“For it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill His good purpose.”

Philippians 2:13

There are quite a few hymns about standing on the promises of God. Countless verses throughout His word that define and assure us of those promises. Times have come and gone in my life when I have questioned God’s promises, when I didn’t feel good about how things were going and I wondered where God was in my time of confusion or trouble. I wondered why things weren’t going the way I had planned them. Then, as I grew in Him, I realized the two errors in reasoning that I was making:

1) I was focused on what “I” had planned, what “I” thought should happen or how “I” thought it should happen, and

2) I was thinking of God as a genie, someone who would grant me what – here it comes again – “I” wanted, how and when “I” wanted it.

Over the past 6 years, I’ve learned that there’s a huge difference between praying for what I want and humbly asking that God’s will be done simply because His will is the best plan for every situation.

A difference also exists between stating God’s promises back to Him in a demanding tone and reciting His promises confidently to demonstrate my trust in Him that His will, His timing, His way will bring the best outcomes.

Unfortunately, I don’t always remember to completely trust Him after I’ve demonstrated in prayer that I do. You see, one side of me, my redeemed Spirit, wants desperately to follow God’s will, His timing, and His way. However, my fleshly nature, that side of me that God is constantly pulling away to reveal something better, has always been a rather impatient side. I try to let the Spirit lead all the time, but often the two sides struggle with each other, the Spirit in me and my fleshly nature, and it looks like this in action:

• I recognize areas that the Spirit is calling me to work on or in.
• I pray and study until I see the need to fill or the root cause to pull out.
• I make a plan and start the first step.
• And then – here’s that fleshly side popping up – BOOM!
• I expect the plan I’ve made to take flight and just work immediately to make everything better.

When it doesn’t instantly make a situation better, when the outcome isn’t immediately improved, I experience disappointment, defeat, even doubt.

Oh sweet friends, I have a feeling I’m not alone in that experience, am I?

How often do we become disappointed, frustrated, or annoyed because we run wide open with the gifts that God has given, fueled by an impatient human side, and forget to keep God in the equation?

How often do we affirm our trust that His promises and His plans are good, but forget to ask the Architect the details, forget to include Him in the process?

How often do we get ahead, not of ourselves as some people say, but of God?

Too often I imagine.

But, you know what the amazingly grace-filled part that just absolutely blows my mind is?

God KNOWS exactly when and how we’re going to run out ahead and He already has a plan for that too.

Every lesson, every hard knock, every tear, every setback, He has already seen and still, STILL, He works in you and He works in me to grow our spirits closer to Him. STILL, He works through you and through me to complete the part of Kingdom work that He has set aside for us since before we were born (Jeremiah 1:5, Ephesians 2:10).

Dear heart, what a joy it is to serve a Father who trusts us despite knowing everything about us! What a gift to serve the Creator, the great I Am knowing He doesn’t need you or me, but that He WANTS us! What peace to step out of the world of “I” and into the beauty and grace and perfect timing of His plans!