Coming in for a Landing

I started this year off with a word from the Holy Spirit that it would be a “turbulent” year (see Be Still and Know That I AM GOD).  He followed that up with a clear affirmation “but you’re safe with Me,” and gave me Psalm 46:10 to stand on (see also Psalm 46: I AM GOD).  I have spent most of the year with this as my prayer:

“Lord, whatever I face, please help me to remain with You.”

True to His word, this has been a turbulent year.  I can’t even recount the number of times I found myself in a situation where there was just nothing I could control, nothing I could change, nothing I could avoid…I just had to endure it.  I likened it to turbulence on a plane – you cannot change the course you are on; you cannot make the plane avoid the wind or unstable pressure changes that make the flight bumpy, noisy, uncomfortable, and at times even scary.  You just have to ride it out, you just have to endure it.  You trust the pilot, and you just ride it out.

I have learned what a privilege and an honor it is to trust my pilot (Holy Spirit).  He never batted an eye at anything.  He never panicked, was never caught off guard, and he brought me through every bout of chaos like it was nothing.  Isaiah 43:2 NKJV says, “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow you.  When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, nor shall the flame scorch you.”  What an amazing promise!  But you know what is even more amazing?  Experiencing that promise!

This year I have learned more of what it looks like to “let go, be still, and know that He is God.”  I have learned how it feels to truly trust Him when you are at the edge of the cliff and you just keep on walking in faith that He will extend the ground.  I have witnessed miracles that I never would have seen if not for the opportunity to trust Him for them.  His own hand has sustained not only me and my family but the business I work for simply because we trusted Him to do so.  I also have learned some of the biggest hinderances to both faith, and access to God’s ability to sustain us in such times. 

The first is negativity – especially gossip and complaining.  Our words have so much power and we can end up blocking God’s provision for us just from being negative and spreading that negativity around.  I know it, because I experienced it.  And I saw dramatic change when I changed my words!  “The words of a man’s mouth are deep waters; the wellspring of wisdom is a flowing brook.  A fool’s lips enter into contention, and his mouth calls for blows.  A fool’s mouth is his destruction, and his lips are the snare of his soul.  The words of a talebearer are like tasty trifles, and they go down into the inmost body.  A man’s stomach shall be satisfied from the fruit of his mouth; from the produce of his lips he shall be filled.  Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.”  (Proverbs 18:4, 6-8, 20-21 NKJV). 

God has established power in the spoken word so that through our decrees we can bring the Kingdom of Heaven to earth.  How easily we can get distracted from that mandate when we feel tired, overwhelmed, de-valued, or even just hungry.  I and a few co-workers decided to really take this seriously and for the last 6 months we have come together every morning to start our day off with a prayer, inviting God’s presence into our day, just honoring and acknowledging Him, and giving Him permission to be the leader of our day.  Just 2 months ago we started reading about 20 declaration cards after our prayer that we wrote out for the company.  We discovered that it doesn’t matter what kind of day you are having, by the time you get to the end of that stack of cards you can’t help but feel encouraged and joyful, especially on the days you really didn’t feel like praying or declaring.  But God has established this law, why not employ it?  He’s waiting for us to partner with Him in the laws that He has established for us to obtain victory.

The second is judgement.  John 7:24 NKJV says, “do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgement.”  John 5:22 NKJV establishes that judgement has been committed to one and one alone.  “For the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgement unto the Son.”  So, who is the Righteous Judge?  The Son.  He is the only one who perceives with a pure and loving heart, making Him the only one fit to judge with righteous judgement.  “His delight is in the fear of the LORD, and He shall not judge by the sight of His eyes, nor decide by the hearing of His ears.  But with righteousness He shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; He shall strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips He shall slay the wicked.  Righteousness shall be the belt of His loins, and faithfulness the belt of His waist.”  (Isaiah 11:3-5 NKJV).  I have had to come to grips with some things: I don’t know everything.  I don’t see everything.  I don’t understand everything.  And I am not God.  Therefore, I have no business forming judgements outside of His direct wisdom and understanding about anyone or anything.  I have learned, in my limited understanding, that obedience is far more rewarding and freeing.  Just be obedient to what He is telling ME, and don’t worry about what or who is to the right or the left.  In most cases it doesn’t matter what I think, it matters what God says and what He wants to do.  If I go outside of those parameters, I’m likely to bring myself under His righteous judgement.

Third and most jarringly in my mind is offense.  I found that anytime throughout this year that I struggled to “endure” the chaos about me it was simply because I had held onto offense.  And many times, I was trying to justify it to God.  I know now that you cannot trust God while you are offended.  You cannot give God control while you are offended.  You cannot exercise faith in God’s goodness, love, or anything else while you are offended.  What we do when we hold onto offense is we reserve something for ourselves that God can’t be a part of, but He also can’t heal us from.  It’s like a wound that can never heal because we keep sticking our finger in it to remind us that it’s still there and it still hurts, but we won’t let it heal.  So, I painted a picture for myself to help me with this.  I pictured Jesus walking up to Golgotha all mutilated, bloody, and maimed.  And hanging on that heavy cross that He caried I pictured every offense, of every person, over all of time – past, present, and future.  They were not only piled high upon that cross but like the train of His robe they dragged behind the cross for miles.  His blood sprinkled on the mercy seat in heaven extinguished every offense.  And because of that we enjoy new mercies from Him every morning.  I have no right to pick up an offense and carry it again.  Leave it there and keep on walking!  Offense is blinding, crippling, and deadly.  It causes division and strife and presents a big “keep out” sign to God, which He honors, and we are left to toil and fight instead of relinquishing the burden to Him.  There is no offense that is worth holding onto because in so doing I am forfeiting the very blessings He has established for me.  I would be saying that His blood was not enough to cover that offense.  Yikes!

“A person of honor will put an argument to rest.  Only the stupid pick a fight.  If you’re too lazy to plant seed, it’s too bad when you have no harvest on which to feed.  A man of deep understanding will give good advice, drawing it out from the well within.  Many will tell you they’re your loyal friends, but who can find one who is truly trustworthy?  The lovers of God will walk in integrity, and their children are fortunate to have godly parents as their examples.  Lovers of God have been given eyes to see and ears to hear from God.  The Spirit God breathed into man is like a living lamp, a shining light searching into the innermost chamber of our being.  Good leadership is built on love and truth, for kindness and integrity are what keep leaders in their position of trust.  (Proverbs 20:3-7, 12, 27-28 TPT)

I am fortunate this year to have received many memorable life lessons that validate this word.  I wish I could say that I learned all of these things at the start of the year and it was just conquering victory after victory the rest of the time.  However, the truth is it took me the whole year to really see what made certain times harder and more painful than they had to be.  And I could see when I laid everything down and just walked in obedience and love enduring the turbulence just became part of the flight – uncomfortable, but certainly not a tailspin.  The year was “in training” season for me: “Sit down Christy.  Be quiet Christy.  Don’t look over there Christy.  Don’t take responsibility for that.  Don’t try to fix it just hand it to Me.  Don’t try to plan it out, just watch what I do.  Just close your eyes and worship Me.  Just extend a prayer.  Just say what I’ve promised you.  Just look into My eyes, just rest, just let Me have the reigns.  Just let Me bring the provision.  Just let Me change the situation.  Just let me show you what’s really true.  Just let Me, just let Me, just let ME…”  At times I felt like an antsy 4-year-old that just couldn’t sit still and keep my hands to myself.  But change that happens deep within comes subtly and I can look back and see how He used all that chaos to tame me.  Always bringing encouragement through unexpected sources at just the right time to remind me: “be still, and know that I am God.”  

Yes, there were many challenges, many mistakes, many failures.  And yet He has shown Himself faithful.  Through what has felt like a crash course in letting God be God, I can tell you the journey has taken me somewhere very far from where I was when I got on the plane.  One of the wonderful things about God is how He uses these times of testing and training to reveal Himself to us.  That is why I can look back on this year with joy and thankfulness in all of it.  I got to see more of God than ever before.  When He says that He is with us, He is.  And He is not only near, He is in the midst of us and in the midst of where we are.  He is flying the plane, He is sitting in the seat next to us, and His hands are tightly enclosed around the plane.  “God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved; God shall help her, just at the break of dawn.”  (Psalm 46:5 NKJV).

Well, here we are at the end of the year, and the plane is coming in for a landing.  I sat with the Lord the other day and asked Him how He wanted me to position myself as the year comes to a close.  This is what He told me: “Shake off the old, put on the new.  I have something waiting for you.  Step in with both feet.  When our eyes meet.  I will guide you and lead you all the way through.”  Then he directed me to Psalm 113.

“Praise ye the LORD.  Praise, O ye servants of the LORD, praise the name of the LORD.  Blessed be the name of the LORD from this time forth and for evermore.  From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same the LORD’S name is to be praised.  The LORD is high above all nations and His glory above the heavens.  Who is like unto the LORD our God, who dwelleth on high, who humbleth Himself to behold the things that are in heaven, and in the earth!  He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth the needy out of the dunghill; that He may set him with princes, even with the princes of his people.  He maketh the barren woman to keep house, and to be a joyful mother of children.  Praise ye the LORD.” (Psalm 113 KJV)

Here is something that I know.  This year I, and many others, have been “in transit”.  We are transitioning out of one place and into another, and in more areas of life than one.  This isn’t just a transition like from one season to another; this is a literal transportation to a new destination.  And wow!  Isn’t that the purpose of the plane ride anyway?  To be transported from one place to another?  And perhaps the turbulence has been the warfare that was set to keep us from our destination.  Just like Jesus and His disciples in the storm on their way to the Gadarenes (Luke 8:22-25).  Perhaps some of us feel like we still aren’t quite prepared to land.  We maybe feel like all the havoc has been a distraction and waste of time, a stumbling block, an immoveable obstacle holding us back from real growth and progress.  Perhaps some of us feel like that has been the last 5 years as a matter of fact.  (I do, I do!)  I look at some of the dreams the Lord has given me about my future, and I do not feel any closer or more established to be where He has shown me since that time of revelation.  But you know what, He is the one that planned the course for this plane ride.  And I can tell you that I am many miles away from where I boarded this plane.  Maybe, in the course of the turbulence He meant for me to lose my luggage, and a few other things I didn’t need, so that He could present me with all new accoutrements more fitting for this new destination.

Let’s unpack this word a bit.  To “step in with both feet” to me means, “be all in.”  Not straddling the line.  Not one foot in the past and one foot in the present.  Fully present in the present, facing forward, fully committed to this new place I’m stepping into.  “When our eyes meet” tell me to be intentionally and actively seeking Him in this new place.  And more importantly, don’t move until I have found Him!  Because it is with His eyes that He will guide and lead me through this new place where I have not been before and do not know.  Psalm 32:8-9 TPT says, “I hear the Lord saying, ‘I will stay close to you, instructing and guiding you along the pathway for your life, I will advise you along the way and lead you forth with my eyes as your guide.  So don’t make it difficult; don’t be stubborn when I take you where you’ve not been before.  Don’t make me tug you and pull you along.  Just come with me.’”  Hmmm, if I didn’t know any better, I’d say that was exactly what He was training me for this entire year. Be obedient and be content to be led.

It may feel like I’m about to get off the plane in unfamiliar territory with no map of my surroundings.  My luggage is lost, I have no money, no place to stay, no familiar faces, and no real connection to anything here, but He was the one that planned this course of transportation.  Am I foolish enough to think that He wouldn’t be able to set me exactly where I’m supposed to be when I land, regardless of what my position may look like?  Even if I’m financially, emotionally, physically, spiritually, relationally, intellectually, experientially or in any other way lacking, unequipped, or unfit from my own point of view how could I not believe the God who has made miraculous pathways this entire year would not have already made a way for me?  He promotes the poor and rescues the needy, turning them into princes and sets them on their thrones of honor.  He does this.  He takes them from one place and raises them to another.  He makes the barren woman to joyfully bare children.  He does this!  What obstacle do we have that tops that?  What could we be lacking that He cannot provide?  What could there be in our way that He cannot move?  He overturns every impossibility.  And whatever transition He is moving us into, He fully intends to set us in our proper places with all the necessary connections and provisions to establish us for this next season.

And so, as this year comes to an end the tray tables are being returned to their locked and upright positions, I encourage you to join me and position your heart with praise.  Let us praise Him loud!  Let us praise Him long!  Let us praise Him wildly with all that we are.  He is our truly amazing, ever present, always faithful, abundantly creative, wonderfully strategic, just-in-time GOD! 

“Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!  Go ahead, praise the Lord, all you loving servants of God!  Keep it up!  Praise Him some more!  For the glorious name of the Lord is blessed forever and ever.  From sunrise-brilliance to sunset-beauty, lift up His praise from day to dusk!  For He rules on high over the nations with a glory that outshines even the heavens.  No one can be compared to God, enthroned on high!  He stoops down to look upon the sky and the earth.  He promotes the poor, picking them up from the dirt and rescues the needy from the garbage dump.  He turns paupers into princes and seats them on their royal thrones of honor.  God’s grace provides for the barren ones a joyful home with children so that even childless couples find a family.  He makes them happy parents surrounded by their pride and joy.  That’s the God we praise, so give it all to Him!” (Psalm 113 TPT)