The Necessity of Walking On Water: Faith over Fear

God has been pressing the scripture in Matthew 14 (where He and Peter walked on the water) for the last few days and actually when I consider it, the last few months. At first glance it seems like no more than a super cool story about something impossible being accomplished with little implication for the modern day believer BUT this scripture is jam packed with encouragement and implications for believers in the 21^st century!  Let’s see what we can pull out of this text!

²² Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. ²³ After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. Later that night, he was there alone, ²⁴ and the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it.

²⁵ Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. ²⁶ When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear.

²⁷ But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”

²⁸ “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”

²⁹ “Come,” he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. ³⁰ But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”

³¹ Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”

³² And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. ³³ Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”

Ok so first it’s important for us to understand that absolutely everything that is written in the bible has purpose. God is a purpose-driven God; therefore, He desires to tell us a story about Him in everything.

Can you see it? The disciples have had a hard day and an amazing day all at the same time! They are tired (You’d have to read the entire chapter to capture this part)! John the Baptist has been murder in the worst way; they had a massive crowd show up (about 5,000) to be healed by Jesus and to listen to Him, they had been out there in the heat all day and they told Jesus “Send these people home so they can eat, it’s getting late” and Jesus responded “uhhh no, they are hungry but don’t shift responsibility…YOU FEED THEM”. They look at Jesus like he is crazy, “Master, we can’t possibly feed ALL of these people, we only have 2 little sardines and 5 loaves of bread!!” Then Jesus, full of swag responded “Perfect, bring me what you have and I’ll make the increase”. The disciples witness 5,000 people fed with more than enough food remaining afterwards (and they were able to take some ownership because Jesus used their hands as vessels to give the increase).

Ok that brings us to this point à the disciples on a boat after a long, difficult but exciting day of miracles. The waves are crashing around the boat and all of a sudden they see Jesus walking on the water (for some reason, we always get nervous when we see Jesus operating outside of our realm of understanding). Jesus told them “Take Courage! It is I! Don’t be afraid!” I imagine Jesus thinking “here we go again; they are acting like they’ve never seen me do impossible things before. Just today I allowed them to see 5,000 people be fed with just a little food yet they are still amazed. Ok, I will take this opportunity to confirm who I am to them once more.”

Peter cracks me up so much!! Do ya’ll see this dude’s response? “Lord forreal forreal, if that is really you then I bet you can’t make me walk on water!!” Jesus decides to oblige him here and tells Peter to come. I see myself in Peter and I can relate to what He was feeling. He steps out of the boat by faith and he’s doing it; He’s actually walking on the water! Then Peter takes His eyes off of Jesus and focuses on his circumstances. He starts to look at the waves and forgets to focus on Christ and that is the place where he begins to sink. But the good thing is that he has enough sense to call on Jesus for help. This next part is beautiful…

The scripture says, “Immediately Jesus reached out His hand and caught him”. Wow, what a loving father! If it were me, I may have let him sink a little bit more to teach him a lesson before I saved him (horrible, I know). But Jesus, like the gracious warrior and loving father that he is, IMMEDIATELY reached out His strong hand to save Peter. He also took an opportunity to give Peter a pep talk about trusting Him. When the other disciples saw what had happened they worshiped Jesus. Funny how our trials propel us to worship God right!

Worry ends where faith begins. It is critical that we take the limits off of God. God desires for us to walk on the proverbial water (walking on water for our context is allowing Him to do the impossible through our lives). What is it that God has called you to accomplish? God gives vision to each of His children and sustains our life so that we can do THAT. Often “that” can seem like an impossible task…to start a ministry, to build churches, to heal the sick, to give justice to the disenfranchised, to start a business, to share the gospel with a co-worker, to home school your children, to be a husband or wife that loves like Christ, etc. It can all seem overwhelming…as I imagine the waves crashing around Peter appeared. But thank God that His loving hands IMMEDIATELY lift us up as He did for Peter.

God desires for you to walk on water, to TRUST Him, to TRUST His character and His love. Once we step out we have to purpose in our hearts to not be moved by the circumstances that present themselves in our lives. We can’t become anxious because that is the point where we began to spiral out of control. Philippians 4:6-8 is a good scripture to plug in here.

Do not fret or have any anxiety about anything, but in every circumstance and in everything, by prayer and petition (^[b]definite requests), with thanksgiving, continue to make your wants known to God.

⁷ And God’s peace [shall be yours, that ^[c]tranquil state of a soul assured of its salvation through Christ, and so fearing nothing from God and being content with its earthly lot of whatever sort that is, that peace] which transcends all understanding shall ^[d]garrison and mount guard over your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

⁸ For the rest, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is worthy of reverence and is honorable and seemly, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely and lovable, whatever is kind and winsome and gracious, if there is any virtue and excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think on and weigh and take account of these things [fix your minds on them].

Peter forgot about this scripture in the instance where he saw the waves crashing. He became worried, concerned, anxious, and nervous (typical flesh response). God calls us to respond with spirit…and what gives us added benefit is that God’s very spirit lives within us. Peter had Jesus physically there with Him which can seem most comforting, but I’d argue that we are in a better position having the Holy Spirit LIVING inside of us.  It’s critical that we walk on water and walking on water begins with FAITH in the LIVING God, Faith in Who God Is and His Character, Faith in His Love (perfect love cast out fear and Christ IS love), and Faith in His sovereignty. Be encouraged friends…Look to Christ all of the time and follow the instructions in Philippians 4:6-8. God is chiseling down the layers of our humanity and building something beautiful…Himself within us. That is complete elevation. More to come next time!

With love,

Kristin Sarai XO

God as the Masseuse

This weekend I went to the spa to celebrate the birthday of one of my dearest friends. It had been far too long since the last time that I had a massage so I was extremely excited and anticipating the relaxation. As I comfortably positioned myself on the table the masseuse informed me that my back and shoulders were really tight. I’m no newbie to massages but this one was a unique experience because the Holy Spirit decided to minister to me right there on the spot (God is always prepared to speak to His children).

In my experience, the massages that have relieved the tension and made my body feel better were the ones that were uncomfortable during the process.  In simple, the masseuse adds additional pressure to areas that are tense in an effort to provide relief.  In order to endure the pain I have to breathe deeply and force my body to relax.  After a good massage I am usually sore for the rest of the day but on day 2 my body feels NEW, Relaxed, and Relieved.

Over the last week I have been faced with fear, anxiety, and doubt regarding personal things in my life and I’ve been jumping some spiritual hurdles as God requires greater faith and trust from me. Right there in the middle of my massage God took the opportunity to teach me how similar my relationship with Him currently is to what I was experiencing at the spa. 

He spoke this to my heart: “You came to me excited, eager to lay on my table and in full anticipation for an experience that would ultimately make you better.  You looked at my credentials and my track record of success and you stretched out before me in submission to me working on you to ultimately make you better (holy, righteous, set apart, Christ-like, patient, disciplined, loving, longsuffering, meek, patient, etc.).  I began to work on you; to work the toxins out of your life, to remove things that didn’t look like me from your heart, and to put my heart and character inside of you. I know, I know, it doesn’t normally feel good when I’m in the middle of working these out but just like with the massage, in those times you have to “breathe deeply (focus on my word and know that any pain that you are experiencing is out of my love for you – Romans 8:28), and force yourself to relax (by using the power of the Holy Spirit working inside of you).  I know just how much pressure that you can bare and because of my love for you, I will never allow that level to exceed.  As I am working out the issues you can have confidence knowing that this is ultimately for your good and out of my love for you and my desire to do my job as your father and savior in excellence.  Yes, you feel a bit sore immediately after I’ve made some critical changes and uprooted some deeply rooted issues but trust me, I replaced those things with something far better.  A day after our massage is over you will realize that you’re far better than you were before the process. You’re regenerated, you have more joy, and you feel like a new woman and guess what? You ARE! You are less like Kristin Sarai and more like Jesus Christ. So, the next time you lay on my table, don’t tell me to decrease the pressure, don’t complain about the tension, just rest in My peace knowing that I love you and every time that I am applying pressure it’s for your ultimate good and to bring you to your expected end. I love you more than life itself, so I stretched my arms out and died so that you would live.”

Once again, it’s amazing how God will shut down your little pity party and give you a way of understanding the way that He works. In 2013, God is still speaking in parables! LOL Today, I hope that you find encouragement in knowing that your sufferings (this is specific to people who are truly seeking to honor God with their lives in obedience) are God’s way of molding you into the image of Christ. He is near to you during the suffering and He will work it out for your good. Be encouraged!

With love,

Kristin Sarai

What Do You REALLY want Out of this??

That’s right folks! My question is simple, what is it that you REALLY want out of this life of yours?! What might the journey to obtaining the life that you’ve dreamed of look like?  Is this something that you’ve ever just sat back and honestly pondered? I’d encourage you to do so and here’s why à

Often, when we consider our lives, we think “big picture” (overall desires that if achieved we believe will yield us the satisfaction for which we’ve always hoped) or “little picture” (instant desires that will make us happy and/or satisfied at the moment). But what I’ve learned is this; it is dangerous to have DESTINATIONS in mind without at least considering the JOURNEY.

In my life journey one principle that God continually drills into my mind is the importance of “his desires being my desires”. So, I’ve incorporated this into my prayers, “Lord make your desires my desires 1) so that I am not resistant to what you want for me, 2) so I can be in your perfect will, 3) so that I have peace in whatever state you have me in knowing that anything that you allow for me to experience here on this earth is out of love, and 4) so that I have peace and joy, even in unforeseen circumstances knowing that Rom. 8:28 is applicable in my life.” Now don’t go getting this twisted…it’s not easy (hence the need for the prayer). I have realized that unless God captivates my mind and my heart, I am bound to be a HOT MESS! My desires will be all about gratifying my flesh, partaking in the lust of my flesh and the pride of life. But I do believe (and it has proven to be true in my life) that God is capable and desires to transform our hearts and minds to sanctify us for His GOOD work. *check out Ephesians 2:10*

I always wanted to be a physician and not just a physician but I desired to open up free clinics to provide free services to minorities with low socio-economic status (low education, low-income, low-social status). I wanted to do medical research too! I remember being a little girl pulling up roots from the yard and running in to tell my parents that what I found outside could be the cure for cancer (ok, I may have been a little weird LOL). Ultimately, I wanted to be appointed as the Secretary of Health and Human Services (the highest medical official in the United States)….Oh yes honey!! I had lofty goals and I was well on my way to achieving them! But my plan, although cute, was not what God had in mind. Before I even knew to ask for His desires to be my desires, God started to transform my desires. He began exposing me to people, showing me a need for Him and His truth, showing what He REALLY created me to accomplish and giving me little snapshots of my future (which I didn’t really understand). I became intrigued and THEN I started to ask for Him to share His heart for my life with me. Now, I have a clear vision for what I want out of life (what God wants for my life), I am clear about the fact that my life is for God’s glory, and the passion burning in my heart is His fire and not my own.

Now, that I am clear about what I want out of life and why I want what I want (for God’s glory)….You’d think that it would all go according to “your” plan right?! After all, your plan is God’s plan. That couldn’t be further from the truth. God ain’t (yes, I said ain’t) interested in getting on your little boat (that would compromise His sovereignty); His desire is for us to hop on His ship! That means that although we have an end vision, we have to submit to God bringing our lives together anyway that He deems necessary. That means that we have to be more concerned with the journey than the destination. The beauty of the story is always in the journey but our innate human nature desires to focus on the destination. But as aforementioned, the comfort and peace comes in knowing that after you’ve submitted your life to Christ, EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENS IN YOUR LIFE IS OUT OF THE LOVE OF GOD. Even the circumstances that seem horrible is God demonstrating His love to you. Sounds crazy?! We don’t have to understand God’s methods *see Isaiah 55:9* …our little minds can’t even handle such knowledge but we can make a choice to accept it.  This journey isn’t easy but boy is it rewarding!

What do you really want out of life? Is it truly what God desires of you? What does the journey look like? Are you down for whatever? God is looking for ride-or-die disciples. People who say, Lord I don’t get it but where you go I will follow, if you’re here with me I’ll keep going. *see Matthew 16:24 and Luke 9:23* Ask God to test your heart and reveal it to you. This test helped me to see that I wasn’t as pure as I thought I was (Jeremiah 17:9), I didn’t know as much as I thought I knew and I that I am completely insignificant outside of Christ. Thank God that He gives wisdom to all liberally and without reproach (James 1: 5). Lord Jesus! Help us live this life, it’s not easy but we TRUST you…If you don’t do it, it won’t get done! Amen.

With lots of love,

Kristin Sarai xo

Look up ALL of the Time!

 

We know that God has purpose for each and every one of us as believers, we seek God for direction and he provides us with insight on what he desires for our lives to accomplish. Great! Thank you Lord for sharing your heart with your children. The dilemma often comes after we know what God desires and actually have to get to work (this portion may consist of head scratching, doubt, fear, anxiety, feelings that no one else understand what you're going through, etc...does this sound familiar?). I went through this a great deal recently but God spent some significant time building me up, firmly planting my feet, confirming His love and His involvement (Kris, I got your back girl, don't you know how much I love you?!!). One of my favorite things about God is His "Realness"! He doesn't forbid us from feeling these things, in fact, he feels them with us. He hurts when we hurt and cries when we cry (what an amazing Father). God allows for us to cry out to Him with full expression (Check out Hannah's story in 1 Sam. 1-2, and Paul in 2 Corinthians, David in Psalms and Sooooo many other biblical accounts) and he even values our cries! He loves it when we run to him with our cares (1 Peter 5:7 - Cast all of your cares upon Him because He cares for you) and he is faithful and just to lift up our heads.

One thing that has aided me tremendously in God's working with my perspective and outlook is "taking the word of God as truth". I know that sounds like a given but if you really ponder this thought you'd realize that in some areas you haven't quite taken His word as truth. Consider James 1:5 "If any of you lack wisdom, let Him as of the Father who gives to all liberally and without reproach." Do you take that seriously or is it just a cute little verse in the bible? Do you actually ask God for wisdom and expect for Him to provide the needed wisdom?

I know what God has called me to but I started to feel overwhelmed which made me stagnant. My thoughts were, "I know what you want me to do but I don't know if I can do it, I want to do it but I don't know how, I don't even know the FIRST thing about accomplishing what you've called me to" or "It's not adding up, what you've called me to just isn't possible right now. I need to be in a different position first". God spoke to me and presented me with a very clear message:

"Kristin, first of all don't ever be confused...I have called you to do MY work, you didn't just dream this up on your own. I know that you don't know how to do it. You see, that is a part of my divine design. If you could accomplish it on your own then you would get the glory that is due to ME. Not only that, you would snatch your hands out of mine and lean to your own understanding. I am a jealous God daughter. I want your dependence on me, I want you to cry out to me, I want you to look up to me ALL of the time, I want to do a work through you that will leave you telling people, 'I don't know...all I know is God is REAL and His word is TRUE'. Guess what, you know that little book that I left for you to read, the bible, it is full of testimonies of people who I called to do my work and they didn't have a clue how to accomplish it without my instruction. Do you think that Noah knew how to build a boat secure enough to float for a year while I wiped out the earth?! I hope you answered no to that! Kristin, I am the Lord your God, I run this earth, at my thought I put this whole 'earth story' together from beginning to end, I am seamless, there are no glitches in me, trust My love. Talk to people, do some research, get in front of the computer screen on a blank page, write the vision and make it plain, Hold my hand and watch me work."

How silly was my thinking before. I am so thankful for God's grace and long-suffering nature towards His children. The message is simple, "Look up all of the time and keep moving your feet. Cast your cares on God and he is strong enough to handle them AND lift up your head".

What is it that God is calling you to accomplish? What has he put on your heart that may feel overwhelming? What are you saddened about? May I encourage you to look to God and allow for Him to take control of the situation. He is speaking the same message in 2013 that He was speaking in biblical times. Find joy in knowing that He is on your team and you can trust His love wholeheartedly.

Prayer:

Father, thank you for speaking to your children. Thank you that your love is secure. Thank you that you allow for us to feel and that you are interested in bearing our burdens. Thank you that you don't get tired of us coming to you and that you are interested in holding our hands all of the time. Continue to strengthen us and protect our hearts and minds from feeding into things that are of you. Help us to always think on You and Your word (Col. 2:16) and rebuke any thoughts or feelings that are anti-You. Thank you that you allow for us to feel but instead of dwelling in negative emotions or feelings you desire and are capable of lifting up our heads. You are such an amazing Father and our hearts are desperate for you. We are after Your heart...for our hearts to look like yours! We don't only want to be beneficiaries of your love but also givers of that love. Continue to perfect us and mold us into the image of Christ. We love you to from the bottom to the top! Amen.

With Love,

Kristin Sarai

Skyfall (The Movie) :He did All of that to save her...!

Disclaimer: If you have not seen the new Bond movie “Skyfall”  but plan to see it, you may not want to read this post (It’ll give away the ending).

Ok God speaks to me in the most unusual instances. So recently I was watching the new 007 movie “Skyfall”. I won’t go through the entire plot (I’ll assume that you know enough about 007) but I’ll say that Bond had a special relationship and love for M who in the movie plays the head of the Secret Intelligence Service. In this movie a former agent turned on the agency and M and was seeking to kill her. Because 007 loved her so much he went through extreme measures to save her life. There was an intense battle scene at the end and just before the double-crossing agent killed M, 007 killed him. As 007 ran over to M, she said a few words and died. – My friend with disdain said “He did all of that to save her and she STILL die”. At that moment, the Holy Spirit spoke to me and said “That is exactly how we (the God-head: Father, Son, Holy Spirit) feel. We sent Christ down to die a brutal death for humanity because we love you SO much, We liberated you from the slavery of sin, We offered you abundant like and yet, they STILL die eternally”. Wow, Oooook Daddy…I hear you!

Yo! Don’t let the death of Christ be in vain. He did all of that to save you…chose life.

For God so loved the world that he gave His only begotten son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life! – John 3:16

With love,

Kristin Sarai

When God Hurts Your Feelings

Yes, God will absolutely hurt your feelings but for your own good. Hear me out…

This is where I am mentally/spiritually:

My greatest desire is to do God’s work, to be His hands and feet, to demonstrate His love, to reflect His glory, to be obedient to His plan and perfect will. I say this with all sincerity. I want to do the work that God has for me, I want to have relationships that God wants me to have, I want to spend my money on what God wants me to spend money on, and I want to be righteous. The bottom line is this; I want to govern every aspect of my life according to the will of God. I understand that the only reason that I have life in my body is to make the name of Jesus great. I have asked God to mold my desires to be the same as His desires.

The blessing of that mental/spiritual standing:

God speaks to you! When we become completely focused on Christ and we are interested above all else in doing His work He will began to develop us, speak to us, and the Holy Spirit will be powerfully at work in our lives. Often times God will give us the inside scoop about the task that He is preparing us for. He may tell you a clear picture of what your life looks like in the future, what your life will accomplish, etc. It truly is a blessing to know exactly what God is preparing you to accomplish.

The dilemma:

So God has great things in store for you and he has given you a glimpse of what it looks like and of course, in your human nature you are excited (nothing wrong with that)! The problem occurs when you attempt to speed things up. You want everything to be manifested in “your” time, after all, it’s all for God’s glory. We become anxious and unfortunately anxiousness often leads to fear, doubt, distrust, frustration, disappointment, etc. God calls for us to rest in Him. The scripture that states this most explicitly is Philippians 4:6

“Do not fret or have anxiety about anything, but in every circumstance and in everything, by prayer and petition (definite request), with thanksgiving, continue to make your wants known to God”.

God wants us to REST in HIM. Being anxious demonstrates unrest and distrust which ultimately will destroy the blessing. This is seen in James 1:6-8

“But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. ⁷ For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; ⁸ he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.”

This scripture in James helps us to see the importance of resting in God. To put in it 2012 language God is saying “I’ve got this under control. I created you and your life. I really don’t need your help…I just need your obedience. Who are you to determine the time-frame in which I make something happen??! Did you create yourself? Can you see what’s happening behind the scenes? Can you see into the future? No! You don’t even know what will happen in the next 30 seconds yet, you think that you are an expert on time?! Psssssh! Sit down, shut up, all of the time and WAIT on me to move. Trust my love for you. Trust my purpose for you. And trust what I have put in your heart. Don’t ask me for something and then be all anxious about it. I’m your daddy and I love you more than your finite mind can understand. Just chill out and let ME be God. I love you”. Ok, that, my friends is the “feelings crusher” part of this. God will straight shut you DOWN! And rightfully so, you see, feelings have little place in what God needs for us to have. Feelings and emotions move with the circumstances but God needs for it to be a heart/spirit thing. When everything is for His glory…our feelings should have little influence on our behaviors.  He will knock you to your knees to help you understand that He is God alone. I know it’s hard for us to believe because we are so great but, God does NOT need our help in determining how things should be done. He actually needs for us to just submit and be obedient. What IS fair for us to ask however, is the strength to be patient. And He will provide that, His desire is not to hold any good thing from us but to work His perfect plan in our lives.

Christians, we have a horrible habit of giving things to God and then snatching it back and we get into this vicious cycle of giving and taking back and this does not please God. Don’t we understand that God likes cheerful givers?! We have associated that to finances only, but that is with EVERYTHING (our concerns, burdens, gifts and talents, money, etc.) God’s desire is for us to cheerfully give him our burdens and concerns, hopes and dreams, and finances and gifts with full confidence that He can handle it all. We looked at Philippians 4:6 but there is a beautiful conditional statement in the following verse. Philippians 4:7 says,

“and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”

So, IF we do not fret or have anxiety about circumstances but rather ask God with thanksgiving, THEN, the peace of God will guard our hearts and minds through the strength of Christ.

Is not that a beautiful promise?! There is something about having peace that is so sweet. Peace is a universal treasure. Ask a celebrity how important peace is and ask a poor person in Liberia who have absolutely nothing but can still lift their hands with a smile on their face and say “God is good, and I am thankful for my blessings”. The answer is universal, peace is so valuable, its price is above rubies. Peace says, no matter what the circumstances are, all is well with my soul because I know and recognize who is in control of not only my life, but the entire world.

The bottom line is, sometimes God hurts our feelings to get us back on track and put things in perspective and PRAISE GOD for that! It’s all for our good! So, if you have experienced something similar, lift your hands and tell God “Thank you Daddy”! When you ask God to mold you into the image of Christ…we better be in full expectation that God will do just that! Jesus bootcamp ain’t over, he’s molding you into His image. And that my friends, is complete elevation!

Daddy thank you for loving us enough to hurt our feelings. You are amazing and your love is amazing. Our desire is to be more like You. You are our best example because you are perfect, blameless, and without fault. Help us to trust you more and to feast off of your faithfulness. Thank you for giving us a glimpse of what you have in store for our future. Give us the patience to trust You and Your timing fully. We get so excited that we often try to jump ahead of you, but thank you for your divine purpose and plan. Give us peace and patience. Give us Your wisdom. We love you with our whole hearts, purify our love and purify our lives for Your glory. You are everything! Amen.

With love,

Kristin Sarai

The Stress of Plans

2012 is swiftly approaching its end and boy what a year it has been!! I have experience God in such a profound way this year and although it is almost over, I am still pregnant with expectation of what more God has in store for his children. One of most valuable lessons that I have learned this year is that it is critically important for us to allow God’s desires to become our desires, to allow His will to become our will, and to allow His thoughts become our thoughts. Now, this is not new knowledge….I would venture to say that I have had this understanding (God’s plans are higher than my thoughts and His ways higher than our ways, etc.) BUT it wasn’t until this year that I got the divine revelation of that truth.

Often we go through life making plans for our future. We determine what we will accomplish, where we will work, the type of person we will marry, the amount of children we will have, where we will live, how much money we will make even down to the details like how we will celebrate our birthday and what we will eat for dinner tonight. I don’t think that there is anything wrong with planning, planning is actually a wonderful practice however, the danger in planning is doing so without the direction of God. You see, God is the author of our lives and we are merely vessels to carry out the purpose for which He created us. One thing is for sure, we can trust that God is crazy in love with us and He promised that when we submit our lives to Him, He would bring us to an expected end. One of my favorite verses in Psalms 139 gives us an explicit demonstration of the love, concern, and detailed thoughts that God has towards us.

¹⁶ Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
¹⁷ How precious to me are your thoughts,^[a] God!
How vast is the sum of them!

Psalms 139:16-17

So here is where the confusion begins….We realize that we are NOT the authors of our lives, we do not know what God’s intent was when he placed us on this earth, yet opposed to seeking purpose and developing plans through Him, we decide to create our own path. In the laborious task of developing our life’s plan outside of God, we become weary and burdened. Things don’t seem to ever work out or perhaps they do but even in your plans working, you still don’t have peace or fulfillment. God is calling you to give up your plans and submit to His plans. His desire is to give you Complete Elevation and to teach you how to Live in His Abundance! There is a familiar passage of scripture in Matthew that offers believers a beautiful gift if only we will take hold.

²⁸ Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy-laden and overburdened, and I will cause you to rest. [I will ^[o]ease and relieve and ^[p]refresh ^[q]your souls.]

²⁹ Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me, for I am gentle (meek) and humble (lowly) in heart, and you will find rest (^[r]relief and ease and refreshment and ^[s]recreation and blessed quiet) for your souls.

³⁰ For My yoke is wholesome (useful, ^[t]good—not harsh, hard, sharp, or pressing, but comfortable, gracious, and pleasant), and My burden is light and easy to be borne.

Matthew 11:28-30

God is SO interested in giving us the rest that we need. He is interested in being our helper, our peace, and truly being in control of our lives without our interference. In the arms of God we can be vulnerable; we can express our fears, hopes, aspirations, and be completely transparent.  It is in the arms of Christ that we are fulfilled and where the transformation occurs.  It is at this point that we have run, we are tired, we have planned, we have fail, we are unfulfilled, we are bruised and wounded that God is standing with arms of love waiting for us to wave the white flag and surrender to His plans and His will. After God has clarified our identify, transformed our hearts, breathed the word of life into bodies, molded our desires to His desires, at that point, we can plan with the understanding that our plans must be God’s plans and that they MUST yield honor God.

As you prepare for the holidays, as you continue to make plans for your life….remember the words from Psalms 139:16-17. God is more than capable of handling your life, I’m a living witness. This truth requires sacrifice and relinquishing control but God is saying, “My desire is for you to live in My abundance”. Answer His call today, stop running, stop planning, run into the arms of the Maker of the heavens and earth, the creator of our soul, the ONLY sovereign God. Again,  God’s desire is for you to live in His abundance. And that my friends, is 7 Degrees North, Complete Elevation.

Lord, thank you for your grace and love. Forgive us for the times that we have planned without you, the times that we have doubted your ability to bring us to an expected end, that we have gotten so caught up in life that we forgot that YOU are the only life that matters. Lord, mold our hearts to yours and give us the grace to submit our desires and plans to you. Let our lives be as sweet sounding music to your ears. Our desire is to serve you through obedience and live in your perfect will. Lead us down the path of righteousness for your name’s sake. Lord we love you because you first loved us on the cross of Calvary. Amen.

With Love,

Kristin Sarai