Recently I got to speak at church on kindness, now when I got the date my plan was to talk about how we could show God’s kindness in the world but that was before Covid-19. So after spending some time with God I chose to speak about the kindness of God to us in these times. I hope you enjoy reading.
The Passion Translation, Isaiah 43:18-21:
“Stop dwelling on the past. Don’t even remember these former things. I am doing something brand new, something unheard of. Even now it sprouts and grows and matures. Don’t you perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and open up flowing streams in the desert. Wild beasts, jackals, and owls will glorify me. For I supply streams of water in the desert and rivers in the wilderness to satisfy the thirst of my people, my chosen ones, so that you, whom I have shaped and formed for myself, will proclaim my praise.”
I believe that God is using these very unusual circumstances that we find ourselves in to do something brand new, something unheard of and because we can trust him, we know he will work this situation for good for us who love him (Romans 8:28).
However, I also believe that we have a part to play in this, God wants us to partner with him in this season to prepare for the next. This is his kindness to us, that he would discipline us, that he would guide us, that he would lead us, that we would be ready for what comes next.
For some of us discipline sounds like an awfully bad word. I know it used to for me but it just means that God is shaping us to look more like Jesus, getting rid of some of those sharp edges we have which cause us to respond in not so good ways. The best thing about being disciplined by God is it means you are his child!
In Hebrews 12 it says: Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? If you are not disciplined—and everyone undergoes discipline—then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all.
Now, please hear me right, I am not saying that Coronavirus is God’s discipline. I’m going to say that again, Coronavirus is not God’s discipline but I am saying that he is using this season to bring discipline to us because he loves us and he wants us to grow up into maturity, to be huios, a son or daughter who looks like their father. Now, who does not want to look like Jesus and therefore, our heavenly Father!
So, I believe God wants to challenge us on letting go of the former things, the things that are past because they hinder us as we look to go forward. Now not all these things are bad but what was beautiful in a previous season can be an obstacle in another and God wants us free from all hindrance to pursue him and his purposes, to see his kingdom fully come on earth.
I think it is his kindness that he does this when most of us have far more time on our hands and can take time to come before him and spend time seeking him and allowing him to show us the painful things in us, the things that will be a hindrance where we are going, the thoughts, attitudes and behaviours that do not become us as the children of God.
Now, I am still working but even so, I have a lot more time than I did before this season because outside of work my diary is uncommonly empty, so I believe this is something God wants to speak to all of us.
The first question is:
What are you allowing from your past experience to hinder your today?
As Graham Cooke says, God calls us to be present future, not past present. The truth is that the past is history, the future is a mystery and the present is a gift and God wants us all to be able to live fully in the present, not hindered by our past and not afraid of the future. So, I feel like God is saying this is a season where we can bring the things from our past that still hinder us for his supernatural healing because he wants to bring us truth for the lies that we carry. It is time to bring those things that still bring pain into the light so that healing can come and the burden can be released.
From my own experience I can testify that it is always better on the other side of letting go of pain and the past. God is faithful to his promise and will restore the years the locust has eaten but you have to trust him enough to let him in and say yes. The time of walking in pain is over and this precious time we are in is a safe place for you to say yes to your heavenly Father and trust that he knows you are ready to step into all the healing he has for you.
If you feel Holy Spirit highlighting things to you as you read then I ask that you pray something like this now:
‘Holy Spirit, I say yes to the journey. I say yes to the healing. I ask that you help me to walk this path with you and to come out the other side victoriously. I no longer want to be bound by my past but want to live in complete freedom in my present! Holy Spirit, I give you permission to work with me however you need to. Help me to partner with you. Thank you Holy Spirit that I can trust you to answer this prayer, Amen.’
I bless you with an ear to hear Holy Spirit as you walk out this journey with him and to know his peace in every step.
I believe the next question God would ask us is:
What are you feeding yourself that hinders your growth?
We are all works in progress and thankfully, God loves the process because that is where we meet with him, see him and become more like him. We all know that we become like what we spend most of our time looking at, so what are you looking at? What are you allowing into your spirit on a daily basis? I believe God is giving us this season so that we can look at our daily habits and work with him to gain some good disciplines that bring us more and more into his presence to look more and more like Jesus. This is a season where we can grow in self-control, a fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22) as we partner with him and follow his lead. Growing in self-control is not meant to be a trial but a joy!
Are you willing to ask Holy Spirit about the things you are feeding yourself with and whether they are good for you or not, whether they are for this season or not? If you are then please pray something like this:
‘Holy Spirit, you know how I spend my time when no one else is watching, you know the things that I feed my spirit with, please show me now if there are things that I need to stop feeding myself with. I want to be completely satisfied in Christ alone and I invite you to work with me to make this a reality! Amen.’
I bless you to find your satisfaction in Jesus, to have a fresh hunger for his word and to grow in your love of worshipping him. I bless you to do everything you do to the glory of God.
The last question I feel God has for us is:
What aspects of your busy life from before this season were merely busyness and not things God had called you to do?
I know that I can get very busy and when I do I tend to stop allowing God to interrupt me in the moment because I feel I have too much to get done. God then always asks me about my priorities, that is, what I am doing that he has asked me to and what I’m doing because I feel I should. His priority for me is always to love him first, loving others and then to be about bringing his kingdom to earth, anything that does not align with this is my agenda, my busyness!
So busyness does not necessarily mean we are about God’s work, in fact it can get in the way of doing God’s work. God wants us to be free to stop in the moment and be obedient to bless the one in front of us when he asks us to, that is, to bring the kingdom of God into the situation we find ourselves in. Busyness means we are often too rushed to stop as we already have too much to do. This is not God’s way! Not that life can’t be full, I think it is meant to be but, if there is no room for God to interrupt then something is wrong.
I believe in this season that God wants to realign what we are doing with what he has called us to do and this will mean laying some things down. If your hands are already full then you will not be able to pick up the new things he has for you. I believe with all my heart that as we come out of this season into the new that we have never seen before, that there is lots of new for all of us to pick up, but if we have not allowed him to show us what we are to lay down from the last season, we will miss it because our hands are too full. I don’t want that and I believe that you don’t either!
Now, if you are willing, and I pray you are, please pray to allow God to rearrange your priorities and show you what needs laying down in this season.
‘Holy Spirit, we give you permission to rearrange our priorities, that our priorities would be completely aligned to the priorities of heaven. Please show us the things we need to lay down, the things that have become busyness to us. We want to be prepared and ready for all that you have for us in this new season. Holy Spirit, have your way in us. Amen!’
I bless you to be confident in what you hear from Holy Spirit and to be brave and courageous in being obedient to what you hear. I bless you to have excitement and great expectancy for all God wants to bring to you in this new season.
Now to close, this is what I think the new is all about! I believe in this new he is bringing us back to the basics, that is, to love the Lord our God with all our hearts, minds and strength and to love our neighbours as ourselves, to bring God’s kingdom to earth and to make disciples of every nation. I think in our busyness we have lost the simplicity of what we are called to, to be disciples who make disciples!
Being a disciple and making disciples is a lifestyle and not a programme and it is this that God wants to prepare us for in this season, a new way of living, of sharing life, of being the church in every area of influence we have. How amazing is that! God in his kindness wants to prepare us, wants to get rid of the things that hinder us and allow us the privilege of partnering with him to bring about the original mission, to make disciples of every nation.
I bless you to go and spend time with Holy Spirit, to allow him to speak his wisdom, his guidance, his discipline into your hearts and to be willing to step into the new that he has for you, laying down all that would hinder this new season. Be blessed!
Consumedbyloveandgrace 