Since the leap of faith the Lord called us to last year, we’ve reminded Him often that we’re free falling and need to know where to land. But He just kept telling us to fly and soar into our destiny. (??) We thought after we took the leap in obedience some obvious door would open or clear path would be revealed, but instead the Lord had surrounded us with words to “get moving,” “take action now,” and “make it happen.” When we expressed our confusion over these kinds of instructions and why things weren’t unfolding as we expected, He replied, “Blessed is he (she) who is not offended because of Me.“ (Matthew 11:6, Luke 7:23)
As we kept asking HOW to fulfill those instructions, He seemed to be confirming that He was asking us to do something quite risky, unfamiliar, uncomfortable, and scary. Not convinced, we continued seeking and seeking… and seeking to be sure. But during this past month of pressing in even more intensely, the Lord finally told us, “I’ve already told you what to do. The problem is that you’re just as afraid of the solution as you are of the problem.” To illustrate, He gave the example of it being as though we’re in a high-rise building that’s on fire. He’s down below saying – “JUMP!” – and we’re standing on the ledge saying, “…Is there another option!?!?” He showed us we were continuing to seek because we’re hoping He’s going to give us a less frightening instruction than the one He’s already given. But there’s not much time to continue deliberating. The fire is closing in. If we stay put, we’ll “die.” If we jump, at least we have the chance to survive. There’s no option but to “jump or die.”
The next day, He confirmed this message again by giving the analogy of a mother eagle when she begins to stir her nest to provoke her eaglets to get out of the nest and fly. After she removes all the
comfortable padding so the prickly branches are exposed, making the nest so uncomfortable that the eaglet can no longer rest there, the eaglet crawls out onto the high ledge. As it peers out over the expanse of sky, it doesn’t know how to go forward, yet it knows it can’t go back. There’s no option but to “fly or die.” We were in awe at this immediate confirmation.
Just over a week later (1-25), one of the many confirmations that wowed us was when our pastor talked about times that God will put you in a position where you have NO OPTION but to “win or die.” We knew He was continuing to confirm. When God puts you in this position, you can’t just stick your toe in the water to see if it parts ~ having to “jump,” “fly,” “win,” or “die” implies total commitment. RISK
In wrestling with the idea, we had presented some practical reasons why the risky instruction might not truly be “wisdom” from the Lord, but He kept responding to this with the account of feeding of the 5,000 (which He’d been giving ever since He first called us to the leap of faith). Though of course He emphasized the obvious message ~ that when we give him the little we have, He’s able to miraculously multiply it to feed the masses ~ He also kept stressing how He had used that situation to TEST Philip’s faith (John 6:6). When Jesus presented Philip with the problem of finding food for the enormous crowd, Philip immediately began racking his brain for a natural solution that left him believing the task was impossible, instead of looking to Jesus for a supernatural solution, knowing all things are possible for those who believe. It’s easy for us to shake our heads at Philip’s lack of faith, but we must remember he had never seen Jesus’ ability in this kind of situation before. He didn’t have the advantage that we do of knowing the second half of the story. In the same way, the Lord wants us to stop limiting Him to natural solutions and believe Him for the supernatural. He’s urging us to just do whatever He’s asking us to do ~ and trust Him with the second half of the story. We don’t have to have His part figured out in order to do our part.
Seeing we still needed further convincing, He also surrounded us with the account of Naaman (II Kings 5). Through this He warned us NOT TO MISS OUR MIRACLE because His instruction didn’t make sense to us and wasn’t something we particularly wanted to do. He reminded us how Naaman got offended when the instruction Elisha gave him to receive his healing was not what he expected. Like Naaman, we were being faced with the opportunity to be offended that it wasn’t happening like we thought it would or as we preferred it to. And like Naaman’s servant, the Lord was also urging us not to just walk away and not even TRY, lest we miss our miracle.
He drove this point home again last week by giving us the same message through a different account. This time He used the example of the disciples after their long, fruitless night of fishing (Luke 5). Finally back to shore, they were cleaning their nets and preparing to go home, doubtless exhausted in ways that were deeper than mere physical weariness, when Jesus showed up and told them to LAUNCH OUT into the DEEP and cast their nets again. (Wha ?) Like Naaman, these men had the opportunity to reject this instruction and miss their miracle. They could have reasoned that it didn’t make any sense. After all, they’d already been fishing during prime hours, employing all their expertise and tricks of the trade; clearly nothing was biting. They could have decided they were just too tired to try again. But in spite of the objections they initially presented, they ultimately responded as we must all learn to respond when the Lord tells us to do something contrary to what we want, think, or feel ~ “…But because You say so, I will…” (“…Nevertheless, at Your word I will…”).
Several months ago, while still trying to discern what God was saying, we’d been thrown into confusion by some words He’d given us about pride and humility. I promptly misinterpreted them as a warning NOT to do the “crazy,” risky thing we’d been thinking He told us to do, assuming in my natural reasoning that He was exposing that doing so would be pride (or at least perceived as pride) and that there must be a more humble path to take. But as we continued crying out for understanding about why He kept speaking to us about pride, yet at the same time still also seemed to keep confirming to do the risky thing, He reminded us that PRIDE DISOBEYS ~ HUMILITY OBEYS. Like Naaman and like Jesus’ first disciples, He was wanting us to HUMBLE OURSELVES and OBEY – to submit to His instructions – regardless of whether it makes sense or seems like a good plan – regardless of whether it’s something we’re comfortable or familiar with – regardless of whether we feel sufficiently prepared or qualified – regardless of whether we’re afraid or intimidated – regardless of whether it’s something we really want to do. No matter what our litany of reasons and excuses may be, when He asks us to do something, He wants us to TRUST and OBEY.
When Naaman surrendered and obeyed he was completely healed and restored. When the disciples surrendered and obeyed, leaving the shallow water behind to stretch themselves further than they’d been before, they received their net-breaking, boat-sinking provision. When Jesus surrendered and obeyed He made the way for multitudes to be eternally saved…. Let’s not miss finding out what miracles are waiting for us on the other side of following God’s instructions. When the eaglet dove off the ledge, it learned it had the potential to fly all along. Let’s discover the potential we have that we’ve never used. Let’s fly and not die. Let’s not end up with the pain of wondering what would have happened “if,” or the pain of seeing someone else step into our place who was willing and obedient to do the thing we failed to do.
At our worship pastor’s wife’s request, I attempted to share a brief version of this yesterday morning with the worship team, but when we heard this additional confirmation this morning, I knew this word was supposed to be shared with others too. Listen to this short but powerful confirmation (from TD Jake’s message yesterday 2-1-15 ~ JUST DO IT!):
I pray that none of us will miss our miracle(s) by failing to humble ourselves and submit to whatever God is asking us to do – no matter how great or small. The only thing that stands between us and victory is doing what God says. So let’s…Just do it!
“Whatever He says to you, do it.” John 2:5
Blessings and Prayers, (see update below)
© Laura Jewell Tyree
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Update 2-3-15 Just in case we didn’t get it before – God has once again gone for that dimension of confirmation that takes us beyond all shadow of doubt ~ causing us to become FULLY PERSUADED! He has just officially FLOORED us (literally) with His orchestration of confirmations. Over the weekend, we were praying about which cd series to listen to next and decided to start a series by Paula White about destiny. We listened to part 1 Saturday, but didn’t get to part 2 till today. This CD series was made in the Spring of 2013 ~ we purchased it Fall of 2014 (having no clue what was in it) ~ but God orchestrated for us to hear this clip from part 2 TODAY, the day after the astounding confirmation from TD Jakes above! Once again He has overwhelmed us with Unmistakeable, Undeniable, Inescapable Confirmation!!! ONLY GOD!
“Can you hear me now?” ~ God 😉
