Say yes!

Oh my!! I am so excited for today! That is something I have not been able to say for a while. First convocation this morning was so refreshing and spoke right to my heart.  Priscilla Shirer brought it! I thought I would share because it was so encouraging to me and I hope it can be to you as well! 


She was speaking about Joshua and his immediate obedience to the Lord when God told him he was to lead the Israelites (2 million of them!) to the promise land. He didn't try to negotiate or squirm his way out of it- which Im sure he was scared of what it is he knew God was calling him to do- he was a BRAND new leader!! But Joshua had great faith because he acted immediately in obedience to God regardless of how impossible the situation looked or how scared he was. He understood something I so often don't, he understood that God knows what we don't and that God had ALREAY set him up for victory, he just had to be obedient!! God doesn't call the equipped but he equips the called and because of that no matter what situation I or you find yourself in you can be obedient in what it is the Lord is calling you to do with confidence that you will be victorious. 


They waited for three days watching the jordan river get bigger and bigger each day and the situation looking more and more impossible.. sounds a lot like my life sometimes! The longer I sit and stew and squirm and stay unsatisfied and become less and less willing to do what it is the Lord is calling me to do the less and less likely I am to trust, and the more likely I am to forget who my God is and forget that he is sovereign.  Satan desires to steal kill and destroy and because of that he desires to cripple us is fear!! Enough so that we will no move, we will not take another step because we are scared, or we just DONT see how something can happen. Often it is what we are most scared of that God is calling us to do, otherwise satan would not try navigate us away from the situation by making us scared! 


Joshua did two other things, He pointed everyone he was leading to the presence of God and in Joshua 3:4 he says "Then you will know which way to go since you have never been this way before." He was saying 1. Remember the Lord!! Acknowledge Gods presence BEFORE you make a move! And 2. We have never done this before so THAT is why its important we acknowledge the Lord, by doing so He will show us what our next step will look like! (Proverbs 3:6- In ALL YOUR WAYS acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight.) 


I have been so distracted, and become so complacent, and so content in a dull, routine walk with the Lord.  Yet all this time those feelings of discontentment and un satisfaction have been the very things that have the Lord is using to woo me, to call be back himself, by not allowing ANYTHING else to fully satisfy me. After seeing the example set by Joshua I am able to push away frustration and say ok Lord YOU are God. I may feel that things are out of control and I may pridefully question and second guess where it is the Lord has me right now. I have been shaken out of my comfort zone but because of that I can hold even tighter to the Lord and look for growth opportunities. I can say "yes" to the ways God is working in my life right now, even if they are not what I would choose.  Just like Joshua I can be obedient, conquer my fear and unbelief with trust and acknowledge the Lord in my life knowing that bottom like: its not about me, its about honoring the Lord with my life and if this season my life does that then I can "Give thanks to the Lord, call on his name make known among the nations what he has done, and proclaim that his name is exalted" Isaiah 12:4


Also, after a week of fighting off loneliness and not knowing that I would fill my weekend with I became aware of a conference put on by who else but Priscilla Shirer for tonight and Saturday night!! I am so excited and will be passing along what it is I learn!!