God is not dead! Recently I saw the movie by this same title and wrote a review on my personal Facebook page indicating how much I loved the movie and what was so meaningful to me about this film. I have continued to visit this movie in my mind and review all the lessons and truths this movie communicates. Just this week in my quiet time I had a revelation that I would like to share and hopefully I can clearly communicate it! Here goes………..
Several years ago I was searching for answers to some areas in my life. I was clueless for direction and really, really was at a point that I wanted answers and direction. I had several friends who were very helpful. They have always been dependable for great advice and are not afraid to speak truth into my life! The advice was really good and I could feel their prayers, but somehow I was not getting all the answers I was looking for and my progress was slow. Very slow.
I do believe I am a learner and enjoy learning even though I have a stubborn streak as well which has prevented me from learning some things in the past. Because I felt I was just traveling in circles, kind of stuck, I decided to take the advice of a trusted friend and go to a professional counselor! This trusted friend shared with me the help she had received from professional, Christian counseling, so I took that advice. Some of the best advice I have ever received and I am so thankful I listened! I learned many things in counseling, too many to share in one post. So today, I am only going to share one important truth I learned!
After several weeks of counseling and soul searching, I came to a personal realization that I was treating God as if He were dead. At times I have described it as, “I had put God in a box!” Either description fits based on where I was. The simple question I was asked was, “What has God told you about this area and situation?”……….I sat there for a long while and said, “…….ummmm I don’t know, I’m not sure.”
At that point in my life, I can honestly say I had been a Christian for years and read my Bible, prayed and went to church…..but somehow I was treating God as if He weren’t God. So very simply I was told, “Why don’t you ask God and listen for His answer?”…..I was pointed to the scripture found in Psalm 139:1-4, “O Lord, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O Lord.”
We talked extensively about God and I was taken all through God’s Word and reminded of all His truths. Maybe you could describe it as Perry Noble recently described it in one of his powerful sermons on change. Perry had a car on stage. It was beautiful and brand new. The one thing wrong with the car was that it had one flat tire. The car was new, beautiful, full of gas, but his point was that the car wasn’t going anywhere because it had “one flat tire.”
For me, back then…….there were many areas of my life that were good, but my car wasn’t moving because I had a “flat tire”. My flat tire was the lack of faith and giving over to God what was God’s and fully trusting Him to lead me to answers. Verse 24 at the end of Psalm 139 states, “See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” That is where I started.
I looked deep into my life, thoughts and actions and confessed the sin in my life, a lack of faith and a “dropping of my hands” and totally giving God the situation that was grieving me. I came away with a cleansed heart and a renewed attitude and strength, realizing and being reminded that God knows my heart. He knew my motives and desire for these things to be fixed. From that day on, I became more confident than ever that God would lead me and I could drop my hands, even if no other human knew my heart. I knew for sure God did and that was all that mattered!! From that day on life changed dramatically for me and hasn’t been the same since!!
Point being here: Do you have a flat tire? Maybe you were like me…..Trying to fix things yourself…….in essence having the mind set, “God is dead” or the mindset of, “He can’t” or “He won’t”. It took a desire….and a feeling of “being sick and tired of being sick and tired” for me to see this in my own life, to realize….”God CAN!” but “I can’t…..!”
If you are living with a “flat tire” on your car of life………the first place to start is Psalm 139……”God is not dead!” He is very much alive and He is ALL KNOWING about YOU/ME. He wants to be the “mechanic” in your life! I love this analogy because if my car breaks down, even if it is only a “flat tire,” I cannot fix it!! I am totally dependent on someone who knows cars and is an expert!!! God is the expert mechanic for the car of your life. Don’t for one minute think, “He can’t!” ’cause “HE CAN!” It may not take a Christian counselor for you to discern where you are, but it may.
The point is ……..God can do anything….He knows our Heart and has ALL THE POWER AND WISDOM….to take you to places that are good and places He created you to be…..the starting point is realizing God is very much alive……and it is as simple as completely seeking HIM for answers and surrendering your will to HIS!