While this blog is all about encountering God in everyday life there is a key component that is needed on our behalf to be able to do just that; the key is: willingness.

In doing life with God too often we can take a back seat and wait for God to pull the strings. It’s an easy attitude to develop but it is a wrong one that comes from a misunderstanding of the sovereignty (authority/power) of God. God gave us free will to choose to live life with Him or apart from Him but when we accept Jesus as our Lord He comes to live in us and do life with us not for us. As Pastor Jeff says, “The Holy Spirit is our helper not our doer.” He will not just take you over to do His will; God was never interested in having us (those who He made in His image) as slaves, it’s not His heart. What He does want is for us to serve Him willingly, hence the free will to choose.

In life a lot of times we automatically assume when God needs us to speak a word of encouragement to someone or wants us to minister to them that He’s just gonna pop up and say, “Hey go tell Johnny …yadda yadda yadda” It doesn’t always work like that. As I asked a friend, “why would God tell you to say something for the benefit of another person if He knows you are not going to say it?” God will give you opportunities to step out in faith in those moments but if you never take them He will not waste His time because He has a plan  for His Kingdom and He needs people who will embrace their assignments. If not then He will find someone else around that person to minister to them or say what He knows that person needs to hear. I’ve been in that place once where God told me that if I didn’t want to do my assignment, and all that he had planned in it, that He will find someone else that will.

You may ask: Why does this matter? If we want to live life in a way that will have the full impact God has designed us to…if we want to fulfill what God has assigned and ultimately designed us to do…if we want to be people of God who will truly be salt and light in the earth then we must be willing to step out in faith. Even if that means being wrong at times. We can’t let the fear of failure hold us back from God’s will. Often times when I feel put on the spot to be bold and minister a word of encouragement or knowledge to someone I ask myself: “What if I am right and I don’t say anything?” Almost always that cost of being right and saying nothing (possibly denying freedom or hope for an individual) outweighs the chance of being wrong and my pride being hurt.

My challenge for you in the next week is to step out, as the Spirit leads you, and make the decision to be a willing participator in the Kingdom that God is building in your community. I guarantee it will change your life.

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