(Interpretation from Pastor Ninio’s preaching during the 1st Church Anniversary of ICF Kita, Nagoya)
If sometime you found yourself an urging to do a thing for the first
time without any hint of its outcome, what would you feel? Will you
feel fear, excitement or anxiety? What if you were asked to get out
from your comfort zone without any assurance of comfort but left only
with a promise, will you dare do at least a single step? “I am but a
small child Lord. I cannot speak.(Jeremiah 1:6)” these are the words of the prophet
Jeremiah. It is usually at first that the man sees himself
being small in the presence of a certain God. We see our insecurities
big and we see our God small. Changing our paradigm and seeing the
wonders God had made in the lives of His people ahead of us, we can
find ourselves excited and our future promising. We see our lives in the palm of His Hands. We see our God holding us, and not us holding
into our own dear lives.
In our Christian walk, we will always find ourselves called for so
many times to a place we never thought of. Sometimes the new journey is
painful for us, as we have to leave friends behind, be away from the
family, or be uncomfortable with new things, and letting go of our own
dreams and may require certain sacrifices that are costly for us. Why
do He usually do it? We wonder why. Because God will always be
concerned of our character than our comfort. He will usually ask us to
step out of our own-made boxes and dare to trailblaze a new path if not
for our own life’s fulfillment but at least for His purpose. Why do God
always ask us to do something that we thought at first we cannot? It is
because God wants to challenge our faith in Him and He wants to fulfill
His promises in our lives. By journeying into the unknown, we are
stripping off of our pride and self-preservation tactics and allowing
God’s hands to do the wonders that our eyes may have not yet seen.
Through this, we allow God to move. We allow Him to manifest. We let
Christ increase and we let the old man in us decrease (and stayed
crucified).
At first, going out of our comfort zone has never been comfortable
and may not be enjoyable for a fact. Some may mock us, worst, may mock
our God for doing so, while they see things in a worldly manner. While
in journey, we must always fix our eyes to Him and acknowledging that
our identity will never be in conformity with this world. If we could
only see with the eyes of faith, we will realize that going out beyond
is setting a journey to the heart of our own Creator. To God’s own
promises. To God’s own heartbeat.
The walk requires trust, obedience and prayer. These
three are characters of the Spirit, ever depending on the unlimited
Source whose name is God. “TRUST in the Lord with all your heart, and
lean not into your own understanding. ” (Proverbs 3:5). Trusting God
strips us of our selfishness and pride. We unclothe ourselves from fear
and clothe ourselves with trust. Just like our forefathers
Abraham, he set into a journey to a two-fold promise: that through him
will birth a great nation and God will give him the blessings of an
everlasting covenant. (Genesis 17:4-7).
There are two attitudes on serving the Lord. Just for a reality check, the first one is the "IF" attitude: "If ..(given condition), then I will serve the LORD. " The second one, is the "EVEN IF" attitude: "Even if..(given condition), then I will serve the Lord". The former trusts himself while the latter trusts his Creator. The first one glorifies thy self while the latter one glorifies our God. You see the difference, the ends are the same as you are still serving the Lord, the difference is to whom do you put your trust into?
OBEDIENCE matters to God, for obedience is better than any sacrifice (Isaiah 15:22). King Saul disobeyed God’s commandment and instead pursued to bring burnt offerings and sacrifices before Him. As a result, God removed his kingship and authority. For King Saul feared more of his people than fearing His Creator. His dream to be a great king became his god. His dream becomes his idol before our God. Our Father will never be pleased with our offerings if we cannot do the things He specifically instructed us to do. Obedience leads us to humility, submitting our own will to His will. Thus, the second self-check question is, "your will or His will?"
PRAYER changes us, it leads us to the place where God wants us to go. Our mind is a battleground where the will of the Spirit wrestles with the will of the enemy and our own. In prayer, we allow God to talk to us as He step by step directs our walk to the journey that we are set. We clear our communication lines and hear the voice of God audibly. In prayer, we allow the will of God to birth in our own lives. We allow miracles to happen. In prayer, we hear God’s voice as we accept His dealings. "Whose voice are you heeding to? To check, pray."
At the end of our own journey, we are making God pleased with the
works of His Hands in our lives as we can see Him saying, “Well done,
my good and faithful servant.. Come and share your master’s happiness!”
(Matthew 25:21). At the end of our journey, it is not anymore our own
comforts that matter, but it is in knowing that God has been pleased
because we obey. And we see a smile in the face of our own Father as
He sweetly says, "You are the apple of My eyes” (Zechariah 2:8).
