“I am waiting for you to move,” these are the words I am accustomed to hearing from The Lord when I am usually in a spiritual standstill. Generally, God has commanded me to do something in accordance of His will and until I do it, not much takes place around me, or does it and we just don’t see it? I am currently in a season where I am at a standstill, admittingly in my own flesh and pride (there are things God has called me to do but I am struggling to complete them i.e. undeniably Romans 7:15), however I still see God moving all around me. I am not blind to His shifting of people’s hearts, His mercy of favor and His glory of fulfilling His promises. There are moments when I can sense my heart reaching out to God, pleading, “Hold on! You are moving too fast!” Very much a first, generally I am asking Him to speed up. I recall God telling me months ago, “Once my plan gets going, there is no stopping it.” How true this is! We may not always see His plan unfolding and so we convince ourselves that we have time, but the truth is, we don’t. His plan will continue with or without our acknowledgement, with or without our alignment, it is just always in our best interest to see and be aligned in order to properly receive the fullness of His blessings. How foolish are we to think our lives are about us, with so many others involved, how can we? Are they too not living their own lives in which we are just “characters”? God will continue to move through them regardless of where we are because each story is about Him. Although I feel the need to catch up with Him, I know the proper response is to not run faster, but to repent. It isn’t to double my effort and perfect my works, but turn my gaze towards Him and surrender. Our obedience is not so much about the works and acts, but rather our heart posture towards God. Obedience happens when we are turned towards Him, it is an intentional response that flows more freely once we are in this state of posture. Our hearts are then in proper position to receive His power, strength, grace, confidence, boldness, faith and hope; eradicating the fear, mistrust, and anxiety that comes when we are turned towards others, ourselves and the world. Our obedience saves us from self-destruction and unnecessary pain. King Ahab tried to point fingers at Elijah for the ruin the Israelites faced, but Elijah reminded him that it was he and his fathers that led to their own ruin (1 Kings 18:18). Once they repented, came the downpour of rain, symbolic of cleansing and restoration. Likewise, I know that my own disobedience is no one’s responsibility to correct but mine, and once I repent, the rain will come. I pray we all remain in posture of obedience so that when the harvest time comes, we don’t look and find nothing but rather have an overflow of fruit to partake in (Proverbs 20:4).

(Author’s Note: I originally wrote this post two years ago, yet it remained unpublished, however its message remains the same and applicable today. Daily surrender to Jesus is essential for willful beings such as us. I pray that as you go about your week, you practice this act of surrender which frees you to the obedience to our Lord who is and holds all the true answers you seek.