God, take the paintbrush
I still have yesterday's talk at Buckhead Church on the mind.
In case you missed it, wasn't there, or was paying attention to that cute so-and-so rather than the talk (or just want to muse with me on it, that's okay too :-) ), it was about "the dream" we have for our lives and being willing to lay it down in surrender.
The guy that was speaking (Jamey Dickens, who looks 15 even though he leads the H.S. Ministry at Buckhead), used an illustration that I thought was really good so I'm going to give him props. He equated our vision/dream for our life to a watercolor painting that we would create as a second grader. His (if it was his) was really goofy looking, looked like a amateur drawing of Woody the Cowboy from Toy Story in a way. And... he equated the vision and dream that God has for our lives to the magnificent work of art which is on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Quite a contrast.
He used a scripture that we don't really see talked about much in church but really illustrated the confrontation that I have with God when I bring my dreams to Him... it is the story of Joshua being confronted by the Angel of the Lord before the Jericho battle. In it, he sees a powerful man wielding a sword, and he asks the question that any good military leader would ask a strange warrior.."Are you for us, or are you for our enemies?" In modern, non-military, lingo, he's asking... are you going to bless my plans or are you going to get in the way?
And the guy answered... Not! (C-Dub translation). You see, God isn't really that interested in our plans as much as He's interested in His getting glory through our lives. He is 100% for us, but for us to be in for what he's 100% in us for, we have to see that our best is going to align with the masterpiece that God is creating and not the small vision we have conjured up for ourselves. In other words, the plans we cook up on our own are just about always too small for God. He wants more for us, and He also wants us to give up control of that watercolor painting we have to let him start sketching a Sistine Chapel out of our lives.
I mean, what would have been more talked about? A 2 month siege of Jericho with heavy casualties or what God actually did for Israel? I thought so.
We all come to the same crossroads that Joshua came to in our own lives; and find that decision really is a regular choice that we have to make... Am I going to try to work my plan or am I going to let God lead? The question that God has etched in my brain for me to pray, with some potentially really cool things coming up for me is this... "God, what do you want to paint out of this?" This is that thing that's coming up, that I have a choice of doing things my way or surrendering my expectations and my plans to God and letting Him paint. It's a little bit of a scary proposition because that means giving up control... and I'm like most people and don't like giving up control. However, I can trust the one whom I'm giving up control to, and that gives me the gumption to go ahead and say... "Okay, Lord. Please take the brush and paint. I know that your vision for my life and how this fits into it makes my own vision appear miniscule. I want to see the masterpiece that you want to create, so I follow your lead."
Can we all have the courage to do that? How would our lives look if we did? Probably pretty cool :-)
In case you missed it, wasn't there, or was paying attention to that cute so-and-so rather than the talk (or just want to muse with me on it, that's okay too :-) ), it was about "the dream" we have for our lives and being willing to lay it down in surrender.
The guy that was speaking (Jamey Dickens, who looks 15 even though he leads the H.S. Ministry at Buckhead), used an illustration that I thought was really good so I'm going to give him props. He equated our vision/dream for our life to a watercolor painting that we would create as a second grader. His (if it was his) was really goofy looking, looked like a amateur drawing of Woody the Cowboy from Toy Story in a way. And... he equated the vision and dream that God has for our lives to the magnificent work of art which is on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Quite a contrast.
He used a scripture that we don't really see talked about much in church but really illustrated the confrontation that I have with God when I bring my dreams to Him... it is the story of Joshua being confronted by the Angel of the Lord before the Jericho battle. In it, he sees a powerful man wielding a sword, and he asks the question that any good military leader would ask a strange warrior.."Are you for us, or are you for our enemies?" In modern, non-military, lingo, he's asking... are you going to bless my plans or are you going to get in the way?
And the guy answered... Not! (C-Dub translation). You see, God isn't really that interested in our plans as much as He's interested in His getting glory through our lives. He is 100% for us, but for us to be in for what he's 100% in us for, we have to see that our best is going to align with the masterpiece that God is creating and not the small vision we have conjured up for ourselves. In other words, the plans we cook up on our own are just about always too small for God. He wants more for us, and He also wants us to give up control of that watercolor painting we have to let him start sketching a Sistine Chapel out of our lives.
I mean, what would have been more talked about? A 2 month siege of Jericho with heavy casualties or what God actually did for Israel? I thought so.
We all come to the same crossroads that Joshua came to in our own lives; and find that decision really is a regular choice that we have to make... Am I going to try to work my plan or am I going to let God lead? The question that God has etched in my brain for me to pray, with some potentially really cool things coming up for me is this... "God, what do you want to paint out of this?" This is that thing that's coming up, that I have a choice of doing things my way or surrendering my expectations and my plans to God and letting Him paint. It's a little bit of a scary proposition because that means giving up control... and I'm like most people and don't like giving up control. However, I can trust the one whom I'm giving up control to, and that gives me the gumption to go ahead and say... "Okay, Lord. Please take the brush and paint. I know that your vision for my life and how this fits into it makes my own vision appear miniscule. I want to see the masterpiece that you want to create, so I follow your lead."
Can we all have the courage to do that? How would our lives look if we did? Probably pretty cool :-)
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