In my prayer time today, I heard God saying: ‘Another level. Another level. Another level. Away from the frivolities of the world!’
For some time God has been calling us higher and closer to Him in ways we have never experienced before. This is the upward call of Christ: to be found in Him and Him alone. It means sacrifice: our relationships, possessions, things we draw comfort from, our routine, what we eat and how we sleep.
Yes, there is a new thing that He is doing. Do we realise how much new really means different? New is new. It’s not the same as what we do now and have been doing. If it was, it wouldn’t be new! Are we willing to not just give a verbal yes to the new, then hope for the best, but to actually live out that yes with our lives?
This word is not for everyone. Some are not yet able to respond in this way. You are going through such trials and testing that your energy is being spent on simply staying alive or keeping your head above water. ‘You can’t see the wood for the trees.’ But there is an invitation for you to shift your gaze, to look up and look away from those things that are all consuming. ‘But I can’t!’ You cry. Indeed, you can’t, but He can. By continually looking at the circumstances, you are missing the fact that you ARE IN the same forest as others who are responding to the upward call at this time. Your trials and challenges have been permitted by God in order to sharpen you, not to define you; to strengthen you, not damage you. Let Him be ‘the lifter of your head’ and see again the beauty of your surroundings. (Psalm 3:3)
Many have been in a process of undoing and refining. Some are nearer the end of that season than others. These ones can offer a hand, or give direction to those further back in their journey, yet they must stay focussed on God. Our gaze must firmly be fixed on Him and Him alone, not on others.
We are going deeper in order to go higher. Like a jump, a springboard, an arrow being pulled back – all of these analogies start with the opposite action to our desired direction of travel. But let us not be put off by this. Trust/ faith is key. God knows what He is doing! Can we surrender our control and our demands for God to do things the way we think He should do them and actually allow Him to work things out on our behalf? The challenge is that His ways are not our ways (Isaiah 55:8-9). The ‘opposite direction’ stirs fear or panic in us, which can cause us to grab hold of the situation we’re going through. But we must let go. We must allow God to be God and yield to His ways, even if it is contrary to how we would do things.
TURN AND TRUST 