Four Things About God That Make Life So Much Easier
There are four things about God I wish I’d learned a lot earlier in life. Life became so much more fun when I finally discovered these truths.
Maybe it took so long because I had to grow in my willingness to be totally sold out to Him. These four truths are only useful to us if we’ve come to that place of total surrender and trust. I think I’ve gotten there, now, after all these years. At least I’ve gotten far enough down this road to discover how delightful it is to walk with God the way He always meant for me to.
Those four things are:
1.) God is prepared to take total responsibility for the life that is totally yielded to him.
If we choose to indenture ourselves to Him, we can relax about our ministry and let Him lead us here and there, moment by moment, year by year.
Jesus lived that way. He just walked, step by step with God, and trusted His Father to put Him where He was supposed to be.
At times He obviously had specific guidance—a “Word from the Lord,” you might say. He knew they needed to go through Samaria. He knew that they needed to get to Jerusalem. In those instances, He probably got that specific information during one of his midnight visits with His Father. Other than that, He didn’t worry about what He should be doing. He just trusted God was leading Him to the right place at the right time.
It’s so much easier when we don't have to take the ultimate responsibility for our lives. We take responsibility for being available to Him, and we choose, moment by moment, to be instantly obedient. That’s all.
2) God is never in a hurry.
When He acts, He might act quickly, but getting to that moment of instant action usually takes more time than we expect it should. Often it takes a lot more time. But that means if we are totally available and obedient to Him, we don’t need to worry about what time it is.
When we read about how Jesus walked on earth, we never see him rushing to get anywhere or do anything. Once, his slowing down cost a child her life. On his way to heal the deathly ill child, He stopped to minister to the woman with the issue of blood. By the time he got to the child’s home, she was dead. But it didn’t matter that He was “late.” He healed her anyway. God’s will was done.
It’s so much easier when we don’t have to look at the clock all the time.
3) God only has one place for me to be at a time, and He allows travel time.
If I give my day to Him, and obey Him instantly—If I get up when the alarm goes off instead of punching the snooze button! If I don’t load a bunch of stuff into my daily schedule that He doesn’t want there—I will always be right on time for whatever He wants me to do.
So if I get stuck in traffic on the way to a meeting, I assume I'm where He means me to be and He will take care of the meeting until I get there, ready to take over ;-)
It’s so much easier than trying to manipulate my schedule and make sure I get where I’m going, come hell or high water.
4) God gives us R&R when we need it.
He remembers we are dust, and He knows when we need a break. When we are sold out to Him, 24/7, He schedules in vacation time for us, and it turns out to be exactly when and where we need it.
He may have us very busy for a period of time, then an opportunity will come up for us to refresh and renew, and we know it’s from God. It’s not a vacation FROM Him, of course. It’s a vacation WITH Him. It might be doing a different kind of ministry; or it might be a time of spiritual retreat; or it might just simply be having fun doing something we like to do with Him. Sometimes it’s a time of doing nothing.
In any case, when we walk with the Lord, we come to recognize when God is giving us these times, and because He’s doing it, we can be totally free to enjoy the rest, with no feeling we should be “doing” something else.
Jesus did this too. He had fun at weddings. He spent time alone with His Father. He slept in the bottom of the boat so deeply and restfully He didn’t even notice a storm come up. He sat with children on His knee, ignoring the more demanding “ministry” his disciples thought He should be doing. He had important work to do, but He recognized times of rest His Father gave Him along the way, and He took them.
It’s so much more fun going on R&R with God when He arranges it for us.
Jesus was first and foremost just being what God wanted him to be. The doing, and the talking--the ministry--came out of his relationship with his Father very easily and naturally. He lived moment-by-moment in dependence on the Holy Spirit. In that respect, He was being a model for us.
Someone has said that “Power comes from just receiving God’s love. Not doing. Friendship with God has to come first.” When I remember to let the Holy Spirit guide my activities, set my pace, put me where He wants me to be, and give me rest when I need it, walking with God becomes a joy and a delight. Being totally His is so easy.
Maybe it took so long because I had to grow in my willingness to be totally sold out to Him. These four truths are only useful to us if we’ve come to that place of total surrender and trust. I think I’ve gotten there, now, after all these years. At least I’ve gotten far enough down this road to discover how delightful it is to walk with God the way He always meant for me to.
Those four things are:
1.) God is prepared to take total responsibility for the life that is totally yielded to him.
If we choose to indenture ourselves to Him, we can relax about our ministry and let Him lead us here and there, moment by moment, year by year.
Jesus lived that way. He just walked, step by step with God, and trusted His Father to put Him where He was supposed to be.
At times He obviously had specific guidance—a “Word from the Lord,” you might say. He knew they needed to go through Samaria. He knew that they needed to get to Jerusalem. In those instances, He probably got that specific information during one of his midnight visits with His Father. Other than that, He didn’t worry about what He should be doing. He just trusted God was leading Him to the right place at the right time.
It’s so much easier when we don't have to take the ultimate responsibility for our lives. We take responsibility for being available to Him, and we choose, moment by moment, to be instantly obedient. That’s all.
2) God is never in a hurry.
When He acts, He might act quickly, but getting to that moment of instant action usually takes more time than we expect it should. Often it takes a lot more time. But that means if we are totally available and obedient to Him, we don’t need to worry about what time it is.
When we read about how Jesus walked on earth, we never see him rushing to get anywhere or do anything. Once, his slowing down cost a child her life. On his way to heal the deathly ill child, He stopped to minister to the woman with the issue of blood. By the time he got to the child’s home, she was dead. But it didn’t matter that He was “late.” He healed her anyway. God’s will was done.
It’s so much easier when we don’t have to look at the clock all the time.
3) God only has one place for me to be at a time, and He allows travel time.
If I give my day to Him, and obey Him instantly—If I get up when the alarm goes off instead of punching the snooze button! If I don’t load a bunch of stuff into my daily schedule that He doesn’t want there—I will always be right on time for whatever He wants me to do.
So if I get stuck in traffic on the way to a meeting, I assume I'm where He means me to be and He will take care of the meeting until I get there, ready to take over ;-)
It’s so much easier than trying to manipulate my schedule and make sure I get where I’m going, come hell or high water.
4) God gives us R&R when we need it.
He remembers we are dust, and He knows when we need a break. When we are sold out to Him, 24/7, He schedules in vacation time for us, and it turns out to be exactly when and where we need it.
He may have us very busy for a period of time, then an opportunity will come up for us to refresh and renew, and we know it’s from God. It’s not a vacation FROM Him, of course. It’s a vacation WITH Him. It might be doing a different kind of ministry; or it might be a time of spiritual retreat; or it might just simply be having fun doing something we like to do with Him. Sometimes it’s a time of doing nothing.
In any case, when we walk with the Lord, we come to recognize when God is giving us these times, and because He’s doing it, we can be totally free to enjoy the rest, with no feeling we should be “doing” something else.
Jesus did this too. He had fun at weddings. He spent time alone with His Father. He slept in the bottom of the boat so deeply and restfully He didn’t even notice a storm come up. He sat with children on His knee, ignoring the more demanding “ministry” his disciples thought He should be doing. He had important work to do, but He recognized times of rest His Father gave Him along the way, and He took them.
It’s so much more fun going on R&R with God when He arranges it for us.
Jesus was first and foremost just being what God wanted him to be. The doing, and the talking--the ministry--came out of his relationship with his Father very easily and naturally. He lived moment-by-moment in dependence on the Holy Spirit. In that respect, He was being a model for us.
Someone has said that “Power comes from just receiving God’s love. Not doing. Friendship with God has to come first.” When I remember to let the Holy Spirit guide my activities, set my pace, put me where He wants me to be, and give me rest when I need it, walking with God becomes a joy and a delight. Being totally His is so easy.
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