The Great Initiator.
The word that best describes God for me today is, initiator.
God is the one who takes the first step.
This has been with me all day.
So often when I get discouraged and feel down and out I am reminded that I did not start this relationship with God, it was God who started it with me. Why do I get so afraid and lose heart? Why do I think that I have to finish what God started?
God is not only ever present, God is ever active.
Twice today God has initiated something in my midst to remind me that God is always stepping toward us. As I stood beside a dying patient, the words to an old African Spiritual came to me, “Have you got good religion? Yes Lord, Yes Lord, Yes Lord.” (Or, Certainly Lord.) As I held the patient’s hand I gazed into her cataract laden eyes and without out speaking, I felt the words in my heart asking, “Have you got good religion?” And with a shallow whisper the patient looked up at me and said, “Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Yes. Lord.”
A moment later I felt the words come into my heart, “God is with you even to the end.” I chose to hold the words for a minute but decided to speak them to the patient. Three minutes later someone walked into the room and said, “You know, God is with you even to the end.” I nearly passed out.
God is present always… God is always active. Can we slow down long enough to meet the Initiator in our midst?
What has God started in your life?
Where do you sense the Spirit speaking in your midst?
If God started it, trust that God will finsih it.
God is with you, even 'til the end.
6 Comments:
Sometimes, that initiating of His scares me. He asks me to step beyond my safety zones into, often, the places that I fear the most. He asks me to trust Him, one of the most intimidating requests anyone could ask of another. But He asks again & again, mostly because I keep asking Him to direct my life as He sees fit. So regardless of my fear, I seem to keep bringing myself again & again to His feet, requesting His presence in my life, His hand inside mine, leading me into the places I have come to fear the most.
((BTW, I have a conversation coming up soon with one of my pastors, a conversation that I initiated, one about seminary v. mission work. God initiates in me and I initiate in my life because of His influence. Funny how that works sometimes....))
I think God has started something in my life, and I believe he will finish it, but I am resisting out of fear.
Thanks for a gentle reminder:
"Why do I think I have to finish what God started?"
This is a good post.
God IS the initiator. We love because He first loved us.
But the other side to this is that we need to repond to His presence for it to have meaning.
You had to speak out those words, and then the confirmation came.
be blessed :)
You're right that God will see through those things God starts. That is very comforting because it means I can't control it, but it's also scary because it is possible that God will carry it on to completion in a way that I might not have originally desired. That realease of control is both comforting and terrifying. It can also be very difficult to wait on the Lord...especially when we have no idea how long we'll have to wait!
So true, so true. I think we tend to forget that principle because we are blinded by our pride. And that keeps us from seeing God's hand in His will for our lives. After all, Jesus is the author and finisher of our faith.
We also like to dwell in our comfort zones and tend to be check-valves to change. When it comes, we would rather not allow it because it disrupts what we have finally put in place. But God wants us uncomfortable so that He can pull out of us the greatness that He has instilled in each of us; our destiny that He has designed from eternity past.
I'm glad He initiates things in my life. I guess I just like challenges and I trust Him that He will give me the strength and power to accomplish what He has set before me. If Abraham can go without directions, then surely I should do the same (see Genesis 12).
"Have you got good religion?
Certainly, Lord, Certainly, Lord, Certainly, Lord..."
that spiritual is one of the many that weaves through my consciousness.
I do my best to work for the truth of God, live it, breathe it, breathe in His very soul.
That is religion to mmme. Anything else is just being nice, and a way of keeping in touch with the neighbors.
Paraphrased from carpe jugulum, by terry pratchett. ;)
Happy Thanksgiving, Rick.
Post a Comment
<< Home