God, Where Did You Go?
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Don’t you love when you feel like you are jiving with Jesus. You feel His presence everywhere you go. You know the heart of our Father. He is guiding and directing your every path. There have been seasons in my own life where I have felt His tangible love often. I have heard His voice loud and clear in the midst of certain storms. But I am actually just coming out of a season where I found myself asking the question, God, where did you go? So, what happens when there comes a time in our life when we may not “feel” His presence?
I am just getting out of a season where I did not “feel” Him like I use to. In all honesty, I had been struggling knowing if I was even hearing His voice. Not only did I feel like I didn’t hear Him, I was also in a season of waiting. I felt defeated and discouraged in a lot of different areas of my life. I was impatient and frustrated. Does that mean He had left me? Well, the answer is very clear. No, he had not left me. He had not stopped talking to me. He had not stopped relentlessly coming after me. Then, you may ask why did I feel this way?
Well, whether or not we are in a season of feeling God’s presence, He is always there.
He is using this season to shape me and you into a better version of ourselves. He is pruning away the things that are not of Him. I am a very imperfect person, but I know who is perfect. His name is Jesus, and He is continually bringing me from glory to glory. I don’t know about you, but there are days where I felt like crying out saying, “God do you hear me?” I have learned that it is in these times of desperation where I grow closer and closer to my Father. Why? Well, because I had nothing left. I was desperate to know His thoughts. I was eager to know what was next for my life. He brings us into these seasons, so we have to slow down to hear His heartbeat. We have to sit at His feet and listen so very carefully. These wilderness seasons create a hunger to know Him more.
“Now faith brings our hopes into reality and becomes the foundation needed to acquire the things we long for. It is all the evidence required to prove what is still unseen.”
Not only do these seasons create a hunger to know Him more, but they put our faith to the test. My blog is FAITH Wins, which means fearless always in trusting Him. It is easy to have faith when everything is going amazing and falling perfectly into place. What happens when storms come and disrupt the peace? What happens when you may be in a desert season of life? Where do you turn? During this season of my life, I have learned that faith makes what we long for a reality! It looks like worshiping Jesus even when I didn’t “feel” like it. It looks like praising His name even though I didn’t know what was next in my life. It looks like trusting my Father through the waiting. It looks like being thankful for all that I do have in my life. It looks like being rooted and grounded in His love, so that no hard season could shake or break me. Faith is having perseverance and trusting the one who has created us!
I remember sitting in class in Africa, and Rolland Baker said something that will always stick with me. He said, “if you never see a miracle, if you never hear the voice of the Lord, and if you never have anything ‘good’ happen to you, then is Jesus still enough?” Man, this question hit home for me in my past season. My answer will always be Yes Jesus you are and will always be enough for me. You are the key to salvation. When we feel defeated or discouraged, all we need to do is put our eyes on Jesus. Jesus is victorious. There is power in His name. When I take my eyes off of what is happening around me and place them on Jesus, my whole perspective shifts. He is light. He is alive in each and every one of us. He is the author and finisher. He who started a good work in us WILL finish it.
“being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”
He is with me in this stretching season of my life, and He is not done with me yet! He has not finished, and He will not leave me in the middle of the hard season. He is actually showing me a deeper revelation of who He is in me. He is allowing me to experience a different side of Him. When we give our life to the Lord, we start an everlasting journey of becoming one with Him. Jesus Christ lives in each of us. He is always with us. Our thoughts become His thoughts. Therefore, I don’t always have to feel Him to know He is with me. He is with me because when Jesus died on the cross, He made a way for us to experience the indwelling Christ. Wow! Guys, Jesus lives and dwells in those who follow and know Him. Do you know what that means for me and you?? That means Bidden or not Bidden God is with us through His son Jesus Christ. He broke the veil. He won the battle. When we are at our weakest moments, He is our strength. He is our restorer.
“But He answered me, ‘My grace is always more than enough for you, and my power finds its full expression through your weakness.’ So I will celebrate my weaknesses, for when I’m weak I sense more deeply the mighty power of Christ living in me.”
In my weakness, He is strong. He boasts in our weaknesses because we have to allow Him to take over. No matter how weak we may feel in the natural, we must always remember that the mighty power of Jesus lives in us! Guys it doesn’t matter how messy it looks. It doesn’t matter if you are angry, frustrated or mad at him. What matters is that you constantly look to Him and seek Him in these moments. He asks for our obedience. He wants us to trust Him with our lives. He wants to know if you trust Him even when nothing makes sense around you. During this season of my life, there have been several times of me honestly being very frustrated. Every time I feel this way, He asks me do you trust me? Do you really believe that I will work all things good? Do you believe I will answer your prayers? Even if it is a messy, crying and a frustrated yes, He just wants our yes! He just wants us to lay our lives down at His feet. He wants us to continually place our eyes on Him and Him alone. When we only think about our prayers not being answered, feeling stuck, being in the middle of the storm, well then unfortunately that will take over our lives. BUT when we turn our eyes to Jesus, He will flood us with peace.
“Now Christ lives his life in you! And even though your body may be dead because of the effects of sin, His life-giving Spirit imparts life to you because you are fully accepted by God. Yes, God raised Jesus to life! And since God’s Spirit of Resurrection lives in you, He will also raise your dying body to life by the same Spirit that breathes life into you!”
Woah. God’s Spirit of Resurrection lives in you and me. I want you to take a moment and really think about that. The power that lives and dwells in you is the same power that rose Jesus from the grave. Therefore, Jesus deserves our praise no matter what is going on in our lives! We need to praise Him no matter what. Praise Him in the middle of uncertainty. Praise Him in the confusion. Praise Him in the hardship. Praise Him when you don’t “hear” Him. He is a good God, and He is always with you. He will answer your prayers. He will bring sunshine to the never-ending storm. He lives and dwells inside of you. The power that raised Jesus Christ from the grave lives in you! Therefore, you always have access to our Heavenly Father. He is never far away. He is never not looking after you. He is forever and always constantly pursuing you. Today, I pray you hear the Lord’s voice in a new way. I pray you see Him in a way you have never seen Him before. I pray your perspective shifts, and you see how glorious of a God we serve! I pray you are flooded with peace and comfort. You are loved and delighted in. :)
