Back to the Basics

This months theme is about getting back to the basics. The foundational truths of our faith. Things like Trusting, praying seeking Jesus through His word.  As we begin a brand new series I want nothing more than for you sweet friend to feel a shifting inside your soul. I hope you grab a cup of coffee and lean into the words written below so that a desire to go deeper grows and grows as you get back to the basics.

For many years I found myself relying  on those around me  to lift me up, validate me, direct and give me wisdom to push me through circumstances in my life.   It wasn’t until about I began to truly see God for who He is and not who my Sunday school teachers told me He was that I really experienced Him.

You know that moment where His word just leaps off the page and does a little firework show in your head as you begin to embrace His beautiful truths in new and fresh ways ahhh now that’s going deeper y’all. There have been so many times in my life where I have yielded to other peoples opinions and left questioning the very foundation of who I was.

Webster  defines the word yield as this; to surrender to relinquish control, to give oneself up to an inclination, temptation or habit.

God is always calling us to yield our desires to His. He calls me to love, to speak words of life and to walk in obedience always yielding to His word and yet I have often just pressed “pause” because I needed a desire fulfilled in the moment.

God has clearly laid out truths in His word for us  to follow and to yield to.  In Esther she chose not to yield to her fear, insecurities and weaknesses in order to step into the presence of the king with the hope of saving her people.  In reality she chose not to pause but to surrender and because of that her people were saved.

She chose to step up,

to yield and to step out.

Esther 4:16 “Go gather all the Jews to be found in Susa, and hold a fast on my behalf and do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my young women will also fast as you do. Then I will go to the king THOUGH IT IS AGAINST

THE LAW AND IF I PERISH, I PERISH.”

After I read this I realized that the call was not only for her to walk in complete surrender it was also a call to the people she desperately wanted to save to press in deeper and walk in obedience. She asked them not to eat anything and to fast.  They were yielding to the daily needs of eating in order to hear God in a time of desperation.  Just like Esther our choices trickle into the lives of those who depend and need us to lead well.

What about those who lead us and ask us to pray and fast out of desperation? ouch for me again!

We tend to get so caught up in chasing after what we think are the BIG things God is calling us to do that we choose not to yield to the daily small things He is laying out for us to do.  He says love Him and love His people. Two things believers hang their hats on right?  But then we sit in a restaurant starving and when the waitress gets the order wrong we choose not to leave a tip because there is a point to prove.  Husbands what about your wives? She needs to feel loved and pursued by you and your response is money or what she isn’t doing. What about people who wronged you, talked about you or hurt you in some way. Instead of yielding to God’s grace and forgiveness you have allowed bitterness, resentment and pay back to take root in you.

We make decisions daily based on what we want and need rather than how we can walk in complete surrender to the Creator and when we find ourselves in a place of pain that was caused by our disobedience we throw our fist up at God.

Today God has called you to see Him clearly. He is radiant! He is powerful! He is full of love and He is for you!  Maybe today you are standing in the midst of drought and you haven’t heard from God in so long and you desperately need to hear His voice.  Lean in and just be still.

Isaiah 58:10

Feed the hungry, and help those in trouble. Then your light will shine out from the darkness, and the darkness around you will be as bright as noon.

What a beautiful reminder of what is to come when we give without any strings attached to what we can get in return.

Don’t yield to the desires of your flesh today because they will always lead you down the road of disobedience where a collision is awaiting.  Walk in God’s truth constantly yielding your dreams and desires to His plan, His ways and timing for all areas of your life because I believe that sometimes our biggest blooms come from the biggest droughts in our lives.

You think that dream or passion is wilting away but God is pruning and readying it for the perfect timing. Don’t you dare give up on that dream, your marriage, your calling or healing because a bloom is coming!  Look for those “Esther” moments today and step up, yield and step out because God is always faithful even those moments when we choose to  pause.

It’s time to go deeper.