The Lord has been talking to me about making some room for Him lately. It’s funny because that’s one of the many things we don’t actually ever have here on the World Race.
When He first spoke those words to me, I was excited. I want God to have the space to be who I say He is in my life, I want to be someone He can use and have my life set in a way that is flexible for Him to do so. But then it sank in… Make. Room… Ahh
crap, that’s an action verb.
Life on the race usually means minimal (like no) room and always (always) shared spaces so if your teammate moves into your shared space, you need to make room for her things. Like when God asked me to make room for Him in my life, I said yes obviously, I am a Christian, people, that’s what we do. So I obviously said yes to my teammate but that doesn’t mean anything to her unless I actually get up and DO the moving of my things to make room for her.
I believe the Lord takes over the spaces you let Him have. He will maybe ask for areas of your life or make you aware of places that need Him, but He won’t show up and take spaces without you letting Him. Like my teammate who should have just moved my crap like I told her to, but she didn’t, she was waiting for me. She chose to honor my space and let me do with it what I wanted… She’s like God in that.
Like I said, making room for God sounds like something I want, but when it comes down to it: I have to be the one to MOVE MY CRAP OUT OF THE WAY. Sometimes its just a few small items or lately, it has seemed to be large items that have been so cemented into my life and been there so long that I didn’t know they weren’t there in the first place.
Many times, I focus more on those things that I am moving rather than the actual ROOM I AM MAKING for God. When I am fasting food, its about the food I am choosing not to eat. If its a dreaded wifi fast, its about all the “fun” I now do not know that people are having without me. But as of late, I have been challenged to make room in other areas of my life.
If I am gonna do this, I want to do it well, do it how God intended. So I decided to look at the Bible and see it through the lens of people making room for God. It didn’t take me long, I feel like every last story showed someone making room in their lives to let God be God.
#1. Mary (Jesus’ Mama)
She was a young girl who had just found out she had immaculately conceived with the Savior of the world. Yikes, that had to be a game changer, huh?… What if she wanted to go to art school or be a teacher or her dream was to be a wife and mother but now this God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob was asking her to make room for a Child named Jesus. She didn’t even get to name Him! Mary chose to make room for Jesus knowing it could cause her to be an outcast due to the culture of being pregnant with no husband. She made room in her FUTURE, her HOPES, DREAMS as God asked and it resulted in Salvation being made available for all mankind. Sounds like that trade was worth it, Mary.
#2. The Disciples:
These men left professions, homes and families because Jesus asked them to make room for Him. They probably had pensions, mortgages and were saving up for the new Galilee Sea Cruiser 2000. But they said yes when He asked and then followed Him, they action-verbed their way out of their own plan for PROVISION and made room for Jesus. Instead of more time on a fishing boat, they got the very unique opportunity to walk beside and know the heart of the smartest, kindest, most wonderful Person ever to walk this earth. Wow… Dibs on that upgrade.
#3. Zacchaeus in Luke 19:
Zacchaeus was a tax collector during Jesus’ time. To say he wasn’t well liked would be an understatement. He stole from people, everyone knew it and there was nothing they could do about it. He laughed at all the little people while he sat on his porch drinking sweet tea and marveling at his new BMW. But when He was noticed by Jesus, it was all he could do but make room for Him in his HOME amongst all of his POSSESSIONS.
Instead of continuing like all the other tax collectors and getting more and more, he made room and it was there where greed changed to generosity and restoration truly took place. As Michael Scott would say, “win, win, win.”
#4. The men in Luke 5 who lowered their friend through the roof to meet Jesus:
It was probably a Saturday with a Honey-Do list, soccer practice with the kids and maybe a run to Bed Bath & Beyond if they had time. But they chose to make room for Jesus and take a risk on this Guy with all the rumors. They texted each other and made plans to get their friend who happened to be paralyzed and break through a stranger’s roof to just see if anything would happen. They made room with their TIME and Jesus brought healing and (bonus!) a lesson to the Pharisees about His authority on this earth. Sounds like a good little Saturday to me.
If I make room for God and give up little things (that I thought were important to me) like time, money, my unknown future, space in my home, possessions, I could get a future greater than I could imagine, intimacy with my Savior, healing, or restoration? um, yes please.
Like I read in the Bible examples: Where you make room isn’t always what you get back and it rarely ONLY affects you. SELAH (pause and calmly think about) that for a while…
John 3:30
He must increase, but I must decrease. [He must grow more prominent; I must grow less so.]
So like making room in my space for my teammate means work on my part, it also means pillow talk, wonderful giggle sessions (yes I am an adult..psssh), prayer, support and a great set of memories… I am in.
Are you? (No I am not asking you to move in, we don’t have any room)
p.s. My teammates are the some of the most dedicated, driven, loving people I know. Thanks to you I am fully funded and honored you chose to send me with your finances. But several of my team and squad are still needing funds to be here on the field. Please if you are not going, be sending and praying. You can find them in the TEAM: Rooted in Love or under I-Squad. Thank you all!
