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God Chooses to Need You

And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?”

Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.” Isaiah 6:8

God never moves without partnering with people. Yep, that’s what I said.

The enemy would have us believe that God will just do what He wants to do anyway so you and I don’t have to pay attention. We can just do what we want.

But that isn’t what scripture demonstrates. I challenge you to find an occurrence in God’s Word where He intervened to bring deliverance without involving people—either by acts of faith or through prayer.

Even the birth of Jesus involved human cooperation. A betrothed virgin heard the word of the Lord proclaimed through the angel Gabriel and became an earthly conduit of God’s power as her heart came into agreement with God.

And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” Luke 1:38

God doesn’t move without involving people. He can, but He chooses not to. Instead, He waits for willing vessels who will cooperate with Him to release His power.

A few weeks ago, we discovered why that is. God gave dominion of the earth to man, and He never goes back on His Word.

What does that mean for you and me, dear one?

We will see God move as we listen at His gates, discern what He is speaking, and agree with Him through prayer and obedient faith. When we do that, we become gatekeepers (John 10:3), releasing the will and power of God to intervene on this earth.

That’s the authority God gave to man before the fall, and that Christ bought back for the church through the cross. You and I are supposed to partner with God to release His will and hold back the work of the enemy.

In the fifth chapter of James, God challenges us to pray. Verse 16 declares,

The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.

Immediately after making that declaration, scripture draws our attention to Elijah.

Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit. James 5:17-18

The prophet Elijah was a gatekeeper who drew near to God and allowed God to work powerfully through him. Let’s take a look at the passage James refers to.

In 1 Kings 17:1, Elijah made a surprising claim to Ahab, King of Israel.

“As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, before whom I stand, there shall be neither dew nor rain these years, except by my word.”

Pretty bold, don’t you think? Elijah stands before Israel’s king and predicts a drought. What would finally bring the rain? Elijah’s word, the word of a man.

Now you and I both know Elijah alone didn’t have the power to stop and start the rain. What he did have, however, was a relationship with a God who speaks. Elijah simply listened and agreed with what God said. What Elijah spoke to Ahab originated in the revealed will of God.

Let’s see how God finally brought the rain.

After many days the word of the Lord came to Elijah, in the third year, saying, “Go, show yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain upon the earth.” 1 Kings 18:1

Three years into the drought, God spoke to Elijah. Essentially He said, “You do this, and I will do this.”

Elijah had to come out of hiding and confront Ahab. When he did, God promised to send the rain.

Elijah trusted God and did as he was told. He confronted Ahab with his idolatry, putting the prophets of Baal to a test against the God of Israel. As Elijah called upon God to come and consume his drenched sacrifice, he said,

“… let it be known this day that you are God in Israel, and that I am your servant, and that I have done all these things at your word.” 1 Kings 18:36

Elijah’s obedience unleashed the power of God, bringing fire from heaven to consume his sacrifice. Afterward, Elijah said to Ahab, “Go up, eat and drink, for there is a sound of the rushing of rain” (1 Kings 18:41).

Three years without rain, and finally Elijah tells Ahab it’s time to celebrate because rain is on its way.

Well, that’s what God said, isn’t it? Elijah had done his part. Now he can just sit back and watch God move, right? But that isn’t what he does. Let’s read verse 42.

So Ahab went up to eat and to drink. And Elijah went up to the top of Mount Carmel. And he bowed himself down on the earth and put his face between his knees.

Immediately upon leaving Ahab, Elijah climbs to a mountaintop and begins to pray. And he continues to pray, until his eyes see that what God had already told him would happen had come to pass.

Why the need for prayer, dear one? Because God gave us authority on earth and has chosen to work through people.

It makes perfect sense, really. God always moves through the relationship He designed us for. In order to work through us, He needs us close.

God revealed to Elijah what He desired to do. It was then up to Elijah to open the gate and release it on this earth through prayer.

I wonder, dear one. What does God desire to do through you?

 

 

A Mother’s Struggle to Trust

Not again.

Clutching my Bible and prayer journal, I retreated to my favorite chair, eager to spend some time with the Lord. Well, that’s what I told myself anyway. I really just wanted to feel better.

Here I am, Lord. I scratched the words on the page, searching for where to begin. Worship filtered through my headphones, the uplifting beat of the melody marking a stark contrast to my mood. My mind tuned to the lyrics, “All we need is You.”

Instantly, conviction pierced my heart with the unsettling knowledge that I didn’t agree—at least not that day. That day I needed more than Jesus. I needed Him to fix things.

Guilt compelled me to confess. I’m sorry, Lord. I want you to be enough, but this is too much . . .

A jagged scar from an old wound had just been torn open. The familiar longing for acceptance tugged at my heart, crying out for satisfaction. Rejection had found me again. But this time, it had come for my son.

That changes things. I can handle the battle when I’m at the heart of it. I’ve learned to trust God’s plans for me even when I can’t make sense of them. He’s proven Himself faithful over and over again.

But this felt altogether different. This wasn’t about me. This time my child’s heart had been shattered, and I desperately wanted to fix it. I can’t be expected to idly watch one of my precious ones suffer.

My heart rebelled at the injustice of it. Anger mingled with the pain, begging retaliation. This wasn’t fair. He deserved better.

God should do something.

Soon His gentle Spirit stirred within my heart, lifting the veil so I could see. Realization dawned, penetrating my grief with this undeniable truth: God knew. He understood rejection. He understood the pain of seeing His Son cast aside—of wanting the world to recognize His great value, yet seeing it deny Him.

“He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.” John 1:11, ESV

In that moment, I knew His suffering. I felt His pain. How the Father must have wept when they rejected Jesus. How He still must weep as we repeatedly devalue His only begotten Son . . . the Son He loves . . . the Son He gave.

Hope flickered through my sorrow, God’s own understanding of my feelings encouraging me to press in close. I asked Him to speak to me, to help me trust Him with my own son’s fragile heart. I needed Him to help me believe what I knew His Word declared: that His plans for him are far greater than my own.

True to who He is, God answered. Once again, His Spirit stirred, reminding me of truth. God never allows suffering for its own sake. Suffering, according to Scripture, marks the path to glory.

“But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.” 1 Peter 4:13, NIV

Then I knew. God had glory to reveal in my son’s life.

This pain would pass, and God would somehow bring good through it. It wasn’t what I would choose for him, but the God who created Him and wrote his story knew what I couldn’t. For whatever reason, my son needed to walk through this. His despair would not be in vain. Through it God would reveal Himself.

I sat in the stillness, pen in hand, and listened, inviting the God who speaks to do so again. Soon His quiet whisper stirred within me, and I found my hand moving once more across the page.

He is mine, beloved, just as you are mine. I AM greater than his pain . . . than your pain. You will soon see.

A promise.

Tears fell in response, my heart hopeful. God always keeps His Word.

I thought of Abraham and how he must have felt as he placed his son, Isaac, upon that altar. I imagine he did it with trembling hands and a breaking heart. But place him there, he did. And Isaac received the blessing that came through his father’s promise.

God had spoken blessings over my son as well, and I had a choice to make. I could retreat into my anger and justify my sorrow. Or, I could trust God to keep His Word in my son’s life. I could fight to change things and try to manipulate his circumstances so I’d like the look of them better, or I could choose to believe the God who speaks and entrust my son to Him with open hands.

I decided I wouldn’t withhold him from the God who loves him even more than I do . . . and then it came. I experienced Jesus’ promise from John 14:27,

 “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.” ESV

The wonder of it always astounds me. I can’t explain the how of it. I simply revel in the miracle of it. But when I run toward Jesus in my confusion instead of from Him—and I listen—I find peace.

It happens the moment I resolve in my heart to believe.