There are moments I want to wrap myself up in a little cocoon and wait for the storm to pass, moments when being real and authentic is hard and I want to pull back, moments when God’s call on my life seems way bigger than my own capacity… And I want to shrink back…
But I can’t! That’s not who I am, that’s not who God created me to be, that’s not who I’m called to be.
This year, our church has been on a journey of ‘beyond’. There is something for all of us personally to go beyond. For me… it’s beyond fear, beyond not being enough, beyond shame, beyond the walls of self-protection. (It’s been a BIG year!!!) It’s been about staying the course, standing firm, fighting for what’s important. It’s about being known, real and authentic rather than giving in to the masks and walls that bring disconnection. It’s about making His priorities my priorities, pressing into God and believing for breakthrough.
I have been challenged by my need for comfort. As much as I crave it, it unsettles me that this is something that drives me. Surely if I’m going to follow Jesus, it will require me to leave behind comfortable and step out in faith. My heart’s desire is to follow God where He leads, to allow Him to shape me, mould me, challenge me, lead me. I don’t want to stay the same and that requires allowing God access to all areas, that requires following God beyond comfortable. That requires leaving behind some stuff and being ok with that. It requires faith, it takes courage, and it’s all about learning to trust.
The Israelites were called beyond…beyond the oppression and slavery that Egypt had kept them in…to a promised land.
In Numbers 13, Moses sent out 12 men to spy out the Promised Land. When those men returned and reported back to Moses, 10 men were in fear of the people living there and reported against going. Caleb and Joshua were the only ones who believed that God would give them this Promised Land (Numbers 14:6-9). And they were the only 2 Israelites living at that time who eventually saw the promised land. Verse 24 says “But because my servant Caleb has a different spirit and follows me wholeheartedly, I will bring him into the land he went to…”
I want that!!! I want to carry a different spirit, a spirit of courage and not fear. I want to follow God wholeheartedly. I want to step out of comfort and into faith. I want to trust what God has me and that when he calls me out beyond the comfortable, I go.
It’s easy to let fear stop us from stepping out of our comfort zone. But there’s a pay off if we do that. We risk the chance of missing our promised land, of missing what God has for us. (Can I just say here that I am glad that God is gracious and often gives us more opportunities), BUT… if I live my life in self-protection mode, continually too afraid to step out beyond for fear of getting hurt or just because it’s hard, I’ve missed it. I’ve missed the whole journey of learning to follow Jesus, of trusting Him to take me beyond myself and grow me up in Him. We can self-protect ourselves right out of the will of God…we can self-protect ourselves right out of our promised land… and I don’t believe any of us want that.
Hebrews 10:39 says ‘but we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved.’
We are called to go beyond. Beyond the fear and self-protection, beyond easy and comfortable because there is so much more for us…more freedom, more joy, more of God to discover.
God calls us beyond…but we don’t go alone! He promises to go with us, to fight our battles, to slay the giants that are before us…but we have to be willing to go, to say yes, to take that step beyond what we know to be safe, easy, comfortable, and to take hold of what God has promised us. Trusting Him is our greatest lesson.
What has God called you beyond?
Blessings!
Tammy
Abide 
Thank you again Tammy for your words of encouragement and help
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Pleasure! xx
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