The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,
because the Lord has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners,[a]
2 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor
and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn…. Isaiah 61:1-2 NIV
God's timing is perfect! When He speaks, the time to respond in obedience is now. We often act as if we have all the time in the world to obey Him, but history doesn't wait on your commitments. There is no such thing as postponing a decision with God. Either we obey, or we disobey.
How often people have been unprepared when a word came to them from the Lord. He knows you, and He is fully aware of your circumstances. He knows all that he has built into your life until now, and He extends His invitation knowing that His resources are more than adequate for any assignment He gives you.
That is why the Scripture tells us God is concerned with our heart. If we do not keep our heart in love with Jesus, our disobedience when God speaks could affect the lives of others. When God speaks it is always out of the context of eternity. We don't have to know all of the implications of what He is asking. We just have to know that it is a word from almighty God. Now is always the acceptable time to respond to the Lord. -Experiencing God-- Henry Blackaby
We as a human race are procrastinators, no two ways about it! Sometimes that is okay but in the light of responding to God, it is never okay!
God is always trying to improve us and move us ahead in our journey to the Kingdom. However, we often place a great deal of roadblocks or at least speed-bumps in our own way by not responding NOW to His leading. No doubt that comes from the sense of fear that satan tries to flood us with anytime God calls us to come up higher in our walk with Him.
I cannot tell you how many times in my life I have seen someone struggling with a word from the Lord. It is natural as God opens a new door or brings a new revelation to you to want to test it. Even God Himself tells us to prove Him (test His word) and see that He and His word are true. The problem comes when we realize that it is true and we find a hundred reason why we cannot follow. There is an old saying that says: "The will of God will never take you where the grace of God will not protect you". Now, no where in the Bible will you find those exact words together in a quote, but the principle is spot on! Trust Him with your life! Oh, by the way, if you are a Christian, you have given over your life to God so trust Him with HIS life!
Right now as I type this I know that someone is going to read this that is in the middle of a struggle responding to a call or prompting from God. It's okay that you feel unsure. Jesus understands the feeling of having a direction from God and being fearful. He experienced it in the garden prayer just before the cross. However, He knew, just as we need to know with our current struggle, it's okay to trust God and follow His will no matter the pain or anguish or how it will look to society and your friends or family. Ultimately you have to answer for you and that's it.
Today, if you are struggling, fearful or confused as to what to do with your prompting from God follow these few steps to peace:
1. Let Him know how you feel (that is more for you than it is for Him. He already knows. It is about your awareness of what you need to release)and then give over that emotion and situation to Him so you have power to conquer it.
2. Ask God for a clearer vision of what He is wanting you to do, if He can at this point. if you don't receive a clearer view, move forward and trust that He has something AWESOME for you!
3. Trust that He knows more than you do and His single goal in your life is to have you stand side by side with Him in the Kingdom. This will help you know that He only has your good in mind with whatever the current struggle is.
4. Finally, pray for the strength to lay all of your negative emotion down. Pray for the binding of satan in this experience and pray for the faith to release it all to God and move forward as He opens the door and reveals your next step with Him.
You can walk ahead today no matter what decision/s you are facing knowing that if you will just respond NOW and every time He presents you with a new opportunity to grow; you WILL stand side by side with Him in the Kingdom someday sharing your road to victory with all the Saints gathered around you!!
Remember: God's Got This!!!