Learning to Love the "Uncomfortable Zone"

I have learned in serving God that one of the keys is becoming comfortable being uncomfortable.  I know, I know, that sounds like an oxymoron.  But hear me out.

Consider with me a few examples from scripture.  The disciples are in a boat and a storm is raging around them.  Amidst the worry about the storm, they see a figure walking on the water!  It’s storming, so they are already in danger, and now there is a man walking on water towards them.  That is just plain SPOOKY!!!  We laugh when they thought it was a ghost because we have the whole book with the end of the story, but they didn’t have that.  For all they knew, it was death coming to claim them!  At that moment, they were distinctly UNCOMFORTABLE.

Now let’s move along and talk about a blind man. I’m going to nickname him “Tom” for ease of reference.  Tom has been sitting begging for years, unable to see, and in those days, there were not ADA compliant buildings, computers that talked and read things for you, or seeing eye dogs.  That’s not an enviable position to be in under any circumstances.  Life is already hard, and then this man Jesus comes along.  Envision him listening as Jesus explains to the crowd that he was born blind for the glory of God and wondering exactly what glory God was getting out of his malady.  Then, a sound different than the din of voices catches his attention.  Remember, being blind, Tom’s hearing would have been impeccable.  Imagine his thoughts and emotions as he hears the distinctive sound of spitting, and then feels something wet and gooey being wiped on his eyes!  Friends, that had to be UNCOMFORTABLE!

Or, picture being James and John, the sons of Zebedee.  It’s just a normal work day for the boys and their dad, and kind of a boring one.  Instead of being out on the water with the wind in their hair fishing, they were stuck sitting and mending nets.  But it was part of the job and the guys passed the time, maybe telling fishing tales about the one that got away as they worked.  Suddenly, this stranger walks up and introduces himself as Jesus and tells James and John He wants them to leave the family fishing business and follow him.  Can you imagine?  Something tells them this is the opportunity of a lifetime and a burning inside pushes them to accept and follow the man.  But to do so is to leave the financial security of the family fishing business and the comforts of a “normal” life.  And to make matters worse, Zebedee is sitting there amidst the nets spluttering about this being an irresponsible and foolish idea and surely they aren’t actually going to consider it are they???  A decision must be made on the spot – to follow Christ or not.  That was an UNCOMFORTABLE position to be in!

Or how about the Day of Pentecost?  Those gathered in the upper room have just received the Holy Ghost and others, hearing the commotion have gathered and begun to ask questions.  Peter starts to preach and tells them that with wicked hands they had murdered the Lord of Glory!  That’s a rough accusation, and what made it worse was when he said it, they realized he was right!  Peter’s words suddenly felt like a knife stabbing them in the heart as they were faced with the reality that they had willingly and knowingly killed, not just an innocent man, but God in flesh!  That was an UNCOMFORTABLE moment!

Move forward in time with me and walk with Peter and John toward the temple at the hour of prayer.  They see a man they had seen many times before.  The poor bloke was lame and had been since birth, left with no way to make a living besides begging at the gate.  Peter and John don’t have any money, and they see this man and feel bad for him.  What a difficult life he was living!  But suddenly, God nudges Peter’s heart and tells him, “You tell him to stand up and walk in my name!”  Imagine being Peter at that moment.  If he does it and nothing happens, he’s going to embarrass himself and the lame man and he’s probably going to make the lame man very angry, especially since he has no money to make up for making a spectacle of him!  Peter now has to decide if he heard from God and has the faith to follow through, or if that was just a stray thought.  If I were in Peter’s shoes, that would have been a horribly UNCOMFORTABLE moment!

Now, as Paul Harvey used to say, let’s look at “the rest of the story!”  Get back on the boat with the disciples and the “ghost” walking across the water.  That uncomfortable moment suddenly becomes an opportunity for Peter to experience an incredible miracle of walking on water with Jesus (which included some additional uncomfortable moments) and then Jesus got in the boat, calmed the storm and got them safely back to shore.  They learned the critical lesson that Jesus will always come through as savior and protector, but they had to be uncomfortable first. 

Now, let’s revisit Tom, the blind man.  Slimy spit stuff on his eyes – an uncomfortable moment – led to him receiving his sight!  He can see, he can work a job, he can get married and have a family and provide for them…  He just got handed the fullness of LIFE in one moment when, instead of stopping Jesus and saying, “Hold up, Bro!  I just heard you spitting on the ground and now you’re reaching for my face…what exactly do you plan to do here?” he stood still and let God make him uncomfortable long enough to work a miracle for him.

James and John made the difficult decision to follow this man.  The Bible doesn’t tell us if it caused a family rift, or what plans they had for their own futures they may have given up because of their choice.  It tells us only that there were given the incredible opportunity to spend 3 years walking and talking with God in the flesh.  They saw miracles, heard Him teach with their own ears, and got to be part of the foundation of the Church! 

Stand with those on the Day of Pentecost and hear Peter’s sermon.  They had to choose to stand there and face the horribly uncomfortable conviction and all of the emotions that went with it, or get angry, tell themselves Peter was delusional and storm off.  By forcing themselves to stay there, accept their own guilt, and experience true sorrow, they received forgiveness and the wonderful gift of the Holy Ghost!  What a lovely trade for a half hour of being uncomfortable!

And finally, walk along with Peter and John as they follow the formerly lame man who is happily dancing a jig all the way into the temple, praising God and rejoicing.  Surely, Peter must have been thankful he chose the awkwardness of telling a crippled guy to get up and walk over the security and comfort of just avoiding eye contact and walking past when he felt that nudging of the Spirit to act.

Roller coasters are a major attraction at theme parks around the world.  Why?  Because they create the feeling of hair-raising danger with insane heights, flips, spins, and sometimes even riding backwards all with the safety and security of knowing you will come through the ride alive.  It’s an adrenaline rush like few others!  People pay lots of money and then wait in line for hours to get on a roller coaster and ride it, grinning all the way, because they trust the engineers and safety inspectors who designed and maintain the ride.  Living for God is not all that different in some regards.  If you do it right, God will repeatedly put you in situations that will scare you to death.  But if you will learn to trust Him, you will eventually develop the confidence that regardless of how dangerous the next “corkscrew” looks, the God who designed this ride intends for you to walk off at the end safe and sound.  If you stick it out and let Him put you in those “uncomfortable” situations often enough, you will get so accustomed to it that you not only ride the ride with a big grin on your face, you start asking Him to do it again!  (And for those of you thinking, “yeah, and I don’t ride roller coasters in the natural either” … He can find a Scrambler or Kiddie Coaster for you while you develop some confidence!)

“God, I want to see You work miracles and I want to be the instrument that You use to make it happen!  Need to make me uncomfortable?  No problem.  My palms may be sweaty, my stomach may be in knots, but I want to see the Glory of God!!! 

I’ll go tell that person about the God who can heal them and offer to pray for them on the spot.

I’ll walk on the platform and sing with my voice squeaking and knees knocking if that’s what it takes to see the Presence of God sweep through the house in stunning waves of glory.

Need to convict me of some things and make me see my own faults and errors?  Send me a preacher and let him preach to me!  I’ll fall in an altar and repent when he’s done, because I want everything You have for me! 

Need me to walk away from my own plans for life and the future I had mapped out?  You have an imagination bigger and better than mine.  I’ll gladly trade my plans for Yours because I have no doubt Your ideas are better. 

I may think mud made from spit is a disgusting approach, but if that’s how You want to go about giving me the miracle I so desperately need, bring on the spit!”

 

 

I'll Remain Still

I recently heard a song by Clint Brown and a few lines caught my attention. “I lay down my will…I’ll remain still in your hand…Lord, I will follow…” The next morning, God stopped me with a question:  how often do I miss His conviction because I rush past it instead of remaining still in His hand? 

My intent is never to rebel or refuse to let God deal with me, but so often, I rush past things without examining them.  I assume something isn’t applicable to my situation after a quick “glance” when careful examination would say otherwise. Or, I just don’t slow down and search my heart as I encounter His Word.  Some topics are so “routine” that it’s easy to stop being careful with them. And some things I consciously or unconsciously don’t want to deal with. In all cases it’s far easier to keep moving (singing the next song in worship service, writing down the next point in my sermon notes during the preaching, or moving on to running the next errand or washing the next dish in my daily life) without ever making myself stop and remain still in His hand while He examines, convicts and gives direction. I want to follow – but to successfully surrender my will and follow, I have to make stopping and remaining still a regular part of my daily life.

Provoke One Another

Hebrews 10:24 - And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:

I will never forget sitting at the piano as the pastor was preparing to close out that service.  I was a mediocre musician at best, with a lot of insecurities that further limited my skills. I was playing the piano because the church had only one piano player and she was struggling spiritually.  As the evangelist’s wife, I offered to step in and give her a break during altar services for the duration of the revival. The pastor was a guitarist, so he understood music and the challenge of being a musician. As he was winding down, he turned to me and asked, “Do you know XYZ song?” I smiled and said, “I’ve never played it.” And began scooting off the piano bench so my musically talented husband could take over. The pastor stopped me with a look and a very softly spoken, “You CAN play this.” Nobody in the congregation would have picked up on what had just happened, but I knew better than to argue.  I meekly sank back onto the piano bench, nodded when he named a key, and began to play.  To my surprise, he was right – I could play it – and did so without missing a chord.

There are some things we do easily on our own.  Other things, we struggle with.  That’s why Hebrews tells us to provoke one another. When we hear “good works” we automatically assume that being provoked should be easy because it is a good thing, but the reality is, if it was something we WANTED to do, nobody would have to provoke us.  Too often, it’s a good work that we feel inadequate for or intimidated by. That’s why a certain amount of submission is required. Ephesians 5:21 says, “Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.” When one of our brothers or sisters begins to provoke us to a good work, we have to submit to being pushed in the right direction, even when it’s outside our comfort zone.

The pastor of the church provoked me to a good work that day.  I didn’t argue, I didn’t fuss at him later for scaring me, and I didn’t pretend to misunderstand and let my husband play anyway – I allowed myself to be provoked. That would be one of MANY times I quietly allowed myself to be made very uncomfortable at a piano because the minister in charge of a service understood my insecurities and decided to push me past them. They understood, better than I did, that if they could provoke me to good works one song at a time, eventually, I would overcome some of those fears and be a more usable tool in the hand of God when it came to facilitating worship in the congregation.

What are your spiritual leaders or brothers and sisters in Christ trying to provoke you to? Are you submitting to their attempts to provoke you?

Obey

Bro. Hood had a conversation recently that is weighing heavily on my mind when combined with some other things.  He was fellowshipping with some ministers at a conference and one of them asked the question, “When was the last time any of us saw someone healed by our shadow?”  I’m sure he thought it was rhetorical, but Bro. Hood answered him and said, “When I was overseas.  When I was overseas, there were people healed by MY shadow, but that has never happened in the United States.”  As he was sharing that conversation with me, we found ourselves talking about how different the American church’s response to God and the Man of God is and what a hinderance it is to what God could do.

That conversation played over in my head all day and tied in to something that bothered me deeply at the conference.  The first service, the host pastor started out with a call for anyone who needed prayer to come up and be prayed for.  I believe 3 people responded, the ministry prayed for them and the service moved on smoothly, but without any great move of God or response.  The next morning, Bishop Smith was called to address the congregation.  He said something in his direct but gentle way, and both the words and the response to it hit me very hard.  He made the statement, “There were many more people who needed prayer last night than the number that came up for prayer.  There was an invitation given but very few responded.”  What troubled me was that there was a general murmur of agreement…but no serious level of conviction.  An elder had just given a very direct and Biblical rebuke, and the room in general nodded and moved on.  There were some who took it to heart and responded to the invitation for prayer when it was given that night, but the general reaction told me it was received largely as just “a comment from an old preacher.”

There was a message in tongues and interpretation given recently in our home church and the gist of it was, “You aren’t taking your pastor seriously. I put him here, but you don’t pay attention to what he says and obey, and as a result, you are hindering your own blessing.” 

The Bible teaches very clearly in Hebrews 13:17 that we are to obey those that have the rule over us.  So often, we shy away from that concept because many of us, myself included, have seen that abused.  I still remember the day I was chewed out for asking my Holy Ghost filled parents who are very financially stable and responsible for advice about a financial decision I was considering because “they were not my pastor.”  That’s nonsense and not Biblical and we all know that.  But just because there are those who abuse a verse doesn’t mean we can just ignore it.  God established the ministry for the perfecting of the saints.  He gave them authority and told us to obey.  When the Man of God says something, it’s not just “good advice” we “might” try to work on.  We are commanded to obey. 

When a Man of God speaks and it aligns with the Word of God, he’s speaking with God given authority, and we would do well to not view him as “just the preacher” because 1 Peter 4:11 says he is to speak as “the oracles of God.”  When a police officer turns on those red and blue lights, he might be “just another human,” but he is a human with the authority to take my backside to jail if I don’t obey.  And if I rebel the wrong way, he has the authority to taze me, put me in handcuffs, or if necessary, kill me.  We don’t think twice about authority that is given by the government to man, but for some reason, when GOD gives authority to man, we want to make him “just another man” to be considered a source of “good advice;” but that’s not what the Bible said!  When Bishop rebuked us for not coming forward for prayer, there should have been a noticeable response, because I KNOW there were sick people in that room who never got prayed for during that conference. 

Last week, Bro Hood preached on understanding the value of what we have.  If we want God to move, if we want to see His power, if we want souls to be saved, if we want miracles to happen, and if we want to go to Heaven…then we have to understand the value of what we have been given.  God has sent His word and He chose to send it both in writing, and through human messengers.  We have the voice of God – but we have to see it for what it is and obey.  Not think about it, not toss it over our shoulder for someone else, but OBEY.