Tested Before Proven

Experience: that most brutal of teachers. But you learn, my God do you learn.C. S. Lewis

In case you can't tell by the title of the blog, I love airplanes. In fact, I have a fascination with most modern marvels that extend human capability: trains, planes, bridges, cars, you name it. But none of these inventions became what they are over night nor without proper proving and testing.

When we allow God to move in our lives it works the same way. In order for us to reach our full potential and purpose, we have to undergo a period (actually, several periods) of testing and proving ourselves ready to move to the next level.

Testing 1, 2, 3. Seriously, would you want to fly in an airplane that hasn't proved it's ability to fully function as an airplane ought to? I wouldn't! How then can we expect to be who we're meant to be without proper testing and proving? There is a huge element of responsibility in carrying out God's purpose for our lives that He and we have to know for sure that we're ready to go. Just like we entrust our life in the air to planes, we have to be able to trust and believe in ourselves. No "fake it til" you make it here.

Multiple Choice? Essay? What does testing look like? It's been my experience that you should be careful what you ask for because God will give it to you in ways that you don't expect! If you ask for patience, He'll send an "annoying" co-worker. If you ask for love He'll send you someone who needs it more. If you ask for success He will teach you how to handle failure. God uses unique challenges in our lives to test our ability to respond and overcome. Through that overcoming we find out who we are and gain the wisdom and experience to help shape us into who we are called to be.

Have you experienced testing and proving in an area of your life? Did you think you were ready to fly but found out you weren't yet?

Shipwreck

Proverbs 3:5-6 - Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.

So this makes 50 posts, huh? We've still got a long way to go but I wanted to share one of those songs that always gets me. Sometimes we go through life and make mistakes trying to be something we aren't supposed to be and it leads us to crash. Thankfully when we do crash, it's always upon His shore.

Enjoy!

I built a fortress
With a hundred thousand faces
I'll keep it safe
With a hundred thousand more
But these masks are wearing thin
As You draw me in

I spent my time
On the empty and the fleeting
I spent my life
On much less than I'd dreamed
But I'm reaching out to you
To make me new

'Cause I am just a beggar here at Your door
I am just a shipwreck here on Your shore
I come empty handed
Ready to see
Your life in me changing who I've been
To who I need to be

You tell me my story
As You sift between the pages
I feel redemption
In the space between each turn

Could You take me in Your arms
And tell it just once more
Could You take me in Your arms
And tell it just once more 

What's In Your Will?

Even in death there is a lesson. Look for it.

This is a post about death. Well...kinda..

Over the weekend I did a bit of social media fasting because I wanted to create an atmosphere where I could tune out the white noise of the day to day and really focus in on what God is saying in different areas of my life. I needed it more than you know. My prayer on Saturday was that during my fast that He be revealed.

And this is what I got:

God's will.  Almost every time we speak of God's will for our lives we are referring to the future. We talk about what is going to come, what's supposed to happen, and what our purpose is in life. This is definitely true but I want to break down what I think can be considered the dual nature of this phrase.

God's will [for our future]. The common version of the meaning of God's will. Everyone knows that God has a plan for our lives and that ultimately they are what God wants to come to pass. Obedience, grace and growth towards Him is what helps us live out the calling He has on our lives.

God's will [for our past]. Among many other definitions for the word, Merriam-Webster defines the word "will" as:

"A legal declaration of a person's wishes regarding the disposal of his or her property or estate after death; a written instrument legally executed by which a person makes disposition of his or her estate to take effect after death."

Basically, what I got this weekend is that some stuff in our lives is just dead. It was conceived, it was born, it lived... but then it died, and God has no intention of bringing it back in your life. Moreover, he WON'T bring it back because well, that's just not his will. This could be anything, an old relationship (or non-official-but-we're-creeping-and-got-all-tangled-emotionally relationship), an old hobby or skill, a group of friends you were cool with, anything! Once God shuts the door on that thing and buries it, it has no hope for resurrection.

How to tell what's not really dead [yet]. Notice in the last sentence I said that God is the one who shuts the door. Meaning, sometimes there are things that look dead in the natural but not in the spiritual. In the same way that Jesus died only to rise again later, Lazarus was raised from the dead, and God had Ezekiel raise up the dry bones, some things in your life could be on pause or on standby but not exactly dead. Maybe you have a family member that you pray for or a vision that you feel is God-given for your life, these things may look bleak right now but God's not done yet. I think that in order to sift these situations from the dead ones you have to examine how you look at them. These might clue you in on what's not really dead:

• You look back on the thing or person and still see the promise in it's future in your life.
• This thing is a part of your earnest prayer life.
• You notice signs of life/hope, whether brief flashes or blatant moments.
• This thing does not pull you out of alignment with Christian values/your walk if it were to be revived.
• The idea of God raising it from the dead increases your faith and draws you closer to Him.

These are signs that your situation might not be dead. Continue to believe in these things unless God says otherwise!

It's dead, move on. On the other hand there are things that are really, really, really dead. You can't escape these. In fact, sometimes things in our lives have to die so that new things can grow in it's place. The same way we would look foolish trying to revive a dead physical body is the same way we look foolish trying to revive something that's spiritual dead to us. These are signs that I've come across that help determine if something is really dead:

• This thing is not a part of your prayer life, in fact you've pretty much moved on from it.
• On the other hand, you haven't moved on from it but no new life is visible at all.
• Anytime you think back on the situation or person, it's more of a negative reflection than positive.
• You feel uncomfortable giving it over to God because the truth is, you really don't want it to live in you.
• If the thing/person were revived in your life it would draw you outside of your Christian values OR outside of your purpose/will.

That's not a full list and of course God has the power to revive anything, but for our sake it's probably best to turn these things over to God and allow Him to make the decision. Also, I want to note that this can and should refer to the sin in our lives. If we are in Christ, it should be our aim to kill fleshly desires and our sinful nature since there is no life in them.

Understanding God's will [of the dead]. When someone who has a will dies, the people in the will are told just what their inheritance is from the person. God works the same way in dead situations except his inheritance can be physical or spiritual. Perhaps that dead thing made you stronger, perhaps the void left by the dead thing leaves room for something to physically take it's place that God wants to be there. Spiritually, perhaps you've grown to learn a lesson. Whatever it is, do not miss it! Everything happens for a reason and if you don't catch the lesson, you might find yourself chasing down that lesson again the hard way until it sinks. The lessons in God's will for the dead things in our lives are always positive. Remember the lesson.

Bonus Coverage ( A lesson in how to bury the dead things/sin in our lives):

Tye Tribbett ft. Mali - Eulogy

We've Got Work To Do

"For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."- Ephesians 2:10 (NIV 2010 Edition)

Back when I was in undergrad, one of the cool things about college was that you could pick from a TON of courses to fill the requirements for your major. To fulfill your English class you could take regular English, Poetry 101, Shakespeare, or some other courses. The same would go for math, science, etc. etc.


The interesting thing about all of these classes is that no matter which class I'd pick, I would get the syllabus at the beginning of the semester and freak out. "You want me to write a 25 page paper on what?!?!" I'd say as I go back to the registration website and look for new classes. But the bottom line was that a class had to be picked and a class had to be completed. Imagine my amazement when I'd reach the end of the semester and receive a passing grade on the course when prior to the class I may have known little to no information about the subject matter. I had learned so much along the way that it all actually prepared me for the exams and papers at the end of the class.


That's a little bit like how God works.


Before we were even born, God knew us. Not only did He know us in the past tense but He knew what we would become, who we would marry, what jobs we would have, and so on and so on. As we came into the world and continued to live out our days, we would come across different life hurdles or challenges that test us or prove us in a certain way. Sort of like an invisible syllabus. 


See, God has already scripted out our lives and allows us to go through learning, growing and doing good things along the way. That is what the passage in Ephesians teaches us. Life is not a matter of happenstance or luck of the draw. Instead it is a set collection of opportunities that God set in our path long before we even knew we'd get there. 


If you've been studying and learning along the way, that will help you pass every test!