allowing God to have complete control and reign in my life. I want to be consumed, never to be the same. In the same way that a physical object can be consumed by fire, our spirits can catch fire from the Holy Spirit.

How do you catch the fire? Share your story in the comments!