There is so much going on that I don’t really even know how to put into words. God has really been moving here and doing amazing things in all of our hearts. God has put such an urgency in my heart to break out of this box that I’ve lived in for so long with a cookie cutter view of who God is and how He works and what He wants from me. We have all been challenged to shatter that box…to call upon the inheritance that is rightfully our as sons and daughters of the King. He has SOO much that He wants to give us and all we have to do is ask and claim it. He’s sitting there ready and willing to give, but we don’t ask because we’re scared of what it’s going to look like. God wants people healed, demons cast out, dead raised, and the captives set free, but because we’re afraid of what it’s going to look like or what people might say or how it’s going to rock our tiny little worlds, that we don’t ask for it. We don’t accept the full measure of what God longs to pour out on us. We’ve been learning that God is looking for men and women who are willing to just say, “Yes!” Here’s my life, it’s not much, Lord, but you can have it. My family, my bank account, my hopes, my dreams, my everything, Lord…Whatever you ask of me, the answer is “YES!” It’s such a different way of thinking than anything I’ve ever experienced before because it doesn’t fit in my little idea of what God does and how He works. I feel like so often I say to God, “Yes, but…” I trust Him to a point, but when I get stretched too far or things get a little uncomfortable I pull back and stop really pressing into Him and trusting where He’s taking me. All He wants from me is the willingness to try, to risk looking dumb, to get over my selfish pride and fear of what others will think, or fear of failure, and just go out there and say, “Yes” to whatever He might ask.
This afternoon Talia and Eric met a man in the street who was missing a leg, and the one leg he did have was deformed to the point where he could only sit on the ground. They sat down next to him and talked with him for a while, then they made an appointment to come back and have breakfast with him tomorrow morning. Talia told me tonight that she was going to pray about whether or not God wants this man to be healed, and if so, she’s going to pray for healing over him tomorrow. She said, “I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I’m going to try. I’m gonna throw myself out there and go for it! What else can I do?” Maybe he’ll be healed tomorrow and maybe he won’t, that’s for God to determine, but the point is SHE’S WILLING TO TRY. She’s making herself available to be used by God. And it’s ok if the man isn’t healed because it wasn’t Talia who was going to heal him anyways…it’s God. There’s NO PRESSURE on us to somehow “make it work” because we’re not the ones doing it. If it doesn’t work than fine, that’s how God wants it to be, but what if God’s will was for him to be healed and because she’s too scared of what other people will think or afraid of failing that she doesn’t even try? We can stand on the sidelines and talk about it and rationalize it, or criticize and judge, but unless we “get out of the boat” and say, “YES, LORD, USE ME!” we’ll never know the amazing things God could have done through us. The truth is, the ones who are out there doing these things are the ones who are getting the blessings and benefits from them. If I don’t want to receive the gifts that are rightfully mine, then that’s fine…God’s not going to force them on me, He’ll just give them to someone else who wants them and is saying, “Yes God, I want you to use me in whatever ways you can to expand your kingdom! It’s not about me, it’s all about YOU. YOUR kingdom come, YOUR will be done on earth as it is in heaven. I’m all yours God, I have no idea what’s going to happen, but I’m jumping in the river. I’m saying YES to whatever you ask of me.”
I know without a shadow of a doubt that we are going to see God do some crazy things this next year that I honestly never thought I’d witness with my own eyes, but I KNOW they are going to happen. I fully expect to see the sick healed, demons cast out, the dead raised and the captives set free. God is going to show Himself mighty and powerful this year and my hear is crying out, “BRING IT ON!!
