The Stretch
You know how we say, “God, I want to be used by you! God, use me more for your kingdom.” Well, I am feeling that tug of a stretch again. I guess we want God to use us on our terms. I want to be used by God, but I don’t necessarily want the stretch. I looked up the word stretch in the dictionary and it means: of something soft or elastic, be made or be capable of being made longer or wider without tearing or breaking.
When we are being stretched by God, we are made better and we ascend to a higher calling with Him. But I must say, many times being stretched takes us out of our comfort zone and it requires change in us. Change - that is such a simple word with so much power behind it. I remember whenever we made a change at the office, we would do a lot of preparation behind the scenes to get staff ready for what kind of change was going to take place. We wanted the transition to be as easy as possible without a lot of controversy. Most of the time the change went well. It was the reaction to the change that caused the controversy.
As I sit here writing this post, I can feel my reaction to the change that is coming. My flesh does not want to change, but my spirit knows it has to happen if I am going to stay in alignment with God. I know God has already done a lot of preparation for me to walk this new level of stretch. I can tell you that at times it is hard to beat back this flesh!
This is the warfare that we have; our spirit wants to be obedient and our flesh wants its own way! I know in my spirit I am prepared and ready for what is before me, but it is going to cause me to make a sacrifice, and that is where my flesh is warring.
These words ring deep in my soul. We have two people inside of us and we have to get to a place where the older serves the younger. My flesh man has to serve my spirit man and this is the war that rages inside when change comes. As Paul so eloquently stated in scripture So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin. Romans 7:21-25, ESV The only way to walk this out is through the help of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!
Affirmations: Matthew 10:20; Luke 24:32; Ephesians 6:19, Isaiah 55:11
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