How many times do we get urges about what we should or could be doing for the Lord, but we dismiss them as being too grand, beyond our capabilities, or just a dream?
How many times do we keep ourselves from stepping out in faith because we don’t yet know exactly where we are headed or we don’t have a solid plan for reaching our destination.
Genesis 12:1 NLT
The Lord had said to Abram, “Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land that I will show you.
Yes, it is good for us to make plans when possible, but many times the Lord calls us to step out boldly in faith. And if our steps only involve well thought out plans of what we can accomplish under our own power, what room are we leaving for God to be glorified?
If it is all work that we are capable of accomplishing ourselves, then won’t we just take credit for ourselves and won’t people just see the work that we have accomplished, not see the amazing power of God alive and working through us?
If we leave only room in our lives for the mundane, what can be miraculous? What will be an undeniable testimony of God’s grace, mercy, and power?
Yes, if we are chasing our own plans and our own desires, then it is foolish to step forward without a plan. In life, we need a plan, we née to be wise and not foolish. But when the Lord calls us to move, to step out in faith, those are not the times for us to use a lack of plans as an excuse to keep us from stepping forward.
In fact, stepping forward in faith will require us to make changes in our lives, it will teach us to be flexible. It will also teach us to be ready, equipped, and better prepared in life so that we are not caught without a sure footing the next time that we must step out in faith.
I’m sure that Abram had all kinds of questions about what lay ahead for his life when God called him to leave Haran. I’m sure that he had some level of concern and anxiety gnawing at the back of his mind telling him, “This is crazy.” But that was overcome by the Word of God spoken to him, telling him to leave.
Can you imagine the commotion that this must have caused with his family, friends, and neighbors? Can you imagine them asking where he was going only for him to tell them that he didn’t know, but the Lord was going to show him?
Imagine telling your friends and family that you were packing up everything and leaving on a journey for the Lord to show you where you were going to live. Imagine the questions, the concern, and the shock that it would greenest in those around you.
And I’m sure that for a while, many thought that Abram must be crazy or confused or misled – because they were only acquainted with the mundane, the normal everyday happenings of life in this fallen, physical world. But miraculous things happened in Abrams life when He stepped out in faith, because he was answering God’s call.
So we should first ask ourselves, have I heard the Lord’s call upon my life?
If not, have I asked for God to make it clear what my calling and purpose is?
Have I listened for His answer?
Have I dismissed it as unreasonable, ridiculous, or impossible?
If it doesn’t seem like something that I could never accomplish on my own, then it isn’t leaving a lot of room for God’s miraculous touch. God can do so much more through you than you can do for yourself.
But it takes faith, and many times it will take you withstanding the ridicule of those who look at you and consider what you are doing is foolish and misguided. It may also take an extended period of walking around in the desert while your faith is being tested, so I’m not claiming that God is a genie looking to grant all of your wishes. But when we are called, and we step out in faith, and we leave room for God to move in our lives – expect miraculous things to happen.
Don’t just hope for them, expect them. Because if He calls you, He isn’t calling you into failure, but into victory. That victory may be a life of testimony in your workplace, or it may be preaching the gospel, or it may be teaching and discipling others, or it may be traveling as a missionary, or it might be dying for the Word of God as a martyr. Not all victories look the same. But we should be sure that we aren’t settling for what is comfortable and known to us, instead of reaching out for the miraculous victory that God has planned for our lives.
Don’t just be a spectator.
Step out in faith.
Bear fruit.
Seize your miraculous victory.
Harold J. Ballinger 