Don’t Go Chasing Miracles….If you’re not willing to be
obedient!
What if you were called to an uncomfortable situation where
all eyes were on you, and you needed to give a message from the Lord? What
would you do?
What if the only way to see the miracles that Jesus promised
in healing required you to be obedient to the point of doing something that would
make you look crazy to the world? What would you do?
What if He asked you to do that over and over and over
again, to train your obedience, to train your faith, to teach you both? What
would you do?
I am not a person that wants attention on me, I do anything
to divert attention away from me.
If you’re like me, these questions should make you cringe and hope that
you would never get yourself into these situations.
I’ve been recently stirred up by the same God that created
me and gave me the personalities of not wanting to be in the forefront of any
situation. I had always taken my
place in the “back seat” and hoped that someone else would step up in
situations above. I was more than
okay with that.
But I have always wondered, and it is intensifying now more
than ever, why I haven’t encountered more of God’s miracles. I’ve seen God’s
small miracles, I want to start chasing after the big ones, because my God is a
BIG God that perfoms BIG miracles. So why have I not seen these big miracles? Could it be
because each time God gives me an opportunity to start building me to see
bigger and bigger miracles, I stay put in my “back seat” support role and wait
for someone else to take the plunge, when really it’s because I don’t want the
attention on myself?
I recently pondered on this: Jesus was a RADICAL, everywhere
he went he attracted attention, good and bad attention, whether it was wanted
or not, he was always somehow in a situation where all eyes were on him. He
commanded us to be a light to the world, in order to be that, it must be seen.
He commanded us to heal the sick and raise the dead – radical right? He said that we can do all things that
he did through the Spirit who dwells in us. Then, the question falls on me, do I believe that statement?
If I do, then I should be out there doing it….healing the sick, raising the
dead, because the Spirit’s got my back right?
“Oh but the attention that it brings!!!!!” Yes that’s right, the attention that it
brings, it’s the ONLY way to see the big miracles that Jesus promised, putting
yourself out there the way Jesus did. It’s beyond attention, it’s being radical
and believing God will do it. And that’s precisely what stops me from seeing
these miracles myself.
So how do I get myself from my ‘backseat’ position to being in the forefront radical position? I’m learning that there is no middle ground. Middle ground offers a
safety net, but I will not get to experience Jesus catching me. Middle ground offers me a hiding place
from attention but I will not get to do the work my Father wants me to do and
see its fruits. Middle ground is being lukewarm and what was it that Jesus said
about being lukewarm, that we are worse off than being cold.
Each opportunity that God gives me to be a light for Him
requires me to be an attention grabber. I have to embrace it. I have to believe
that He will start me off with an opportunity that requires with just the
amount of courage that I have, or will provide it to me, and He will build it
up. If I don’t believe this, I will never do it, if I never do it then I am
standing on middle ground.
So as you read this, you must wonder why I am only getting
this now, months after my
race? Some of us are the “Marthas”
while others are the “Peters”. In fact the goal isn’t trying to be like Martha
or Peter, but to be like Jesus. I’ve been digesting and trying to cherish what it is that the
race taught me the most. I can only affirm that going on the race did shake me
up in everything that I believed or rather, didn’t believe about God. It has changed me so much I can’t
justify it through words, or that I’m not good enough with words to be able to
express it here. I can only hope that you will be able to see a “radical”
change in me sometime soon after this blog as proof how much God is changing or
growing me.
Thank you Lord for desiring so much for us to be radical the
way Jesus was to reach out to those you love. Thank you Seth Barnes for doing your part, in setting up the
World Race. It was a launching pad
for me, and I’m sure many others to live out our lives the way Jesus taught. Thank
you AIM for supporting everyone on the field and building each participant up
to the potential that God has given each of us.
