Don’t Put God in Your Backpack

Do you feel as if life…is not meaningful for you…there is no joy…no real purpose …things just can’t get going in the right direction, a dullness ….maybe…just maybe…especially if you are a Christian…or not…you are treating God like a “Backpack God”. The reason…why I say this…is because I have treated God like this in my life…so read below and see if this may apply to you…it may not ….but read on and ask God if maybe…this is why things aren’t as they should be?

For example, you have an agenda that you set in hopes that God will jump in your backpack and go with you. Maybe you talk to Him and ask Him to be with you on the plane or as you are traveling because, of course, you want to get where you are going safely. But maybe you don’t acknowledge Him again until mealtime or you leave Him in your backpack in the hotel or in the car most of the time as you go about “your” agenda giving little thought to God except of course until you board the plane home and desire a safe trip.

Or maybe you take Him out in the morning and pray to Him about your day…all that you would like to accomplish, your checklist and all the help you need….then you pack Him up…and set out for your day. You don’t bring Him back out until the next morning during your quiet time to of course lay out your agenda…you needs and your wants?

Or maybe you, of course, take Him out to thank Him at lunch but you put Him right back in as you start your conversation with your friends or co-workers. You treat God as just your agenda and need meeter. It was a hard truth..to recognize in myself years ago…but life wasn’t joyful for me.

Ephesians 2:10 teaches, “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God PREPARED IN ADVANCE for us to do.” [emphasis mine] Yep, God has things, good things, for us to do. We are created in Him. His handiwork. So maybe, just maybe, we have something backwards–we put our agenda before HIS????

Maybe we are asking Him to join us in OUR Will instead of asking Him His WILL for our lives. 1 John 5:14-15, “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His WILL, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask–we know that we have what we asked of HIM.” [emphasis mine] You see, God will not hesitate to show us HIS WILL for our lives. It is called, “dropping your hands…taking God out of your Backpack.” It is about us…allowing Him to carry us…to do His Will.

Often times….we are afraid of what HIS WILL will look like! We are frightened of what we will have to give up. Especially if you are a Christian and you believe in His word, then you will continually feel a “current that works against you” like you are swimming upstream…until…you completely surrender your Will to His Will.

Understanding in Matthew 7:7 when it states, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For EVERYONE who asks receives; the one who seeks finds and the who knocks the door will be open.” [emphasis mine] The door opens for anyone who asks! In verse 9 Matthew continues to tell us what is on the other side of the door that we walk through, “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you then, though you are evil [a sinner], know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him?”

Today, I encourage you to embrace the whole of scripture. To study it and apply it with “great intent” to your life. God has good gifts for everyone. The first being the gift of salvation through the death and resurrection of His Son, Jesus, who paid the price for my sin and yours. Once you invite Jesus into your heart, HE sends His Holy Spirit to live in you.

At that point…You seek to listen to God…His Spirit that is in you…to accomplish and live out HIS good, pleasing and perfect will for your life. Whether you are 15…25…45…65…or 85…it is never too late…to surrender your life…to your Creator…to receive great things and to do great things. He has them for you. He does. Our part is to completely surrender and trust. Allowing Him to guide and direct according to His perfect plan for our lives, not stuffing Him in the backpack of our lives. We should get in His backpack! My time with God looks very different now…I do ask Him for things…but with an “open hand” to His will not mine. Listening a whole lot more….and talking to Him throughout my day….sometimes minute by minute:) Life has so much more joy, meaning and purpose!

“There are no “ifs” in God’s world. And no places that are safer than other places. The center of HIS will is our only safety—let us pray that we may always know it.” ~Corrie Ten Boom

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