Last evening a friend and I were standing around the fire pit drinking tea as the evening mist covered the backyard around us. The topic turned to the most important things in life. Three things rose to the surface. We decided that clarity, trust and obedience were of the highest importance.
Clarity
You don’t get to clarity alone. It can be really difficult to determine what God is calling you into and how He wants to partner with you. Clearly understanding which direction that the Holy Spirit is leading is vital to living life to the fullest.
- This is why reading your Bible is so important – so that you know what the voice of God sounds like.
- This is why sitting quietly listening for God’s voice is important – because it’s really hard to sense what God is doing when you are running a hundred miles an hour.
- This is why real relationship, where you are vulnerable and have a teachable heart with other people, is necessary – because often others will confirm the same things that God is showing us.
Trust
We are in a constant learning curve on learning to trust our Heavenly Father. I know I have been on this journey of trusting God for decades, but there’s always more room to grow. There are blind spots in my life where I thought I was trusting God, but an emergency or crisis can destabilize me, make me nervous and defensive – that’s when I know that I have more growing in the “trusting God” area of my life. Knowing in your head that God is good is different than really putting your money, relationships, reputation or well being on the line in ruthless trust. When I feel anxious I ask myself the question, what am I believing about God that makes me worried that I am on my own and will suffer without God coming to my aid? Most areas of fear in my life are because I don’t see God for who He really is. We are all constantly growing in trusting God.
Obedience
Even when you have good clarity on what you are to step into – a lack of follow through on what God has shown us can lead to disaster. I don’t like to be overly dramatic, but a lack of obedience can literally get you killed. There have been times when I heard the still small voice leading me to drive in a certain freeway lane or stand in a different place, and had I not obeyed I would have met an awful fate. We don’t know how many times a crisis was averted because the Lord prompted us to do something, and when we obeyed, it saved our lives. We can’t really say we trust God if we don’t obey Him, but this step of moving ahead into the plans of God does require more than intellectual assent that God is real. Obedience is predicated on believing that what God says is truly the most healthy, balanced, powerful, important thing to do. Jesus talked about our love for God being shown in our obedience (John 15). James talks about the fruit of our repentance and faith as good works (obedience).
Which of these three areas do you need to ask the Holy Spirit and the others around you to help you step into? Is it clarity, trust or obedience? I believe if you ask the sweet voice of Jesus to whisper in your ear and quicken your mind to see – that God will lead you to one of these three areas.
I am re-learning trusting God, yet again, in different areas of my life. Jesus continues to prove His faithfulness to me – for I stand on his promise, “Even when we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He can not deny Himself.” (2 Tim. 2:13)
What are you re-learning?
