Wait....A Four Letter Word

I want to share with you a book I just finished entitled, "One in A Million...Journey to Your Promised Land." It was written by Priscilla Shirer who is the same author who wrote about the story of Jonah about which I earlier blogged. This book is about the nation of Israel after they were set free from Egypt as they wandered in the wilderness waiting for God to take them into the land he had promised them. Waiting on God....I think that is why I was led to this book. So much of my experiences over the last year and specifically since the New Year mirror the content in this book; I have learned so much by looking at the Israelites' journey and comparing it to my own. Waiting is hard; it was hard for them back then, and I think it is even harder for us now. Why? Because we live in a world that condemns the wait. Wait....it has become a "four letter word." Everything has be faster, overnight, high-speed, immediate, 3G, 4G,etc... and God forbid we should have to wait for it. The ruler of this world and the enemy of your soul wants you and I to despise the wait because if we do we will 1. stop trusting God that He will do what He says he will do, 2. Try to take matters into our own hands, and 3. never get the inheritance that God has planned for us. Not the inheritance he might give you...the one he plans to give you. Big difference.

I'm not sure that every promised land is preceded by a wilderness experience, but I think many are. This is so important to understand, especially if you find yourself in a desolate, lonely place, unsure why God has led/allowed you to be there, and feeling so far away from his promises. God's word tells us why He leads us to these places. " Deut 8:2 "Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years not to humiliate, but to humble you; to test what is in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands." Once being set free from strongholds, God needs to know the changes are going to stick before He can take us into all that He has for us. The enemy always wants to see you go back to captivity; Satan will use every attempt to magnify your emotions of isolation in the wilderness so that you will not prove genuine to God, and even worse...to yourself. 

The key point here is that Satan would never engage us in the wilderness except for the fact that you have a Promised Land to get to. I think it is crucial to keep this in mind at every turn. If God didn't have the 'best' as a destination in your future, then there would be no need to interrupt the journey. I've discovered in my own very recent experience and in scripture, one of Satan's tactics is to ALWAYS offer a short-cut. He will suggest that God will never come through for you, or because of your own weakness that best is never going to happen, but if you would just take what he has to offer, you could have all your heart is lacking. Look at Jesus' time in the Wilderness as a perfect example. If you look at what Satan offered they were all natural shortcuts to what God had supernaturally planned for his Son:
1. Jesus had the immediate struggle of hunger. Shortcut: Jesus could create bread to meet his own need. God's plan was to make Jesus into "the Bread of Life., so that no man would be hungry." (John 6:35)
2.Jesus was God; he could control all things & circumstances. He had the struggle to control his authority here on Earth to follow only the will of his Father. Shortcut: Don't obey God and become ruler over all earthly authorities. "Son though he was, he learned obedience from all he suffered." (Hebrews 5:8). God's plan was to exalt him higher than all through his obedience. "Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, in heaven and in earth, and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus is Lord." (Phil 2:9-11)
3. When the first two didn't work, the enemy encouraged him to sacrifice his life for his own sake to show that he was God's son. God's plan was for his son to sacrifice his life, not for his own sake, but for ours. (John 3:16). Thank God that Jesus did not take any of the enemy's short cuts to his promised purposes here on Earth and this should be our goal as well.

If we want God to reveal himself in our circumstances we have to be willing to wait. Waiting obediently, patiently and expectantly. The bible has much to say about waiting on the Lord. Many of these are good verses to commit to memory. Look how much we miss out on, if we are unable to wait! My enemy knows this full well. So guess what? I'm not taking any short cuts. The only navigation system needed for wilderness driving is obedience to God's word:

--Psalm 27:13-14 I remain confident in this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; be strong, take heart and wait for the Lord.
--Psalm 40:1 I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry.
--Psalm 130:6 I wait for the Lord more than watchman wait for the morning, more than watchman wait for the morning.
--Prov 20:22 Wait for the Lord and he will avenge you.
--Isaiah 30:18 Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; therefore he will rise up and show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are those who wait for him!
--Lamentations 3:24 The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him!
--1st Corin 4:5 Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait until the Lord comes.He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and expose the motives of the heart. At that time each will receive their praise from God.
--James 5:7 Be patient until the Lord's coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop, patiently waiting for the autumn and spring rains."

God hides in faith but is revealed in obedience. So I will wait for him.

Ok God, Let's Make a Deal

I've spent the last few blogs intimating what partly got me into my current situation. Without laying out all the specifics (which at this time I am not a liberty to do), I think I've made it clear that I am in a situation not of my own choosing. It is difficult both physically and emotionally and has the potential to really shift my future. I've shown via the blog how God has really worked in my life to completely change my perspective on acceptance of these types of life events and how much I trust him with my future. I've told him numerous times, "Just point me in  the direction I'm supposed to go, and that is where I will walk in faith." Even though I didn't choose this situation I have already come to the realization that without said change I might not have pursued the path that God has in mind for me. The truth is, that often we will choose to stay put in our misery because it is what we know rather than take a step into the unknown. This is often when God steps in, working through life circumstances and relationships, to guide us to "the best" he has in store for us. Without life's interruptions, we probably would stay put.
So having realized all of this, I have been fervently petitioning God to show me which path to choose next. For those of you old enough, do you remember the game show, "Let's Make a Deal?" The contestant after some challenges was given the opportunity to choose what was behind one of three doors. It could be a fabulous prize or something quite the opposite....like a farm animal. After struggling through challenges, I was feeling like a participant in some type of heavenly game show. Which door should I choose? What are my options? Which one does God want me to pick? I kept asking him to show me which door to pick. And then I heard the Holy Spirit ask me very clearly, "What does God's word say, Jennifer?"

 Matthew 7: “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened."

Luke 11: “So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. “Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead?  Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion?  If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

It became very clear to me in that moment that I have to be a participant. Although not a game, this does require my participation. It is so typical that we always try to reduce our faith to a formula, rather than a friendship. We want to be able to do this or that, and then rest assured that if we do somehow we have earned God's favor and then he will give us our heart's desires. I even found myself starting to do it with the "radical"  commitment I had made at the beginning of this year. I told myself, "Surely God will come through for me if I stick with it or vice versa... if I fail to keep my pledge, will he let me down or even worse, let me fail?"  The truth is, we already have God's favor and  my obedience merely unlocks his ability to pour out his grace into my life. God loves me period regardless of what I do or don't do.  Our  friendship is a relationship, not a formula for grace. The Word clearly tells me, I have to knock on the doors. God will open the one that leads to his best. My job is to expectantly wait for it and be willing to close the door of  the past so I can step forward into God's future for me. 
So this is exactly what I have done. I have knocked on every conceivable door I saw in front of me. Believe you me, I would not have done a few of them without God's prodding. I am anxious to see what is behind those doors I've knocked on. So now I wait for God's best. Waiting...I think that will be my next installment.

Zumba-Por Tu Corazon

Because of my current circumstances (which require me to be readily available at all times), I haven't been doing as much running...with my legs. I'm still very much 'running on faith' and my relationship with God to get me through this season. I am still exercising (actually more than before!), which has always been enjoyable to me and a great stress reliever. My new exercise passion is ZUMBA! Zumba is a latin based cardio. It is set to latin and pop music and is a mixture of latin dance moves, hip-hop, and aerobics. Zumba's motto is "Join the Party" and I know why. The classes are so fun that you forget how hard you are working. That is, until you stop and are out of breath and covered with sweat.
The local Zumba instructors this month are doing benefits for the American Heart Association. They call it "Zumbathon- Party Hearty" and it is for your heart health. Translated, "Por Tu Corazon" (for your heart)And I want to tell you that Zumba has been very good for my heart.
I could easily feel pretty down about my current situation, part of which I have to accept some blame. My enemy has been constantly available to remind me of both my current and past failures. Not good for  the type-A heart. Usually when we think about "protecting our heart" we instinctively think about putting up walls to keep things out that might hurt us. The absolute opposite is true when we look at heart health through spiritual eyes. We actually have to protect ourselves from the things that are within our hearts. Scripture has a lot to say about this. When your heart is hurting, it is so easy for it to affect your attitudes, and therefore, your behaviors.

- "Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it." Prov 4:23
- "But the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart, and these defile them." Matt 15:18
- "A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of." Luke 6:45

The heart of God is filled only love. He is the source of love...period. We are only capable of love in our hearts because we have him as the source; to show the love of God requires daily emptying of what is naturally in our heart and supernaturally filling it again with what is in God's.  He doesn't need to guard his heart to protect something else from getting in.  He guards his heart constantly so that He will only show us love. For out of the heart is the overflow of the mouth. When God speaks, it has power. Therefore, He constantly guards his feelings toward us. If we want to please him and ultimately be more like him, we have to guard our hearts so that the things that hurt us are handed over to him to deal with. Then they won't affect our ability to love others, especially those that are hard to love.
So this leads me back to Zumba. I have had a special affinity in my heart for Latin culture ever since God sent me to both Guatemala and Mexico on mission trips. I really believe that part of my current enjoyment is simply the fact that God anointed this particular passion.
I also have always loved to dance. (I was on the dance team at my high school)  Right now, there is a lot about my current situation that is out of my control. But there are a few things that I can control and my spiritual and physical fitness are two of them. So, while I wait on the Lord to reveal himself in my current situation, there is one thing I can and will do. I can dance. I will dance, because it makes me happy and that has been very good for my heart. <3

I Hope You Dance --Leann Womack
I hope you never lose your sense of wonder
You get your fill to eat
But always keep that hunger
May you never take one single breath for granted
God forbid love ever leave you empty handed
I hope you still feel small
When you stand by the ocean
Whenever one door closes, I hope one more opens
Promise me you'll give faith a fighting chance

And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance
I hope you dance
I hope you dance

I hope you never fear those mountains in the distance
Never settle for the path of least resistance
Living might mean taking chances
But they're worth taking
Lovin' might be a mistake
But it's worth making
Don't let some hell bent heart
Leave you bitter
When you come close to selling out
Reconsider
Give the heavens above
More than just a passing glance

And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance
I hope you dance
(Time is a real and constant motion always)
I hope you dance
(Rolling us along)
I hope you dance
(Tell me who)
I hope you dance
(Wants to look back on their youth and wonder)
(Where those years have gone)

I hope you still feel small
When you stand by the ocean
Whenever one door closes, I hope one more opens
Promise me you'll give faith a fighting chance

And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance
Dance
I hope you dance