Have you ever been in a place where everything required total dependence on God?
I mean like…the very next step you took even depended on God showing up and doing something.
That is a hard place to be, but I keep showing up in that same place over and over.
This isn’t a place where you wake up with the sun shining and the birds singing “Hallelujahs.” Smiles, laughter and fun memories do not exist here. Instead, it is a place of panic, heartache, growing up, and frustration.
In reality…the bottom line…we want to have control over it all. We know how the plan should operate better. But do we really?
I found myself thinking recently, when I had more than one area of my life that I literally didn’t know the next step to take or even the next breath to breathe…
“I am going to have to just pray.”
That sounds so last resort doesn’t it?
However, I think it was at that time that I saw a mental picture of God smiling because He never intended on me handling the situation my way in the first place. His ultimate desire is that I trust whole heartedly in His provision. God was going to take care of it. Not me.
Answer me when I call to you,
O God who declares me innocent.
Free me from my troubles.
Have mercy on me and hear my prayer.Psalm 4:1
Those whispers from the Holy Spirit to submit in praying seriously about these issues, just got louder. He began to tell me to fast over my situations.
Fast?!
Oh my…that took on a whole different meaning to my prayers.
“Yes,” my Lord said.
Truly, words can not describe how much my Savior has walked diligently and gracefully with me through this process. In those times, when I want to take back the reigns, I have been gently reminded that it’s not my will, but His that I am seeking.
My journey is not over. This may take a while waiting on His timing and His answers.
Our culture functions in the season of NOW and the IMMEDIATE. That is not the place in which God functions. He sometimes does things differently.
I have learned from walking in these shoes before that God does answer in His timing. He does cover everything with His wings. He has a greater plan that supersedes anything that I would desire.
In Matthew 17:20-21 Jesus says, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”
The faith of a small mustard seed is all it takes. Somedays, that is all we have…that anything in our world is going to go right. That those mountains even have the slightest chance to move.
Jesus says our faith in God is like a seed. When we put our faith into action, that is, when we release it to God, it takes on a totally new nature. It takes on the nature of a miracle in the making.
The first thing that we have to remember is from Romans 12:3 in which God says that we each have a measure of faith. It is resident inside of us. The next instruction that God gives us in His Word is to remember that this faith comes alive by hearing the Word of God (Romans 10:17).
Listening to podcasts of pastors that are Godly and grounded in the Word. Reading your Bible – sometimes I even have it read aloud in the voice version on my smart phones.
The next part is sometimes the hardest because it requires us actually taking a step. You take a step in applying your faith to your problem. You do something as a act of your faith. You sow the mustard-seed smallness of your faith into an action of love like it says back in our original scripture of Matthew 17:20.
Now watch God do His thing. (Because He always does, you know.) Because the last part of Matthew 17:21 says, “Nothing will be impossible for you.”
This is the part that many days I just hang on to and smile.
Lately, during these times when my mountain is just staring straight at me, I have to take my focus off of the mountain and look at WHO God is and what He does. Sometimes there are just seasons that God is just teaching us to move mountains through His Word and strength. I’m just glad to have God on my team as those mountains get moved. This song has been on repeat many days around my house. I hope it brings you joy and hope that God really is who He says He is.
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David Crowder, “I AM”
