Yesterday, while I was exercising, I started thinking about stretching. When you are working out and need to stretch, it is a slow and steady motion. You must remain mindful, lest you stretch too fast or far and tear a muscle.
While considering this, God revealed to me that this is the same way He stretches us. It may feel like too much is happening at once sometimes, but He is ever mindful of who we are and what we are capable of doing. He will not stretch us to the place where we tear, but with slow, methodical steadiness He will lead us to stretch past places we ever believed possible.
We are in a slow stretch.
Think about this now, what happens when you never stretch? Yes, you become stiff…how profound is that?! If we become unwilling to allow Him to stretch us, then we will become stiff and immoveable. I certainly don’t want that. And I certainly have met people who I now know have fallen into that place and it makes me even more certain that I will refuse to be caught up in that.
Have you ever been to a church that felt stale? I propose that’s probably a place where the Spirit wasn’t allowed to move anymore because the stretching that comes from allowing Holy Spirit in became uncomfortable. I don’t want to fall into that.
So, if I’m going to remain willing and submitted to the Holy Spirit, then I’m going to have to surrender to times when I frequently feel large amounts of discomfort. It’s not because He doesn’t love me, on the contrary, it’s because He does. He desires to know me more, and for me to know Him more. He’s infinite, so that means I will be required to constantly be learning new things because I’ll never reach the end of what He wants to teach me.
Prayer Moment: Today, I surrender to the stretch. God, forgive me for the times when I have been resistant to Your pull in my life. I give You full permission to move me as You desire. You alone know my every step. You alone know where I am going. You alone know the best path for me to take. So, instead of resisting things that are new and/or uncomfortable, I will relent. I will give in to Your gentle pulling and bending of my life. I am Yours, both now and forevermore.
Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. All of us who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. Only let us live up to what we have already attained. Philippians 3:12-16
365 Days in the Presence 