Go.
God asked me to do something a little crazy at debrief. He asked me to permanently inscribe His truth of who I am on my arm. He asked me to get a tattoo so I wouldn’t forget who I am in Him.
So I told Him I would check prices and get back to Him. I checked prices and each place was well within budget. Sovereignty is a killer sometimes. 🙂 So then He told me to do it.
I found a place I liked and set a time to come get it done. The artist never showed up. The other artists told me come back tomorrow. I wanted to take this as some sign that I shouldn’t follow through. Then God asked if my obedience was so easily dissuaded. Ouch.
So I went back the next day and the artist was there. It was time to get this done.
Sit.
Now I had to follow through on my yes to Jesus. I had to sit and wait for the artist to make the sketch.
Cool fact: I actually designed my own tattoo. He copied the sketch I had made in my journal and put it on my arm.
Finally it was time to sit in the chair and get this done. Except I sat in the chair for about 15-20 minutes before anything happened. I usually consider myself a pretty patient person. That was not evident during this period of waiting. I did not want to wait any more.
But I had to. It didn’t take very long but I still had to sit still while the artist worked. I don’t know if I have ever prayed so fast, hard, or much in about 45 minutes. My mind was spinning in a million different directions. I kept trying to bring it all back to Jesus. During this time keeping every thought captive was a bit like Whack-a-Mole. I got most of them but a few of those buggers ran off laughing manically.
The few minutes my brain wasn’t on overload I was able to watch a mere thought become a permanent reality on my body. That is crazy! This is what God asks of us though. He asks us to do whatever is necessary to never forget His truth.
Proverbs 7:1-3 (VOICE)
My son, live according to what I am telling you;
guard my instructions as you would a treasure deep within you.
Stay true to my directives, and they will serve you well;
make my teachings the lens through which you see life.
Bind cords around your fingers to remind you of them;
meditate on them, and you’ll engrave them upon your heart.
He asked me to get a tattoo. This may not seem like something God would ever ask but He did.
Believe.
Now comes the hard part: believing the truth of who I am in Christ and choosing to walk in it every day.
It is all to easy to listen to the world, the enemy, or my own ramblings. It is simple to just go with what everyone else is doing, even everyone else in the church. It would take a lot less faith and obedience to just follow along.
But God didn’t make me to just follow along behind others. He made me to run after Him with full abandonment. He called me to step out of the boat into the waters of radical discomfort. He calls me to be more, to be a powerhouse.
I am a powerhouse. I house the power of God. I have the authority to use it. I have been given a blank check book and signing power. I need only to believe the truth of who I am for my signature to count.
I am Jesus with skin on and that is all I ever need be.
Two questions for you: Are you a powerhouse? Do you live like you believe it?
