Quote
"God often asks us to step over the limits we impose upon ourselves to venture out into the unknown - trusting." - Denny Lyon
From Denny: Today I was reflecting upon how easy it is to place our thoughts, our lives, our expectations and tuck them away, in a neat little bundle, imprisoning them into a very small world, a box. So often we humans are so afraid in life that we invent rules for everything in order to control the world around us.
Perhaps rules should be treated as mere guidelines as how to behave in a culture so as not to bring offense to our neighbor? Doesn't it seem many people live too close to the rules that they end up as what is known as "rule bound"? They end up trapped, and suffocating spiritually - by the very rules they invented to protect themselves from the world of chaos and uncertainty.
We humans do so love our security in life whether it's economic security, emotional security and status security, our exalted place in a family or society. If we spent as much time on true spiritual development - as we do on inventing and slavishly following rules - this world would literally become Heaven on Earth.
The Spirit of God has trained me for decades since I was a very little girl, always calling me to go beyond what society taught me. Of course, I caught a lot of static from everyone around me when I "followed God not man" - still do - follow God and get static. In time though those around me came to see the wisdom of God's doings as I followed confidently, trusting He knew what He was doing. Instinctively, I knew "the why" would eventually be revealed and explained, causing everyone to calm down and quit getting in a huff about not following the rules.
My father was often exasperated with me, saying I "had no fear." He kept trying to instill fear into me - which is counter-productive to spiritual development. I never thought of myself as fearless as I often sized up situations, treading lightly, realizing it was not wise to engage as violence could erupt, creating an even bigger mess. Yet my father complained constantly as he feared everything and everyone, trusting no one, a decided agnostic one year and then an atheist the next. He did not want to be constrained by a conscience. Whether you believe in God or not is irrelevant because we all come hard-wired with a conscience.
My father never would give up all the space inside himself he gave over to making Fear feel comfortable and welcome. And I never gave Fear a home. Wisely placed Trust is smarter, more profitable in Life and certainly far easier to live with inside yourself.
But how do you get from the place of Fear to the place of Trust? Many a Christian claims to trust God and yet deny requests from Him on a daily basis without fully realizing their rebuff. How many times have you been requested to do something outside your current comfort zone? You said "No! I won't go there!" or "I won't talk to that person because they are this or that label and don't fit into my idea of the right kind of person with which to associate."
See? Rules can trip us up and we can miss out in Life. We also miss out on how God is working in our lives to move us past our limitations and low expectations so he can bless us with so much more. To receive the blessings for which we keep asking we must first empty out the negative energy which is taking up the space where we are to make a home for our blessings.
In this New Year take the time to re-think your self-imposed limitations and expectations. Think again about how the Spirit of God is quietly calling you in small every day situations to do more, be more, think on a larger scale. The one small act of kindness may not seem big to you but is huge to the person receiving it - and it sure makes glad the heart of God who loves us all.
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