“And the Lord said to Abram after Lot had parted from him, “Lift up your eyes from where you are and look north and south, east and west.  All the land I will give to you and your offspring forever…Go, walk through the length and breadth of the land, for I am giving it to you.”
(Genesis 13:14-17)

I am using this Blog to put “skin and bones” on what God is doing in my heart right now…when He works, it gets indescribable at times so I journal or write to be able to see the roadmap he is drawing up for me to follow.

I have come to the point of confession of sin in the area of faith…my faith and trust in God in a very critical area…personal comfort and the “ease” of the familiar.  It’s visible in so many areas of my life, both in my labor for the cause of Christ, how I study the Word daily and then also in my sin patterns too!  I was laughing a bit as I discovered this “ease” as I thought about how I deer hunt.  I continue to go to the same stands I set years ago not because they are necessarily the best places to hunt…it’s because I know how to get to them when it is dark in the mornings before the hunt and also when it is dark at night after the hunt.  I fear getting lost in the dark…THAT’s what keeps me from going to new places!  I now wonder how many “trophies” walked by a place, in range where God had intended for me to find, see and also answer that long time prayer I pray…”Lord, bring me a trophy!”  What if God wanted me to go get one instead of going back to the same places?

Here is the context…I continue to do many things because I know the where, how, what and mostly likely…the outcome and thus…not much faith or vision is required! What’s more disheartening is how many times I was unwilling to trust God with something new, missing out on something He wanted me to see.  Now,  place this in the arena of mission work and I could very well miss a doorway to a whole new calling, opportunity and adventure God wants to show me!  There could be a Nation God wants me to see and serve in my lifetime.  My “job” is not to come and go…it’s train up and multiply myself…that thought is for later!

CERTAINLY, I am not talking about always moving around and not making a deep investment in a specific place!  Wherever we are working causes us to invest ourselves long term…and that requires much in the way of faith too!  Each day we spend on the field is a walk of faith (hopefully).  I say “hopefully” because there are indeed “flesh days” too!  These are days when it’s all about what we want to accomplish and being able to mark off things on our “To Do” List we made while eating breakfast in order to prove we are workers for the Lord!  And, we miss the divine appointment because our eyes are on a piece of paper and not the people!

My point is this…there has been much in the way of “waiting for the Lord” over the past 3 months from the standpoint of field work we have had planned but have been held back from going and doing.  For some reason, God was delivering constant messages for us to wait and not go…it has been as close to “audible” as it can get.  I have had maybe 50 reminders from the Word of God on waiting in my devotion times out of 60-70 days.  I have had “proven” people I entrust myself to also confirm much in the way of wisdom to wait on some things.  I believe today I have seen what God has caused me to wait for…I need to be willing to go and see an unfamiliar place…I am being called to go and see something new!

Now, I sense a liberty I have not had in quite some time.  I am now asking God to send me to wherever that might be because I am open to the unfamiliar!  I am willing to go to an unpredictable place where I have no control nor can I orchestrate my own heroics.  There is an old saying, “If you keep doing what your doing, you will keep getting what you’re getting.”  There is nothing wrong with the status quo…unless God is calling you to a deeper walk.  I have always said, “Go the road that requires the greatest amount of faith BUT, there is fine line between faith and stupidity!”  My point was…NEVER spiritualize a flesh move (i.e. more money, bigger house, newer car, more personal fame).

Is where we are working now in jeopardy?  NOPE!  What if my new tree stand requires me to walk by the ones I have always sat in as marker for being on the correct pathway?  It’s funny, I just was planning a trip yesterday to spend a week in Brazil prior to my trip to West Africa, taking a few people I have trained over the years from Brazil to go with me…Hmmmmm!

So, where is my new adventure?  Stay tuned!  That one still between my God and his child and is marinating on His altar! 🙂

Relinquishing the familiar,
Rb