We are not always going to understand God’s will, it may not make sense. God doesn’t take you in a straight line to your desired result, there will be twists, turns or challenges on the way. Times when it looks like you are at a dead end and obstacles look too big. Times when you feel like you are going the wrong way. Jesus says, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” (Matthew 16:24)
You know God could have delivered you, He could have turned it around just the way He did for others but it’s not changing. This is when you have to surrender your will. I mean surrender how you thought it would happen. God hasn’t delivered you yet or changed the situation because He has something better coming. You have to go through it to get to the greater things He has in store.
The scripture says “you let men ride over our heads; we went through fire and through water; yet you have brought us out to a place of abundance.” (Psalm 66:12) We don’t like the fires, the challenges, the people that do us wrong, but on the other side of those challenges is a new level of your destiny. Jesus had to go through a challenging moment, a betrayal, a rejection, but now He is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He was in the Garden of Gethsemane, facing His greatest challenge about to be crucified. He was under so much pressure that He sweated great drops of blood. He knew His Father could deliver Him, I mean He had raised the dead, calmed the storm, healed the lepers. He fell to His knees and said “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me”. He went on to say, “But not my will, let your will be done”. (Luke 22:42)
When we are in a challenging situation, dealing with things we don’t understand, are we going to get frustrated, “God, why did this happen” or lose our passion or quit believing? Try a different approach: let go of what you had in mind. Maybe the challenging situation is leading you to a resurrection. Maybe the betrayal was necessary to take you to your throne. Maybe the delay is a part of God’s plan, taking you somewhere that you never dreamed.
Let go of how you thought it would happen. It may not be by your strategy or your timing. We don’t know what He is about to do. He doesn’t always tell us in advance. That’s why we have to walk by faith and not by sight. And yes, it’s good to have plans, it’s good to have a vision for your life, but don’t get so set in your ways that if things don’t turn out the way you thought, you close your heart to what God want you to do about it.
I read about a man who went out hiking through the mountains. And he was on this high cliff, and somehow he lost his footing and slipped. He was in a free-fall headed toward the ground. In the last moment, he reached out, miraculously grabbed a small branch growing out of the side of the rocks. As he hung there, hung on for his dear life, dangling hundreds of feet in the air, he cried out “God, please save me”!
A voice boomed out of the heavens saying, “Son, let go and I will catch you”. There was a long pause, the man said, “Is there someone else up there”? God will allow you to go through the challenge so He can show out in your life. The giants or opposition aren’t there to kill you, they are there to reveal you, to show people who you are, to establish you, give you credibility and influence.
We want God to do it our way. We don’t want to let go of what we have in mind, we don’t want to surrender our will, and we haven’t figured it out. We have our strategy, how it’s going to happen, and when it’s going to happen. You think it’s taken longer than expected, feel God has forgotten about you, and think it’s never going to happen. God has you right where you are supposed to be.
The reason it’s not turning out the way you thought is that what God has in mind is much better than what you have in mind. His dream for your life is much greater than your dream. But the way it’s going to happen probably won’t be the way you thought. God will open doors you never imagined would open. Sometimes He will take you backwards so He can thrust you forward.
None of us plans on having a Goliath or opposition, we don’t plan on being thrown into a furnace. If you are set on how you think it’s going to happen, you will get sour, “Pastor, this is not where I thought I would be, looking for a new job at this stage in my career. Raising a special needs child, having to take this treatment”. Having to wait for the right person…
Beloved, the three Hebrew teenagers in the Bible didn’t plan on facing death at an early age, they had all kinds of dreams and goals, but they surrendered their will to God’s will. God didn’t keep them out of the fire, but made sure the fire didn’t harm them. The king looked in the window and said, “Didn’t we throw three men inbound? I see four men loosed, and one looks like the Son of God”. They came out without the smell of smoke. (Daniel 3:25)
Nothing can stop what God has purposed for you. Quit complaining because you got thrown into the fire. He is in the fire with you. You may not realise it, but you two are fireproof, nothing can snatch you out of God’s hands. When the teenagers came out, the scripture says, “The king made a new decree that from now on they were all going to worship the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego”. (Daniel 3:28)
IT’S NOT JUST ABOUT YOU!
Sometimes what you go through is not just about you, it’s about what God wants to do through you. God wants to make you an example of His goodness. When you go through the fire and come out without the smell of smoke, then you become a bright light, that gets people’s attention. Your testimony and your experience become a lifesaver for another person.
The interesting thing is that, we all once in a while sing this hymn “I surrender all”. All to Jesus I surrender, Yet the hardest thing to surrender is how you think it’s going to happen. If you don’t understand, you get upset, “God where were you? I thought we would have a baby by now, I thought I would have my degree, I thought I would be over this illness”. I thought I should be married by now!
This can save you a lot of frustration by putting how you thought it was going to happen on the altar. Surrender what you had in mind. There is a freedom when you surrender and let go… God is ordering your steps, He has laid out every day of your life. He said His plans for you are for good. You don’t have to figure everything out or come out with all the strategies. No, trust God’s will.
Think about the three Hebrew teenagers again, they wouldn’t bow down to the king’s golden idol. He was so angry, he said, “If you don’t bow, I’m going to have you thrown into a fiery furnace”. These teenagers never planned on facing this kind of challenge. They understood that nothing can stop God’s plan for their lives. They said to the king, “We are not going to bow down, for we know our God will deliver us”.
They had great faith, but their next statement is the key, “But even if He doesn’t, we are still not going to bow”. They were saying, “We trust His plan. Our life is in His hands”. They could have been complaining, “God, this is not fair, we were doing the right thing, why did it happen”? They surrendered their will to God’s will and trusted whatever God allows. (Daniel 3:16-28)
The king had their hands and feet bound with cords and threw them into the fire. Just because you are in something that feels over your head, you are outnumbered, the opposition is stronger, that doesn’t mean you are not where you are supposed to be. God is still in control. He wouldn’t have allowed the challenge if it weren’t a part of your purpose.
And sometimes we can get so consumed with what we want, it’s like it becomes an idol. It’s a good thing, but we are out of balance. We can’t be happy without it. Turn it over to God, pray, believe, then rest. Know that God is working, know that His plans for you are for good, that nothing can stop what He has purposed for your life. That at the right time it will come to pass.
But the reason some people are frustrated is not because God is not going to do it but because it’s not going to happen the way they think, when they think and with whom they think. You have to be at peace with His plan. God has not forgotten about you, He sees the lonely night, He sees the closed doors, the hurts or the delays. You can’t see it now, but it’s all working for your good.
Your desired result is not only on the way; I mean the promise, the healing, the provision or the spouse… God is ordering your steps, He is fighting your battles. He has not brought you this far to leave you. Trust Him when you don’t understand. Hold tightly to your dreams but hold loosely to how it’s going to happen.
If you will do this, I decree and declare that God is about to turn your question marks into exclamation points! The things you didn’t see coming, the right people, restoration, promotion, healing, deliverance, and new levels of your destiny are coming to pass in Jesus’ name.
May the Lord bless you and keep you; may the Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you. May the Lord lift His countenance upon you and give you peace.
