ARE YOU TO COMFORTABLE FOR GOD?
God wants to bless us. Better job. Better cars. Higher salaries. Make us happy. Give us comforts in life we never had before. He is such a wonderful God. Right?
Have you ever stopped to think that maybe God’s definition of blessed and ours is not congruent?
Have you ever thought about how the supernatural move of God took place n the Word in the lives of Biblical characters whose life examples leave us with horrible occurrences?
If Abraham was a friend of God then why did God make him leave his family, friends, home, to go to a place he didn’t even know the name of and then, to top that off, God demands the sacrifice of his only son? If that happened today I would look at the guy and probably say – “YOU are out of the WILL OF GOD, BOY!! Go back home!”
If Moses was in the will of God then why would God remove him from a palace and put him in a desert herding sheep? Can the will of God be for anyone to take a lower position in life? Many leaders look at those who do so today and declare, “I think that God is going to elevate you in his will, you may need to wait for the next opportunity where your benefits aren’t taken away…”
All the heroes of Hebrews “Hall of Faith” were incredible! Look how these men walking the power of God during their lives! They had a God who was totally in control of their lives! They must have had 401K benefits, comfortable living, increased blessing, and bliss! Let’s take a look….
Abraham was in the perfect will of God, promised lands, nations, and blessings. The only ground he ever owned after he went through all he did was the small parcel of ground on which he and his wife were buried.
Noah was in the perfect will of God… but he ended up building a boat in the middle of the desert and was misunderstood by his generation and ended up with a church of 8 folks. Not one convert (he must have taken a pastorate out of the will of God, right?)
Jacob was in the perfect will of God… and ended up being tricked and deceived by an ungodly relative who stole years of his life.
Joseph was in the perfect will of God… having dreams from God, yet abandoned by his family, tossed in a pit, sold into slavery, accused of rape, imprisoned.
No one was ever in the will of God like Jesus Christ. He was led of the Spirit and full of the Spirit.
Yet, he was born in a stable, almost murdered by a king, the most misunderstood man of his day, couldn’t rub two nickels together, forsaken, beaten, abused, crucified and laid in a borrowed tomb.
He never married. He never built a new home, never saved money, never advanced, never built a real kingdom… he lived a life that was obviously NOT blessed!
Yet the perfect will took him here… HOW COULD THIS BE THE WILL OF GOD? The will of God isn’t always what we think it should be.
Born in a stable – yes, but I doubt three rich kings could find him at the Comfort Inn.
Almost murdered by a king – yes, but what an opportunity for his father to have angelic visitation.
The most misunderstood man that ever lived – yes, but also the most quoted man that has ever lived.
Couldn’t rub two nickels together – yes, but he could get money from a fishes mouth.
Forsaken, beaten, abused, crucified, and laid in a borrowed tomb – yes, but he changed the course of all humanity!
God is more interested in our walking by faith than in our comfort! The life of faith will not always give you palaces and pleasantries, raises and royalties – THE SUPERANTURAL MOVE AND WORK OF GOD FINDS ITSELF IN THE PLACES OF DISCOMFORT.
NO! NO! NO! – These people of the Hall of Faith are not just to be admired by us – they are our EXAMPLES which we should follow!!
Name one miracle that came as a result of comfort? Jesus never said, “Sit in you Lazy Boy and be thou healed!”… ANYWHERE YOU FIND THE TRULY SUPERNATURAL YOU FIND AN ABSENCE OF THE COMFORABLE! Muddy spit in the eyes, Paul and Silas shackled in prison, Naaman dips 7 times, and rooftops being ripped off are always the atmosphere of the miraculous!!
We want to know, are the pews padded? How long is the prayer meeting going to be? Is he going to preach long? Can we just fast from sun up to sun down? How much money can I give and not be uncomfortable?
Peter was in the boat. The storm is raging. He sees what seems to be Jesus.
He doesn’t get ‘spiritual stupidity’ and just jump into the water and try to walk on it. He asks, “If it is you, bid me come!” I am not talking about taking drastic measures just to see if something will happen… I am trying to get us to see that God has already made provision for the miraculous in our lives. We know it is him on the water! We need to get out of the boat where we know he is out of the boat!!
We are crying out for comfort! We like our salaries, our vehicles, our clothes, our styles, our ideas, our fashions – AND GOD SAYS WE ARE POOR, NAKED, AND LUKEWARM!!
Paul, if you are not shipwrecked you won’t get to Melita. If you are not in the storm you will not reach the barbarians on the island and shake off the vipers!
God did not save us and turn us into little sheltered, ideal, materially prosperous, happy, giddy, living in bliss little children of the Almighty! I think not. If we looked at the lives of the disciples and all of the battles they went through we would shake our fist at hell and declare this is an “attack of Satan!”… but, just maybe Jesus put you guys in that boat, told you to meet him on the other side, then he roused up a storm, tossed you on the see, so you could have the chance to know him as no one in the history of all humanity ever will – the water walker and wind-calmer!
Maybe when we think we are under an “attack of Satan” we are really under an “attack of God”. I need more of those. So Lord, move me from my comfortable place. Maybe I should understand that if I am not walking with some sort of limp, Jacob, I have probably not experienced the blessing that God really wants me to have.
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About Me-
- Jayson Pagan
- Salina, Kansas, United States
- Being raised in a home void of leadership, leading people does not come natural for me. After creating much havoc and chaos, it is my endeavor to share with others the lessons that I have learned along the way. I am a bilingual minister with the UPCI and have spent time pastoring, evangelizing, and have functioned for the last 8 years as the Administrator of a wonderful and growing Church in Southern Illinois. I have also been at the helm of successfully growing a small construction company to become a multi-million dollar industry. Space does not permit all the lessons learned!