I found this entry on one of my favorite blogs, Stuff Christians Like, and I just had to post it on my blog because it is SO where I'm at right now...
Have you ever doubted your purpose in life? Have you ever thought, “What am I supposed to be doing?” Or why am I here? Why don’t I have a mission in life?
I have, with increasing intensity these last two weeks. I’ve been wrestling with the question, “What’s next God?” I’ve been reading books about purpose and listening to great sermons like Craig Groeschel’s “Warrior” series. I started asking God, “What do you want me to do? What would you have me do for you? What did you put me on this earth for? What is my cause?”
I wanted him to tell me to start a ministry or be a spiritual warrior in faraway lands on a faraway adventure. I wanted him to give me a big cause so that I could do big things for him in big ways. But last Monday, in the midst of working through the weight and burden of feeling like I didn’t have a cause, I felt like God reminded me that he doesn’t think like I do. Maybe, when he hears me crying out for a cause, when he hears me asking him to transform me into a spiritual warrior, he wants to cry back:
"You want to be a warrior? Be a warrior of need and surrender. Make fighting for a relationship with me your greatest cause and see what other causes come out of that. See what other causes I put in your path. I can bring you adventures, but those things are small. Those are tiny compared to the cause of surrendering your heart and soul to me. That's your cause right now. Daily, hourly surrender of your heart and soul to me. You are on an adventure, make no mistake, but the real adventure, the big one that I cheer loudest about from the bleachers of heaven is for your heart. The adventure that begins every morning. That is the adventure I care about. Don't miss that one."
And I do, I miss it all the time because I focus on "what's next" instead of "what's now." I get so lost thinking I need to “do something for him” instead of “be in a relationship with him.” Like it says in Revelation 2:4, I forsake my first love. Repentance. Forgiveness. A minute by minute, all consuming need for God.
I don't want to miss that adventure. I don't want you to miss it either. God has big, crazy things planned for all of us. But the biggest adventure, the greatest cause, the grandest purpose, is the one that starts in our heart.
I have, with increasing intensity these last two weeks. I’ve been wrestling with the question, “What’s next God?” I’ve been reading books about purpose and listening to great sermons like Craig Groeschel’s “Warrior” series. I started asking God, “What do you want me to do? What would you have me do for you? What did you put me on this earth for? What is my cause?”
I wanted him to tell me to start a ministry or be a spiritual warrior in faraway lands on a faraway adventure. I wanted him to give me a big cause so that I could do big things for him in big ways. But last Monday, in the midst of working through the weight and burden of feeling like I didn’t have a cause, I felt like God reminded me that he doesn’t think like I do. Maybe, when he hears me crying out for a cause, when he hears me asking him to transform me into a spiritual warrior, he wants to cry back:
"You want to be a warrior? Be a warrior of need and surrender. Make fighting for a relationship with me your greatest cause and see what other causes come out of that. See what other causes I put in your path. I can bring you adventures, but those things are small. Those are tiny compared to the cause of surrendering your heart and soul to me. That's your cause right now. Daily, hourly surrender of your heart and soul to me. You are on an adventure, make no mistake, but the real adventure, the big one that I cheer loudest about from the bleachers of heaven is for your heart. The adventure that begins every morning. That is the adventure I care about. Don't miss that one."
And I do, I miss it all the time because I focus on "what's next" instead of "what's now." I get so lost thinking I need to “do something for him” instead of “be in a relationship with him.” Like it says in Revelation 2:4, I forsake my first love. Repentance. Forgiveness. A minute by minute, all consuming need for God.
I don't want to miss that adventure. I don't want you to miss it either. God has big, crazy things planned for all of us. But the biggest adventure, the greatest cause, the grandest purpose, is the one that starts in our heart.
1 comments:
Great post! Great reminder! I go through phases where I get caught up in feeling like I need to do something "big" for God... like go be a missionary, devote my life to full-time ministry in some way and so forth.
Like this post points out a lot of that is such a works based system of needing to perform for the Lord rather than focusing on being surrendered to Him. I feel like a lot of it for me when I go through those phases is attacks of the enemy. Like I'm going through a period of discontentment with where I am, which is obviously a tool of the deceiver. Of course he wants to do anything he can to make us think that our relationship with the Lord is works based, or to get our focus of the greatest need of staying submitted to and conected to our Savior. As long as we stay right with our Lord all our service, assignments, contentment and so forth with occur as fruit. So if we put our energy, time, thoughts, prayers etc. into being devoted to Him fully the rest will just happen.
Shannon
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