(Part 1)
You know what I love?
How in God’s graciousness and mercy, He is constantly calling us deeper.
Have you given your whole life to Christ? If so, are you being responsive to His call of going even deeper than you have before? We are His church, and His bride…. Are we truly responding to His call? Are we being submissive to Christ like the scriptures tell us to be? Just as much as the scriptures call us to be strong, they also call us to be meek and humble which in turn makes us truly powerful in Him.
To respond to something means to react quickly. It means that we are receptive and open. Submission is a word people don’t like to discuss much but if we really think about it, we are all submitted to something. What are we choosing to submit to? Christ or the things in this world? Sometimes we think we are submitted to God, but are we truly? Submission equals humility which equals meekness which equals self-control. Meekness in its true form is power and authority under control of its creator. To be meek, humble, bridled and submissive is to defer to your leadership in EVERYTHING. There isn’t struggle or hesitation but to go where the leader says to go and act when told to act. An example is a horse with its rider. A bridled horse is under submission to his rider. (A bridle is what is wrapped around the horse’s head and is what is used to direct the horse.)
That is why Jesus said in Matthew 5:5 that blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. In Matthew 5:3, He also says that blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom in heaven.
The term, poor in spirit doesn’t mean to be in financial lack but means to be emptied of yourself. What does that look like? It means to empty yourself of your own agendas and it means to be acutely aware of your spiritual poverty and emptiness WITHOUT Jesus. A simpler way to describe it could be to be emptied of pride.
Pride disguises itself in so many forms. It can be sung through the repetitive tune of “I can do whatever I want when I want” or entangles us in the ropes of insecurity. It is ultimately all pride.
So how can we change this? Humble Yourself
James 4:6 says, “But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: "God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.”
There is grace to humble ourselves, but is the willingness there? Ask yourself this question: are you really willing to go where God wants you to go? Do what He wants you to do, say what He wants you to say and really be who He has called you to be?
Let’s go into a quick testimony of my own revelation as I pondered this in my own life.
There was a day when I asked myself this question and truthfully? I wasn’t as fully submitted to Jesus as I thought. Outwardly, I had made all of these grand faith moves, but inwardly, I still had some hesitations and worries. I still thought twice and asked for millions of confirmations before making a move. Are asking for confirmations a good thing? Of course they are. We want to make sure we are hearing from the Lord in every scenario. But at the expense of a delay or filling your mind up with more worries? Not so much.
1 Peter 5:7 tells us to cast our anxiety upon the Lord for He cares for us. So if I really believed that God was who He said He was and that I can cast my cares upon Him, why did truly trusting Him seem so difficult at times? Why did I obey but still worry? Was my worrying a by-product of my obedience or was it actually a by-product of the fact that I may not of been as fully submitted as I thought? Going back to the horse example: a horse that is fully submitted to his rider, doesn’t hesitate or take a long time to turn where guided. If the rider gently pulls the reins to the left, this horse would go left. No hesitation, no jumping or prolong. This horse turns with ease gladly yielding to its rider. On the other hand, a horse not fully submitted, may not respond to the gentle nudge of the reins and may continue going straight for a few miles before realizing the discomfort of the tug going a different direction than where he is walking. Or maybe this horse turns right, instead of left, or jumps. Either way, whatever the scenario, whether they turn the opposite direction or continue on the same path, or maybe even eventually turn the left are all disobedient. They are all going against the rider’s initial plan.
There is of course, a third option. The horse who turns when the rider initiates that gentle tug and the horse turns…. But with the turning, there is a movement of it’s head and a jerk from it’s foot. There is a shiver and a shake. The rider above can feel the strange twitches and this turn doesn’t feel as smooth as it could feel. Did the horse respond to the initial pull? Yes. But did the horse ease into it gently? Not really.
So was this third horse responsive? We can say partially, but fully? Well, there were some bumps and it’s reaction still had hesitations and some struggle through the turn. And you guessed it, I am able to identify with the third horse. (really all 3 in different seasons of my past) Which one are you?
I am sure many in the body of Christ can identify with any of these in different seasons of their lives. The first two horses are pretty obvious. You are either the obedient one or the disobedient one. But the third horse? That one is a little trickier to spot. In life, outwardly we can be doing all the right things but inwardly, can still have pieces of our heart not fully surrendered. 1 Samuel 16:7 describes this really well.
But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart."
God sees our heart. He sees our hesitations and he sees our thoughts. He sees our motives and our fears. It’s quite comforting to know that in the midst of our inward messes, He loves us, He sees us and He knows us. Nothing can scare Him away as He made the whole entire universe. He wants a relationship with us and gladly will take our hand as we walk the paths with Him. But even in the midst of that, He is constantly calling us to a higher level and gently tugs at our hearts for continual obedience and surrender to Him.
Hebrews 4: 10- 11
For the person who has entered His rest has rested from his own works, just as God did from his. Let us then make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall into the same pattern of disobedience.
Comments