Prayers2Persevere

Are you facing a situation where God has told you to leave? To walk away from distressing or even comfortable circumstances? To let go of people, places, or positions that may be inherently good or necessary for your life? Is God asking you to do something you never saw yourself doing, something seemingly impossible and totally outside of your vision for your life? This post is for you. 

Spoiler alert: God loves a process. As loving, powerful, and all-knowing as He is, God brings different situations in our lives to redefine our identity and to test our obedience to Him. God often tells us to walk away from things to get us out of our comfort zones and dependencies so we can truly rely on Him in every area of our lives. God will use a process to:

• mold us into who He’s called us to be
• bring glory to His name
• bring others to Christ
• increase our faith in Him
• and to see if we truly trust Him and are willing to follow where He leads. 

The hardest things to let go of are the things we need: a job, a place to live, a relationship, etc. But God doesn’t want us to walk away to hop right back into the same routine with the same mindset and the same level of faith. He wants us to do life His way — which is often counterculture but never without promise, protection, and provision. 

Think back to the story of the Israelites. As they were fleeing Egypt, a generation of Israelites didn’t get to the Promised Land because of their perspective during the wilderness season, which resulted in disobedience. What was supposed to be an 11-day journey ending up taking 40 years because God’s chosen people wanted a quick and easy way out (a sign of lacking faith, patience, and endurance) and could not let go of the false comforts of their past. They were paralyzed by fear despite God’s continual presence and promises of fruitfulness and a land flowing with milk and honey. Instead of seeing how God protected them from wild animals and deadly creatures, how their shoes and clothing held up year after year and their feet didn’t swell (Deuteronomy 29:5; 8:4), how God miraculously provided manna daily (Exodus 16:35), how their families grew in number, how they had fire by night and a cloud by day — God Himself with them everyday. Instead of seeing God’s power on display, they complained.

The Israelites were tired of the wilderness and wanted to go back to Egypt. Even if that longing for the past was a life of slavery and hard labor (a case of improper perspective). They were hungry, frustrated, weak in faith, and ready to give up on God’s promises. They couldn’t see how God needed to pull them out of Egypt so Egypt could be pulled out of them. They didn’t understand that they needed eternal hope in God, not temporal hope in man. They didn’t realize God wanted them to live an abundant life of freedom in Him, how He wanted to restore man back to Himself as He originally designed. Their improper perspective cost a generation their lives and the Promised Land. Improper perspective will have you desiring things that will kill you rather than the things of God that bring life. 

So often we focus on what we lose instead of what we stand to gain by following God’s blueprint for our lives. God’s process brings about a perspective shift if we let it. So, if you’re in a season where God has called you to go, ask God what He wants to reveal, realign, or reestablish in your life and give Him your “yes” daily. What lies ahead of your obedience is far greater than you could ever imagine. We have to trust the process — God’s process and allow Him to change our lives so we can walk into the fullness of who He’s called us to be and what He’s graced us to do to advance the Kingdom.