Sunday’s message at church was focused on 2 Peter chapter 1, and man was it something that I know A LOT of people in my life and in this world needed to hear. I took a bit of a hiatus (in case you couldn’t tell!), but this message has stuck with me ever since hearing it, so I know I need to write about it 🙂
I’m not sure how familiar everyone is with 2 Peter, but it involves Peter writing a letter to the early Christian church in regards to a problem that were facing. The problem being the fact that they simply weren’t doing what God was calling them to do…they couldn’t hear God. God had given the early Christian church EVERYTHING they needed to get them where He wanted them to be, yet they weren’t listening. They viewed God’s signs and messages as distractions. They literally could not hear God because they were refusing to be distracted by the things that God wanted them to be distracted by. And that’s the key here! The early Christians could not hear God because they were fighting Him…whether they were intentionally doing so, or not. God was speaking to them. God was TRYING to show them things. God was placing certain people in their lives. God was pulling out all the stops! Yet, they just couldn’t see any of it. Why? Because the very things God was trying to say to them were the very things that took them out of their comfort zone. And that’s the other key! God speaks to us in mysterious ways that almost always push us out of our comfort zone. God speaks to us in ways that make us face our fears. He speaks to us in ways that cause us to stare our weaknesses down.
Guys, God is speaking to you. He is CALLING out to you. He is calling you to do something. He is telling you something. Can you hear Him? If not, you may be experiencing the same problem that the early Christian church experienced. You maybe viewing God’s signs and messages as distractions. Because God’s distractions are the ones that scare us. God’s distractions are the ones that make us face our fears. God’s distractions are the ones that make us stare our weaknesses down. God’s distractions are the very thing that a lot of us see as a distraction from God rather than to God because His distractions take us out of our comfort zone. As my minister said, in order to turn your weaknesses into strengths, it will take a lot of work that puts you into uncomfortable situations…it will take a lot of exercising of your faith muscle. And exchanging fear for faith requires you to do what’s hardest, not what’s easiest.
Guys, God IS speaking to you. God IS placing certain people in your lives that will bring you closer to Him. God IS trying to show you something. And God IS trying to push you out of your comfort zone…trying to get you to face your fears. The very things you view as distractions are the very things that make you uncomfortable, and those very things are from God. Your faith journey to where God truly wants you to be in life isn’t an easy one, not at first…and not if you keep viewing His messages and signs as distractions. So today, stop and think. Stop and think about what you think is a distraction from God, and whether or not it REALLY is. Chances are, you think it’s a distraction because it scares you…it stirs as sorts of unsure and uncomfortable feelings inside of you. Now stop and realize that that is not necessarily a bad thing…it’s not a bad thing at all! Why? Because God uses our biggest fears and uncertainties in order to pull us closer to Him. He distracts us alright! But His distractions are ALWAYS good. His distractions scare us straight. They scare us straight onto the path to Him.
Your faith journey to God won’t start out easy and it won’t be easy until you stop viewing the things God is saying to you as distractions from Him. So stop! Stop and face His “distractions” head-on and watch what happens.Your faith journey to where God wants you to be in life won’t be easy at first…it will be scary…it will take you out of your comfort zone. But if you just TRULY trust in Him. If you just face your fears. If you just have a little more faith. I promise you the journey will get easier. Those very “distractions” will end up being the greatest blessings. Those very “distractions” will end up bringing you closer to Your Father. Those very “distractions” will soon become the things you cherish most.
Poiema Girls 