2015: The Year Of Prayer - Week 13

"Understanding will fail, but trust will keep you close to Me." - Jesus Calling

Our friend (and pastor) spoke out something on Saturday.  He is very rational, very analytical.  Doesn't mean he isn't spiritual, but there is always a part of him that maybe just a wee bit skeptical.  I can relate.  I think that is why the Lord put us building a church together, we think alike. I seek to grasp things with my heart AND my mind.  I want to dig deeper, to grasp......to understand it all.

If I don't understand something, I'm pretty likely to be a little dubious about it.

However, there have been times in the last year, including just this week when The Lord said to just go with it.  "Don't over think things, Amy, just trust Me."  This was echoed in the Jesus Calling entry from a few days back.  God doesn't ask you to be comfortable, He asks you to obey.  And when you obey the Lord, you are blessed.  When you trust, your heart is made pure. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. (Matt 5:8)

This is going to sound a little weird, but....understanding is not always required.  When we walk around saying we will trust God when we understand Him, or what He is asking of us, that is just not how it works.  We are missing out on the fact that the Lord is a mystery.  THAT IS WHAT MAKES HIM GOD.

If we understood everything about Him, He would be exactly like us.  And who wants to worship that??

Several times this week, I've been challenged in my need/desire/want to process it all - to make it all fit in my skull.  When you are dealing in the supernatural, it won't always fit.  (More often than not, the really good stuff of God won't ever fit.)  I think the Apostle Paul was getting to that a little bit in 1 Corinthians 13:8-10,

Love never ends, but prophecies will pass, tongues will cease, knowledge will pass.  For our knowledge is partial, and our prophecy partial; but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass.

Rather than grasping it with my mind, He wants me to hold it in my hands, with my fingers open, so, like sand, the goodness can stream out.  There will be a time when it will all make sense.  Our brains, in their glorified state, will be able to handle all God gives.  I figure in heaven we will probably be able to use 100% of our consciousness, versus now, the majority of that usage is under wraps in our subconscious.  Basically, it will all be clear in heaven, whereas on earth, a lot of times things are clear as mud.

It is for the really good stuff that we need faith.  We won't need faith in heaven, we will be face to face with God.  The partial will pass because we will be in the Presence of the Perfect.

Simply, you don't have to have faith for what you can see. But, if I am being honest (I am trying to be), it is not easy for me to let go and go.  I am very close with people who can do that.  They operate heavenward on a consistent, regular basis.  I seem to be the one who has feet of clay and stay that way.  I maybe far too grounded for my own good!  I can go up but I always come down.

I hear from the Lord but often, I have to wait.  I have to stop my mental rambling, be still and listen.  I have to let it settle.  That can take seconds or sometimes days.  I don't evangelize people in the grocery store.  Not that I haven't, I actually tried yesterday and failed miserably.

(Funny story: the cashier's name was Evageline, which means Good News.  I thought it would be a talking point.  Maybe she was turned off by my loud, screaming toddler.  Either way, it went nowhere. I wasn't discouraged though.  Practice makes (closer to) perfect.)

I will stop and pray for people when the Spirit leads me too.  I am not ashamed of the name of Jesus and I can argue apologetics with the best of them.  But my usual, ordinary flow is in the every day miracles.  I don't hesitate to ask for the big ones, but those take less understanding and more faith. We all have to be worked up to that.

In God's Kingdom, for right now in this season anyway, I'm mostly here to back others up.  I am to support them in prayer, carrying them as necessary.  I am to help my husband and teach my children.  He has so changed my life (and me) that while I still love "the strokes" from others, He is removing my desperate need for it.  Why?  Because strokes are for us and they require understanding.

Glory is for God and that doesn't require us understanding one bit.

God's love doesn't require understanding to experience.  It requires a humble heart.  It requires a pure heart.  And it requires faith.  That's what I am in for and I am willing to bet, the less I lean into my own understanding and acknowledge His ways, the straighter my path will get.  (Proverbs 3:4-5)

Let me know how you are doing on your own prayer journeys.  I'm sure they've been exciting this year and will continue to be!