Series: Lead Your Next Level Life
Week 3: Moving in God’s Promise
Saying Yes Before You Get the Map
Following God into something you cannot see yet is a strange feeling. Not doubt exactly. More like hearing your name called from a dark room and having to decide if the voice is worth trusting.
That is the place Pastor Bill described in a recent message at Christ Journey, and he was not describing it from a distance. He shared that he has sensed a deep stirring in his soul over recent months, and that his next step is to release the yoke of senior pastor responsibility, effective November 10th. He and Lisa have no plans to leave Miami. They love this church and these people. They just believe the time has come.
His honest description: it feels like obeying, and it also feels kind of weird.
Abraham did not get a map either
Hebrews 11:8 says that by faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.
No itinerary. No drop down menu. Just a voice, and a man who moved.
Genesis 12 records the call: go from your country, your people, and your father’s household to a land that I will show you. God did not describe the destination. He described the departure.
Ask the Bible who your father is in the faith and it points you to Abraham. So what did he actually model?
He listened. The prayer of Samuel is always in season. Speak, Lord, your servant is listening. Jesus told his followers to ask and receive, seek and find, and said again and again that people with ears should use them.
He moved fast. When Jesus called his first disciples, Matthew 4 says that at once they left their nets. That was their business. Their livelihood. How they fed their families. At once, they left it.
He acted before he could see. Luke 17 tells of ten men with leprosy who called out to Jesus. He sent them to show themselves to the priest, which was the inspection required to prove you were cured. They had nothing to show anyone. Their skin was still sick. But the text says that as they went, they were cleansed.
We say seeing is believing. Jesus reverses it. Believing, put into action, is what leads to seeing. Think of the automatic doors at Publix. They open, but not until you move toward them.
He left a legacy. Isaac and Jacob became heirs of the same promise. One man’s yes cascaded down through generations.
The part nobody wants to hear
Wayne Gretzky said it plainly: you miss 100 percent of the shots you don’t take.
The ancient Hebrew people, the ones Scripture calls stiff necked and rebellious, largely never made it out of the wilderness. Their bodies were scattered across the desert sands. They never reached the promised land. They missed their moment.
When God says go, you say yes.
How do I know it is him?
You learn to recognize the prompting by answering it. Say back to him: is that you, Lord? If it is, my answer is yes. Say yes before he gives you further information.
And if you are not willing yet, there is an honest prayer for that. Pastor Bill has prayed his own version: Lord, I am resistant right now, but I am willing to become willing, if you will help me.
Sometimes the answer is wait. That is not wasted time. That is weight training with God. He does not waste the wait.
You will not know everything. You will know enough for the next step. Follow the light you have and you will get more light.
You want to get to home plate? You have to leave third base.
Five things to actually do this week
1. Answer three questions. When did I last sense God calling my name? What did he ask me to do? Did I do it? Write the answers down without excusing them. Read Hebrews 11:8.
2. Pray Samuel’s prayer before you check your phone. Speak, Lord, your servant is listening. Say it out loud. Every morning.
3. Do the one thing you have been delaying. Get baptized. Join a group. Serve. Be generous. Tell a friend your story. Stop researching it. Read Matthew 4:19 and 20.
4. Move before you have proof. Read Luke 17. Where are you waiting for certainty before you will budge? If you are stuck, pray the willing to become willing prayer.
5. Name who is downstream of your yes. Read Hebrews 11:9. Think of one person close enough to your life to inherit the effects of your obedience. Ask God what your next step means for them.
If you are in an in between place right now, not knowing what comes next is not evidence that you missed God. Abraham obeyed and went even though he did not know where he was going.
Speak, Lord. Your servant is listening.
