I Can't Manipulate God

Chapter 12 of “The Fire of Delayed Answers” spoke to me. 

I’m the prodigal son- demanding to get what I believe is owed me…deliverance from this waiting period! 

I find myself thinking, “Hasn’t this gone on long enough? What more do you want from me, God?”

 

As I wait, I stumble between surrender and taking matters into my own hands.

Today, I found myself prostrate, crying out, “I can’t. I can’t. I can’t”.

I can’t do anything to fix this problem.

I can’t do anything to make time go faster.

I can’t do anything…but wait.

There’s no magic formula to praying that will make God MOVE.

So as I wait, I reflect back on God’s goodness in my life and in the lives of others.

I also take comfort in knowing God understands, that’s why He brought me this book.

It’s helping me understand that my lack of faith, my inability to surrender, and my impatience don’t make God any less gracious.

He will answer my prayers.

He will bring deliverance. 

It’s just a matter of time…HIS time.

Not  mine.

Here’s a few quotes helping me through my fire.

“…when it comes to waiting we all blow it…none of us is capable of handling waiting properly…by the time God’s finished with us, we’ve blown it so many times … We realize that His redemptive work in us was not because of our right responses, but only because of His mercy.”  (pg 181)

I’m not unique in my inability to wait. God has dealt with a multitude of people like me. God is merciful. He doesn’t give us what we deserve. He gives us grace to endure, strength to carry on, and a harvest of blessings to those who learn “to wait” upon Him and are willing to give Him the glory due his name.

“When I invoke the promises of God as my just claim, I am not being arrogant; I am not being presumptuous; I am not being audacious or insolent…I cross over into presumption when I try to tell God when and how to fulfill His promises in my life.” (pg 182)

God does not change. He is good, just, loving, wise, creator, etc. I need to trust that. Trust Him. I shouldn’t rush His work in my life. I must be pruned on or be cut off (Luke 13:6-9) and pruning takes time.

“If there’s unbelief in our hearts, there’s no fire that’s better at bringing that to the surface than having to wait.” (pg 183)

Waiting shows me how often I turn to human resources and common sense to solve problems. My trust in God is small. He is doing a BIG work in my life and this waiting season is the answer to my hearts prayer for “MORE OF HIM”. God comes in the fire and He comes in the stillness. I can’t accept one without the other. When we are saved we get all of God, not just certain parts.

“We tend to put our focus on the wrong thing…”If I can only have enough faith, I know I’ll be healed.” Instead of seeking faith, seek the face of God.” (pg 186)

Like Moses I must say, “Show me your glory.” When I seek more of God, the pain of the fire begins to fade. The time constraints fall and my will is transformed.

“…sometimes God does wait till past midnight.” (pg 190)

I can’t put God in a box, thinking He has to answer my prayers in a certain way or time frame. While my mind knows this, it isn’t until I am forced to wait that I realize just how selfish I am. I want my answers in my way and my timing. 

God wants more for me.

So He delays answering and I learn to benefit from the wait. 

What about you, are you learning to wait?

Join the Book club discussing, “The Fire of Delayed Answers” by Bob Sorge, by either grabbing a copy of the book and joining the weekly discussions and/or leaving a comment below. You can read more about this chapter from: Jason, Sarah, Dusty, Kari, Glynn, and Joell.

Guest Post: Pretend You're Married to Jesus

I'm taking some much needed R&R time with my family this week. Graciously one of my favorite bloggers, Sheila from Longings End, is sharing her wisdom through another beautiful post. Happy Valentines. Enjoy and I'll see you next week.

John 3:16-17

Pretend you’re married to Jesus…

It is by loving, and not by being loved, that one can come nearest the soul of another; yea, that, where two love, it is the loving of each other, that originates and perfects and assures their blessedness.
George MacDonald, Phantastes

What if married couples took this to heart?

What might the union, the family and eventually society look like?

How might loving your mate more than wanting to be loved work out in day to day living?

And what would happen if you really believed that everything you did to your spouse you did to Jesus?

These are all questions worth prayerfully pondering if you want to grow in love, learning daily to love like the Lord does.

In the beginning…

God. 

Us loving because He loved us first.

And you can’t love another more than you love yourself unless you love God most.

You won’t be able to lay aside your selfishness until you understand and appreciate His great sacrifice for you.

And your love relationship with the Lover of your soul needs to constantly grow, changing over time as He changes you – and me – for the better.

Spending time with God helps us become more like Him. Not only in prayer, Bible reading or Sunday services, but in every moment of every day being so consciously connected that He truly is closer than your next heartbeat.

Seeing Him in everything and giving thanks for it all, especially your spouse. He has given you the perfect imperfect partner to help perfect imperfect you. 

Mirror image…

Often what you don’t like in your husband or wife is merely a version of the same sin in you. Like can attract like.

But instead of casting stones, love your spouse enough to keep no record of wrongs nor hold onto a bad attitude. 

Instead love them as if they were Jesus Christ Himself right there in front of you, wet towel on the floor and all. And when she blows the budget on a grocery store sale pretend it’s Jesus with the empty pocketbook. 

Do unto others as you would have it done to you and always remember that Jesus said whatever you do unto the least of these brethren of mine you do to Me.

Closing the gap…

You will come nearest the soul of your spouse as you continue in loving them more than asking for their love. And of course it works best when both husband and wife feel this way.

So try to outdo each other in practicing the deeds of love as laid out in 1 Corinthians 13.

This love of which I speak is slow to lose patience—it looks for a way of being constructive. It is not possessive: it is neither anxious to impress nor does it cherish inflated ideas of its own importance.

Love has good manners and does not pursue selfish advantage. It is not touchy. It does not keep account of evil or gloat over the wickedness of other people. On the contrary, it is glad with all good men when truth prevails.

Love knows no limit to its endurance, no end to its trust, no fading of its hope; it can outlast anything. Love never fails.

As you practice loving God’s way you will find joy in giving more than in taking or demanding love and you will see that as one-flesh partners if you hurt your spouse you will hurt yourself.

It is so easy to be selfish but it takes discipline, determination and devotion to God to lay down self for the sake of one’s marriage, putting your partner first. 

And Jesus came that we might have abundance including in our marriages. But the only way to win it is by being in it. Consistently abiding in Him, reading and studying His life-giving word, and giving your life away so that His way has precedence.
 
Day by day…

In marriage a husband or wife must choose to lay down selfishness in order to lift up God by putting their spouse first.

Maybe he really likes a particular meal, but she doesn’t and cooking it is not something she readily wants to do. She does it anyway asking God to change her heart so that she can prepare and serve it graciously.

Or perhaps she can’t sleep at night because something is troubling her and her mind keeps racing. He thinks it’s a tad irrelevant but listens to her heart and keeps himself from getting impatient even though he really needs to sleep so he can be alert for work in the morning 

In each example it was by loving the other more than oneself, that the marriage moved forward, the relationship strengthened and God was glorified.

Together at the banquet …

Each morning my Michael and I take our first bites of daily bread together. At our breakfast table, verses from 1 Corinthians 13 or Ephesians 4 are standard fare along with a portion from the gospels. 

You can grow your marriage up into all God wants it to be by doing the same, tasting together and seeing that the Lord is good.

Reading and re-reading certain scriptures helps us remember and learn to love like God loves us.

And it sweetens our marriage.

So with love in the air this Valentine’s week, but more so every day all year long, why not commit to spending time daily with your spouse and Jesus learning what love really is.

And then loving your spouse more…

~sheila
All our longings end in love.

Sheila Kimball is the author of Heart Cry: 40 Reflections for a Woman’s Soul (2013). She offers C²: Comfort and Conversation for women, and with her writing-partner husband Michael Kimball provides life coaching for men, women and married couples. Longings End is their faith-filled blog focused on love’s healing power and tips for making marriages better. For more information, visit LongingsEnd.com and LongingsEndCoaching.com. A free copy of her eBook, BREAKOUT Manifesto: When you’re ready to break free of brokenness is available when you subscribe to Longings End.

Wounds Won't Last Forever

In Chapter 11 of “The Fire of Delayed Answers” by Bob Sore, we get a glimpse of his journal entries as he went through a very difficult time in his life.

“I don’t see God’s promises as just offers of blessing, but as expressions of His character and person, expressions of who He is and how He has chosen to relate to man. So to let go of God’s promises is a denial of who He is; it is a rejection of His character and His intentions toward me…He leads through valleys, but always through, never just into.” (pg 162)

If you’re feeling wounded and waiting for healing, Don’t Give Up.

Keep waiting. 

To deny that God is good is to deny that He is going to deliver you from whatever it is coming against you.

Don’t let go of who God is.

He is a “man of his word.” 

He will bring you through the valley.

Just remember, you can’t go AROUND the valley. You have to go THROUGH it.

Like Sorge says, He hasn’t brought you to the valley to leave you there. You will come out of it.

The delays in deliverance are for our good. To ready the soil of our hearts for whatever it is God is planting.

“It’s God’s will to heal you, to provide your financial needs, and to answer all your prayers that are according to His will, but sometimes He delays the answer in order to work a greater surrender in our hearts.” (pg 172)

God is more concerned with YOU than with situations. He wants to mature YOU, not simply do another miracle.

One thing I really like about this book is how Sorge explains that Jesus didn’t seem to get excited about performing miracles. He just did them and went on about His Father’s business.

God can do ANYTHING. 

He performs miracles all the time… and He will do so for you too.

Delaying answers isn’t to punish you or because He isn’t capable to doing more, it’s because He is God and He sees the bigger picture.

Trust Him.

The Valley won’t last forever.

You will get through this.

“He hasn’t wounded me to leave me wounded.” (pg 162)

Join the Book club discussing, “The Fire of Delayed Answers” by Bob Sorge, by either grabbing a copy of the book and joining the weekly discussions and/or leaving a comment below. You can read more about this chapter from: Jason, Sarah, Dusty, Kari, Glynn, and Joell.