My 3 year journey with the World Race ends in 11 days. It’s quite surreal to even write those words. The Lord has taught me so much through this spiritual pilgrimage. Everything within me has been tested, and I mean everything. I feel like I could write (and I may) for years trying to clearly communicate what these years have included.
This morning as I was sitting with the Lord, He told me to share what He has done in me. At this same moment, I realized that I had 11 days left on the race. 11 is a pretty familiar number for WR folks, with it being 11 countries in 11 months and all. So I’m feeling led to release a blog a day for the next 11 days. Each blog will be about how God used the race to change my life.
So let’s get things started!
Day 1: How To Be Emptied
To be emptied was the first promise the Lord gave me three years ago. I was sitting in a training room, wide eyed, a stoic look on my face because I was hiding my emotions (thank God for emotional awareness!!), and full of wonder for the journey set before me. Then I heard the voice of the Lord, maybe louder than I ever had before.
“Eric, I will empty you.”
Not the most encouraging message to hear from the Lord, but I knew it was a promise from Him. And I knew it was Good because He is Good. Man, I’m glad I held onto that promise. It turned out to be one of the most beautiful gifts I have ever been given.
Without ever being emptied, you never get to see, but more importantly, test what you’ve accepted as truth in your life.
This can only happen in total surrender and humility.
Jesus talked about this honest, humble, laying down of self in Luke 18:9-14.
To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’ “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
That all sounds fine and dandy…. until we actually start being emptied.
“But Jesus I’ve believed that my whole life!!!”
“How could this be true, this person who believes that has hurt me so much!”
“Jesus if that’s true, I’ve been living a lie for a long time..”
“How?! I have even taught classes about how this is wrong!”
“Father I’m not ready to hear that, there’s too much pain here.”
To be emptied is a intimate place of invitation. It’s not just a place that the Lord invites you to; it’s also a place you have to invite the Lord into. With free will, you have authority over what’s allowed in your life, including God. In your being, Jesus only has as much authority as you give Him.
Pride and self-sufficiency have to die.
To honestly and fully experience the emptying of yourself, there has to be total surrender. Nothing can be left out.
No wound, belief, theology, understanding, accepted truth, reservation, joy, experience, memory, accepted identity, fruit, or passion can be left untouched or untested.
When you can find this place, Jesus becomes your Teacher, Pastor, and Friend like never before. You have to cling to Him to find what is Good and True! You begin to ask Him questions you’ve never asked before. You start to find Him for yourself.
The Lord has been true to His promise to empty me, and my life has been forever changed.
I’ve questioned things that I never thought that I would. I’ve wrestled with the Lord on things I thought were truth but weren’t. I’ve been solidified when the Holy Spirit showed me Truth with solid ground in my life. I’ve put to the test the things that the Lord has asked me to and sought out its fruit.
Now I stand new.
So firm in His Hand that no one else’s voice has precedence over His anymore. The wind and the waves don’t stop me from locking eyes with Him like they did before. My ears have lost their itch and only long for the Voice of The Shepherd.
Being totally and completely emptied was one of the first lessons the Father taught me through the Race. Little did I know that it was just the beginning of what He wanted to do.
Come back tomorrow for Day 2: How to Hear His Voice!
