Life, Interrupted

“But when it pleased God…” –Galatians 1:15

If you are like me, you hate to be interrupted. Whether it’s while you are speaking, or when you have your entire day mapped out before you and something unexpected happens. You like to always know what's coming.

It’s comfortable, it’s safe.

But God wants us to live interruptable lives.

How many times have you allowed God to “interrupt” your life and your plans? We have to learn to give God room to move. Constantly, we make plans for our day, saying this and that will happen, assuming that we can control when God will fall into our lives. But we forget that God comes and goes as He chooses. What if we were having a meeting, and all of the sudden He wanted to move? Or if we were hanging out with friends, and surprise! He wants you to pray for someone.

Can you imagine how Noah felt when God wanted him to build an ark? Imagine how he seemed to his friends and family. But when he was floating safely over the water, with his family safe and everyone else dying around him, can you imagine his relief? He listened to God, and God did not disappoint.

                          

He doesn't always come in the same way, but He does come. Look for Him. That’s how you make room for Him. Always keep your eyes alert for Him, but never expect Him to come when you expect Him to.

“However much we may know God, the great lesson to learn is that at any minute He may break in.” –Oswald Chambers

I think we always forget that God is His own “person.” He decides when He wants to arrive. “When it pleases God,” He shows up. It has nothing to do with our plans.

Are we humble enough to allow God to mess up our plans?

“Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.” –Proverbs 19:21

Always expect God to show up, and when he does, listen to what He says. Something amazing will happen. His plans are better, much better, than ours!

Prayer:

Lord, interrupt me. Do it all the time. Don’t let me become destroyed by my own plans, because I know they will fail me. You know what is best for me, and what is best for your children. If you need me, use me. If you want me to suddenly stop driving and start worshipping or praying, let me know. Change my heart, Lord, I am prideful and childish when it comes to my plans being interrupted. So, Lord, change me and mold me into the interruptable person that you want me to be.

What are you looking at?

"Eyes on me... Eyes on me."

Have you noticed how hard it is to pursue God when you're having a good season? The greatest spiritual difficulty is to focus on God, and to depend on Him, even when we don't feel we need a savior. Difficulties make it almost impossible not to look at God, and His blessings will, a lot of the time, take our focus off of Him. Take the message of the Sermon on the Mount: we need to start whittling down all of our interests and passions until our mind, heart, and body are completely and totally focused on Jesus Christ. Until we are “looking unto Him.”

Sometimes, we find ourselves focusing on the lives of the “saints,” AKA those "goody two-shoes” people of this world, and find our focus has completely shifted from the One who matters most. Focusing on saints, or even trying to become like a saint, will not bring about our salvation. When we look at God, it’s not that we WILL be saved, as if it hasn't occurred yet… when we look at Him, we ARE saved. If our focus is right, we will find what we are looking for. Our problems, our bad attitudes, our depression will cease when we look unto Him.

Do you believe it?

No matter what trial you are going through, look to Him, build your hope on Him.

“’Look unto Me,’ and salvation is, the moment you look.” –Oswald Chambers

 

Nat's Reflection:

It seems that whenever I have an issue, I look everywhere BESIDES to Him for the answer. I read books, I eat food, I lounge on the couch watching a movie, when all I need to do is look to Him. I worry so much about the future of my child, and my children, and if I will be a good parent, and the entire time I forget that I just need to look at Him, and I am saved. He will save me from being a bad parent. No, He already has saved me from being a bad parent. I will be a good, not perfect, mother for my children because I look unto Him. He has saved me.