Christian Living

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And he said, Hearken ye, all Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and thou king Jehoshaphat, Thus saith the Lord unto you, Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God's. - 2 Chronicles 29:15 (KJV)

What holds us back in life? What causes us not to go for our dreams? Not to step out of the boat, our comfort zone, to see what we can be instead of settling for being average, being status quo?

Now there is nothing wrong with being status quo as long as you understand that you were created for more, to do more, to be more.

You were created to change and influence those around you, in your corner of the world. You have gifts and talents that could bring others to Christ, that could help heal those in your world.

What Is holding you back? What is preventing you from being the person God created you to be (Jeremiah 29:11)?

Fear. No matter what excuse you use--that you have to work, you have kids, you are too old, too young, don't know how--it all boils down to fear.

Fear of not being good enough, not being smart enough, talented enough, pretty enough. Fear of not being enough.

Fear, though, is all in our heads. Fear is that constant picture in our heads of us failing, of us looking like fools, of us being out on a skinny tree limb and hearing it break.

What if that did happen? Would it be the end of the world? No. It wouldn't kill you, but you would learn what to do, how to do it better and how to bounce back.

The key is to keep moving forward even when you lose it all. You must keep putting yourself out there until you find what you were created to do.

What if what you feared doesn't come to pass? What if you step out, and you hit your groove. You start putting yourself out there, say in a small way, like making You-Tube videos to share your message, and it takes off. You get thousands, even millions, of new followers.

Eighty percent of what we fear doesn't happen. Even if it does, God says in His Word that the battle is not ours but God's.

What does that mean? It means we ask God to guide us, to give us wisdom (James 1:5), on what He wants us to do, how He wants us to proceed.

Then we do what we know to do and let God handle the rest (Ephesians 6:13).

We give God our natural and watch Him make it into something extraordinary.

It requires us to do several things, though:

1. Seek God. Matthew 6:33 tells us to seek first the Kingdom. What does God want us to do with our gifts and talents? Where does He want us to take them? Who does He want us to reach and how?

Remember He will never give you the full picture, only the next step, and His plans are already blessed. Seeking Him is like looking at the master blueprints for our lives. He is, after all, the Master Arcithect.

2. We must act on the leadings of the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:13.) We might have an inner knowing, have a dream or just find ourselves in the right place at the right time. There has to come a time when we act on what we feel God is leading us to do. You may step out and find out you were wrong. Just learn from it and move forward.

However, just because it is hard doesn't mean it isn't God's Will. It is all part of the process of learning something new.

3. Believe (Mark 5:36). Once we have acted, it is time to surrender the outcome to God (2 Chronicles 29:15.)

God is in control. He is guiding us, leading us directing our steps (Psalm 119:133.) It is time. Time to get up from the pews that we retreat to every Sunday, and start changing the world. One person at a time.

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