"Look at me"

So my daughter Amber asked to climb on my shoulders and be carried around the house. She full of bubbling JOY! when she asked but when she sat upon my shoulders fear began to take over. She panicked and wanted to get down immediately. I looked at Amber and said "Look at me." She glanced for a second in my direction but she soon lost focus and looked at down. She was projecting her falling to the floor. But again I said, "Look at me.". This time Amber looked me in the eyes and would not let anything take her focus from me. I gently let her down and placed on the ground. After she was down I told her "Daddy will not let you fall." She said, "Okay." Her brother and sister then climbed on my shoulders and Amber watched as they enjoyed being on Daddy's shoulders. Amber than came up to me and said, "Daddy can I get on your shoulders?" I told her yes and I watched in the mirror how she smiled and laughed when I put her on my shoulders, her fear of falling left and she began to trust in me.

God's Will is always scary when we first start. The excitement we had about planting a church, volunteering in ministry, the new job, devotions with our family, or even talking to someone about Christ quickly dissipates to fear. It because when we start the new journey in God's Will our focus shifts off of God and on the taunting task that is before us. 
Instead of thinking of how we will be successful, we think of how we will fail and fall flat on our face. The problem with focusing totally on the vision and not The Vision Giver is we only see the result of victory and not the work and trust it would take to get there. Just like Amber was joyful about climbing on my shoulders, she began to fear when she realized she would actually have to climb to get my shoulders first and then second she would sit on them. We will have to put in some work when we are doing God's Will and when finally achieve the vision we will have to trust in Him that He will sustain us. 

We do both these task by looking at Him continually. We do not I repeat do not take our eyes off Him. We look to Him through prayer and reading His Word. We build our trust up. His Spirit will be there to remind us of God's Faithfulness to carry out His Will and Good Pleasure in us as long as we stay focused on Him. We also surround ourselves with believers who will encourage us to climb and believers who have climbed before us. Just like Amber watched her siblings trust in me enough to climb and sit on my shoulders, we look to Godly Christians who have been where we are  going and can encourage us every step of the way.

So in the midst of your journey in God's Will, here Him say, "Look at me", then focus on Him and climb. When you reach the goal God has set before you, trust that He did not bring you up this high to fall. Stay focused, you can do this. 

Exodus 14:13•14, Habakkuk 2:3, Psalms 37:1•7,23,34,39

"In His JOY!"

http://consumedbyjoy.blogspot.com/