73: BE QUIET

 Living In Abundance Series

 

My soul, wait silently for God alone, for my expectation is from Him (Psalm 62:5).

Working out your salvation, as Apostle Paul observes in Philippians 2:12, with fear and trembling, does not mean that our Creator is a mean, judgmental invisible character ready to exact punishment on us because of our weaknesses.  That is why He sent His only begotten Son to earth in human form.  He wanted to identify with us: to experience our struggles between flesh and spirit and to show us how to victoriously overcome it.

If Christ lives in you, you have a joy that no other person on earth has.  You radiate His light—and LIGHT IS QUIET. Light shines and naturally cannot be put out.  Light exposes darkness and that’s why Jesus was persecuted.  If you carry His light in you, the forces of darkness shall persecute you because “they” (the devil and his agents) fear exposure.

That’s why you’ve got to move!  Move out of that comfort zone you’ve niched yourself.  It’s not a wall of protection—it’s rather a stronghold of stagnation, a fortress of fear.  When you decide you want to live a life of abundance and expect it to happen, there is a process you must pass through.  The beginning of your journey to a life of abundance is knowing when to BE QUIET, to get still and hear the voice of God.  He’ll tell you great and marvelous things that will blow your natural mind.

That stillness comes after you’ve done three important things:

1)   Take Christ into your heart and believe inside your soul that you are forgiven of every evil and ugly thing you’ve ever done and are now made righteous resting in the bosom of our Savior.

2)   Accept that you are a new creation, that your past is gone—never to return (unless you voluntarily, intentionally relive it)—and that you have a blessed future full of faith, hope, and love.

3)   Press on toward claiming your life’s goal—that special ‘assignment’ given to you by God that only you can complete successfully.

Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.  And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart (Jeremiah 29:12-13).

And God will command you to: “Go! Get out of your comfort zone and meet Me over here.”  Your comfort zone is that place where you feel you’re o.k. with who you are, with what you’re doing, with whom you’re meeting and chatting and ‘being’ with: in a house, in a job, in a school or church; in an unprofitable character or personality trait, or habit, or way of thinking and behaving.  You feel fine there and refuse to change.

There are strengths and weaknesses in all of us.  No one is 100% perfect.  And when our weaknesses come out, it takes a person who wants to live in abundance to make a decision to change that weakness.  To change a weakness requires one to two things: either you turn it around or you totally remove it.

Elizabeth was prone to always manipulating people and circumstances into getting her way or getting what she wanted.  Time and again, her peers and loved ones would caution her on this weakness, but she was so ‘comfortable’ in it that it became her way of living.  Little did she realize that she drove those who truly loved her away—one by one—and reacted bitterly against them for leaving her “drama.”  What was she doing? She was holding on to the only way of “being” which she (in her own mindset) ‘successfully’ constructed over decades.  It worked for her.  But did it really?

Remember the wrestling Jacob endured ‘til daybreak until he realized that God was making him into someone new—ejecting him out of a conflicting comfort zone of deceit and manipulation?  His name Jacob (meaning deceiver) was changed to Israel (meaning Triumphant with God) and only then he could lead his people into victorious abundant living.

Be quiet and ask God, “Lord, what do I need to do to get out of my comfort zone?” Then wait silently for God alone, not spouse, friends, co-workers, classmates, society or culture. He will fulfill your expectation.  Be quiet and listen.

 

 

 

© 2020 by Patience Osei-Anyamesem. All rights reserved.  Published by The Liight In Me Enterprise.  No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other—without the prior written permission of the publisher.  The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews or other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

Unless otherwise stated, all scripture quotations are from The New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.  Used by permission. All rights reserved.

 Paintings by Senya: Non-Ticking Clock and Carl Owen: My Quiet Place

Other Paintings retrieved from Black Art search engine.

Take My Hand Inspirations