Don't Force It

I often find it hilarious when someone in ministry decides its their responsibility to bash another leader's calling. Usually it's a leader who is small in vision and large in pride. God couldn't possibly be using different people with different talents and experiences to share his solitary Truth.

Do I have opinions about what can and should work in one place or another? Yes. Has the God of the universe commanded me to tear down what another person says the Holy Spirit told them to do? Not a chance.

I also find it hilarious that we judge on a scale unknown to God. We basically throw people in the fire and judge them in the first year or two. We speak about them. We tell them negative things. We ask them to consider quitting or moving on to other areas of life where they can be 'successful'. It is almost laugh-out-loud funny to me because I wonder how many people in scripture would have been advised to quit in less time than it takes to pay off a used car.

So that whole Noah thing... yeah... what a dope. He should have quit building that stupid "boat". That John the Baptist dude... c'mon... his career wasn't exactly going anywhere. I wouldn't have wanted that dude to bring his smell into my living room. Gideon... would he even have been invited to the 'cool blogger' table?

Sometimes the truth is that we hit it out of the park. We get up before God's people and proclaim his name. The Holy Spirit sweeps the room. People come to know Christ. People repent and are baptized.

Leaders weep for the lost.

Brokenness.

And then there are other times. The times we scoff or offer trite phrases of condolence instead of inspiring proclamation of scripture. We tear people down. We refuse to see the good and the hope. We're all guilty of it. It may look different in your case but I'm positive you know what I mean.

At the end of the day what separates us in those times we feel as though we just hit a game winning home-run from the days when we are less than biblical? Pride.

When we are feeling that feeling when our heartbeat seems to beat at the same rhythm of God's heartbeat it is most often the time when we've abandoned the manufactured facade of our religion and humbled ourselves long enough to allow God to move in and take over.

My encouragement? Get with God and then get out of the way. Don't manufacture anything. Don't push the next thing through. Don't Force It. Relax. In this drama how about you play you and let God play the role of God. Easy huh? No it's tough.

Don't play God and "prophetically" tell someone what God is doing if you haven't honestly gone to God on that person's behalf. Quit accepting your knee jerk reaction as the equivalent of the Holy Spirit.

Just get with God and get out of the way. When we force it we tend to take on far too much of the Holy Spirit's role. I don't know about you but its never healthy if the world expects me to play the part of God. In reaching the lost be intentional and be incarnational but also remember that we're inconsequential at the end of the day. You may water, you may sow or you may reap. At the end of the day the Holy Spirit gets the credit and you get to fall on your face weeping that you had anything at all to do with any of it because none of us deserve it.

Let's collectively take a deep breath. Go ahead. Do it. Good. Now doesn't that feel better? Don't force it today.

Where have you been trying to 'force' it? Repent. Move forward in grace and each time you want to run things just stop and say "Father, how can I act in this moment that would get me out of the way and let you do what you do?"

Remember not to manufacture God when He's the one who manufactured you.