Wendy Anne Clark, (c) 2018
We have learned and are learning so much on this Grand Adventure. The primary lesson God seems to be teaching us (in great detail, over and over again)–and all those who are entering into community with us here through the House Church–is total dependence on God for ALL things: for provision of all earthy needs, for the right timing, for connecting to the right people, for wisdom, for guidance to the NEXT step, for the ability to wait on the LORD, and for the ability wait well.
Through His Word, God has been teaching us, and these are the things He has been emphasizing:
Resist panning and coming up with ideas on your own. Resist pushing ahead to try to make things happen in your time and your way.
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek His will in all you do, and He will show you which path to take,” Proverbs 3:5-6, NLT.
Resist looking at people through the eyes of the world and instead, strain to see them as God sees them and to give ALL people that you encounter God’s love and acceptance.
“The Lord isn’t really being slow about His promise, as some people think. No, He is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent,” 2 Peter 3:9, NLT.
Resist believing in only what you can see with your eyes or have experienced in the past.
“Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see,” Hebrews 11: 1, NLT.
God is doing a new thing , and He is in no way bound by what you know, have already experienced, or can even imagine.
“See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?” Isaiah 43:19, NIV.
“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us . . . ,” Ephesians 3:20, NIV.
Resist trying to figure it all out:
How the provision will come, trust that He will provide.
“And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus,” Philippians 4:19, NASB.
How what He is having us do today relates to what is coming tomorrow, trust that He will show us in due time.
“So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself . . .” Matthew 6:34.
How the seeds we are planting will look when they come to full maturity, just keep tilling the soil and planting the seeds, and trust that in due time we will reap a harvest. We can count on it because we are relying, not on our own abilities, but on the Lord of the Harvest.
“And He was saying to them, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest,'” Luke 10:2, NASB.
If it seems that I have been reflecting on this same thought for some time now, it is because we have been exploring dependence on God in progressive stages, in ever-expanding circles. We have seen those around us–who meet with us to study the Bible, to pray together, to stretch out arms to God, and to fix our eyes on Jesus–we have seen that they also are being stretched to continue to learn what it means to totally depend on God for all things. As a group of Christ followers, we have come to believe that God is preparing us all for something that is coming. He is laying the groundwork for something that He is going to do and that we don’t yet have the eyes to see.
Stay tuned.