She is a mom, wife, and passionate believer that Jesus changes everything.
- Elbow Tag Youth Group Game - November 12, 2024
- Thanksgiving Prayers and Gratitude Practices for Christians - November 10, 2024
- Sunday Conversation Starters for Youth Groups - November 9, 2024
This is part two of a seven part series of devotionals based on “Oceans” by Hillsong United. If you missed the beginning of the “Oceans” devotional series, click here.
Where feet may fail and fear surrounds me. You’ve never failed and You won’t start now -“Oceans”
I hope the previous section of this devotion was a powerful moment for you and connected you with God and your heart.
As followers of God, we are called to leave the world of sin and to join God in His world of love. The most identifiable moment in this process is conversion, becoming a believer for the first time, but it’s not the only significant landmark. We live in a world that is accustomed to sin and death, and it affects us on many levels. But God wants us to be whole, and that begins at our conversion, but it certainly does not end there.
This process is the spiritual journey.
It’s a journey that you will hopefully travel your entire life. It’s the journey of becoming more intimately intertwined with your Maker. It’s a journey where your identity and purpose come out of the relationship with your Creator – the lover of you. But in order to become closer to God, God must call us out of our hiding, which unfortunately is easier said than done.
Because Our nature is to hide.
Ah…the first sin. The sin that destroyed everything that was perfect. You remember the story. Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit and became aware, aware of their nakedness, their shame, their fear. So they hid. They hid from the only true thing in their life – they hid from God.
Adam and Eve’s hiding represents a pattern followed by every single human being since.
It’s very easy to point our finger and say, “Wow, they wrecked everything!” However, we must realize that we are really no different.
We hide. We hide all the time. Not only do we hide things we don’t like about ourselves from the world, loved ones and community, but we also hide from God.
Deep down, I don’t think we really want to hide from God, but it’s at our core. We have a hard time stopping this pesky pattern. Why is that? Why do we have such a difficulty being real with God, showing Him who we really are? It’s not like He doesn’t already know.
It’s because we are afraid, just like Adam and Eve.
And then there’s fear. Oh fear…I know fear well. Fear is the language of evil and fear is the currency of this world. My life has been characterized by an undercurrent of fear. It has been at times a debilitating and often frustrating way of living. A life of fear is no way to live, especially for a beloved daughter of God.
That’s what I have been learning the past few years, letting go of the fear and running to my Papa’s arms. It’s not easy, but living life through the lens of fear is far worse than the pain of change.
The risk is worth it.
Why? Because our God is trustworthy and capable of taking the things we hide from Him and transforming them into something holy.
It’s His way. He has done it since the beginning and He will do it with you – if you allow Him to work in you.
Living life through the lens of fear is far worse than the pain of change.
As stated in “Oceans,” “Where feet may fail and fear surround me, You’ve never failed and You won’t start now.”
Hold on to this truth. We can’t do this alone and we shouldn’t. God is there to guide us through our weaknesses and He won’t ever fail us.
Spiritual Exercise
We are all afraid of something. I believe that is the undertone of this song, the task of stepping out of fear and into God’s arms. The challenge that I bring before you today is to spend some reflecting on what you are afraid of with God. Let this be a prayer moment where you allow yourself to be vulnerable, knowing that you are in His good, perfect care. God loves you more than you could ever imagine and He knows you better than you know yourself. Rest in Him and allow Him to walk with you in this practice, He is trustworthy and good. While it may be very painful, know that bringing Light to the pain is the only way to heal. And that is what God is looking to do for you, heal your pain and bring you close to Him.
Wonderful Father,
Thank you for being trustworthy and good. Thank you that you love us so much that you are concerned with our well being. You love us so much you don’t want us to live in fear, but rather to live in your arms that are wrapped around us right now. Lord, this world is a scary place without you and when we hide, we live in this world without you. Help us from this problem, help us from our own defense mechanisms, Lord help us to run to you as our only defense mechanism. You are worthy of our fear, thank you for being there always. Amen
Next up is Part 3 of the devotional series
How God is Calling You out of Hiding
