The fellowship was good…but the time alone, in prayer, was needful. Jesus departed often into the mountain to pray…to speak words from a heart that was heavily burdened, to His Father. The night came when He knelt in Gethsemane, and His agonizing cry rose to heaven: “If it is possible…”
But it was not possible. If was for that purpose and that purpose alone for which He came. His response is one I cannot dare to think would be my own: “I delight to do Thy will.”
The Christian life will always demand at some point in time that we leave the good, the meaningful, the fulfilling…to get what is needful. It will require time set apart, sometimes in great difficulty. Jesus went out into the desert for forty days to be tempted of the Devil, and to fast, and to pray. Those seasons will come for us also. And when they do, what can we say? And what will our cry to the Father be? David said “…Today, if you will hear his voice, harden not your heart in provocation (strife)…”
Is God requiring of you a step away from serving Him? Your heart cries “No! It was a good thing!” And yet, He desires to take that good, and give you better. Those who achieve the most for God and for His glory are those who walk willingly and obediently through the painful, stretching trials, alone – with none other but the Master by their side. It hurts! Fears come and lies tear at your soul, but one thing remains, and that is Jesus Christ. No one can take Him from you!
Dear believer, God will often use those in our lives to pull us apart from the good, to give us the needful. At times, these very tools are in error in their own lives, and yet, they are being used in the hands of God to accomplish God’s very best for you! Do not look at their motives, or their desires. For this truth stands: Family, friends, children, work, pleasure, service, prayer, religion, singing, hobbies, travel, knowledge…all is a piece of dust unless Christ is all and in all…the very centerpiece of your life.
Are you being pressed into a service you cannot love…pushed into a mold you were never meant to fill? It is not conformity to the person who afflicts the pain that God desires, but rather conformity to the character of Christ. We cannot pour out service on behalf of our parents, our sisters, our brothers, our pastors, our teachers, our friends. Our service must be yielded to God, done unto the “least” with one purpose: to do it unto the Lord Jesus Christ. Obedience must be because Jesus requires it…not because a parent or a teacher, or a pastor asks it of us. Strive to meet the standards of people, and you will come back a failure every time. But leave behind the bar of impossible achievement, and run to the cross, and there you will find that all things are possible to them who believe…and the burden will roll away as you look up at the Lamb of Calvary. For He holds possibility that no one else can offer you.
Walk into your personal Gethsemane, and let it be just you and Jesus…for as time goes on, and life moves in it’s uneven course, He is the only one who will remain the same, steadfast, unchangeable forever. Do not put your eyes on the water beneath your feet…it will cause you to sink, and quickly. Instead, the Master calls, and obedience to His voice is demonstrated first by looking at Him, then by taking step, after step, after step, until at last, you have reached Him, and the test…at least for the moment, is past.
Be fully Yielded.
~h
