This one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and reaching forth unto those things that are before, I press on to the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus- Philippians 3: 13-14.
Allowing ourselves to reach out in the spirit to pursue fullness and abundance will cause us to be stretched beyond our current limitations. This creates an inner space that ultimately will be filled with the goodness of God.
The father works from the initial to the eventual. Initially his promises open us up to all his possibilities of favor and expectation. We reach out for the prize and are struck by the opposition of the circumstance. Deliverance does not come by our order but by God’s consent. We are pressed out of shape, beyond measure to receive, and are outside of our comfort zone.
The initial word from God that got us to move forward seems not to produce anything as it has in former times. Believe and you shall receive is just one order of Kingdom business. Learning obedience and faithfulness in the face of nothing changing is another form of growth and development.
Sometimes we inherit eventually. The Promise seems imminent but the fruit appears later looking like a crown rather than a prize. The key to this mystery is sensitivity to the Holy Spirit. We must not assume that our past lesson in the area of trust is being repeated. The exercise of our faith may be different. An apparatus in a gym is designed to work different muscles of the body. So, it is with life lessons is the spirit of faith, trusting and believing.
When upgrading us God takes us beyond our own ability to generate anything from our past experience. This is a new lesson. We move into a place of believing and expectation and are then stretched out on the rack of nothing happening.
Our capacity to hold onto heaven while the earth seems to be spinning out of control puts pressure on our trust. Sometimes breakthrough occurs when we do not snap back into a default position.
In other times our trust is the prize that God seeks to bestow. In matters of trust development, the words though and yet are the prime tools of our growth and eventual advance. Though he slay me, yet will I trust him, spoken by Job in very stretching, relationship defining circumstances-Job 13: 15.
Habakkuk 3: 17-19: though the fig tree should not blossom and there being no fruit on the vine, though the yield of the oil should fail and the fields produce no food, though the flock should be cut off from the fold and there be no cattle in the stalls, yet I will exalt in the Lord, I will rejoice in the God of my salvation. The Lord God is my strength; and He has made my feet like Hinds feet, He makes me walk on high places.
Though and yet, define our development in the realm of trust and faithfulness.
The word though means in spite of the events. The word yet means because of who God really is, we will pursue him personally, NOT the outcome that He can generate. Relationship with Him is worth more than the resolution of our problems.
Here’s the thing: sometimes we receive under pressure and we are elated. Other times our lesson was not about receiving but simply about trusting and being stretched beyond measure in our faithfulness.
In the goodness of God if we do not receive initially we will eventually because God is faithful to us. He will always honor our trust.
Every believer needs stretch marks. They define the quality of our obedience and our willingness to reach out to what the Father is putting in front of us. In this place of development there can be no disappointment only the sure and certain knowledge that all promises eventually are fulfilled.