Enabled or Enabling?

I often think some people want to walk a different road than they are traveling.  Their way is complicated with all kinds of relationship issues, the path is riddled with things which have spun out of control, and the way is just plain hard.  When I look upon these individuals, my heart breaks.  Their choices have resulted in more hardship and "heart-hurt" than anyone would want to face.  Yet, they often refuse the very advice they need to get them out of the place they are in!  

In the same way, I urge you who are younger: accept the authority of the elders. And everyone, clothe yourselves with humility toward each other. God stands against the proud, but he gives favor to the humble.  (I Peter 5:5 CEB)

If you have ever encountered an individual like the one I pictured above, then you probably have tried to give them some "good advice".  It may have been immediately dismissed as "You don't know what I am dealing with here", or perhaps it was "taken" but there was never any follow-through which amounted to permanent change.  We might see this, for example, in the behavior (actions) of someone who is given to being an "enabler" of another's bad behavior.  Why do some refuse to heed the advice of the "wise"?  For some it is a matter of pride.  For others it is a matter of living with misconceptions such as having been told they'd never amount to anything anyway.  Regardless of the reason, the "misery" of the miles walking the path before them continues.

When pride keeps us from heeding solid advice (wise counsel), we often find ourselves re-creating the same issues over and over again - just with different scenarios and maybe even some different "players".  Pride has a way of keeping us from embracing the very truth we so desperately need.  Some think humility is an admission of weakness - of an inability to keep it all together, or do it on their own.  In fact, humility requires strength far beyond whatever it takes to stand in pride.  To be truly vulnerable, transparent with our feelings and our failures, is definitely not a thing which the proud gravitate toward.  In fact, they guard against such disclosure!

Humble people have the potential to become wise people.  Truth is often the very thing we need to crawl out of the rut we have dug for ourselves.  When pride is in the way, we just keep seeing the walls of the rut as a hurdle we must overcome.  The problem in seeing the walls from this vantage point is that we spend a whole lot of time "pacing" in the rut trying to figure out how to get out of it!  In all this "pacing", we wear the rut even deeper!  Now the walls are even more challenging to scale!

Humble people look up!  They see the walls - but they are not content to remain in their confines any longer.  They are willing to listen to the advice of the ones who have been lifted out of a few ruts themselves!  When someone offers to walk them through breaking free of the rut, they might struggle a little with such step-by-step instruction, but they push past their pride to get free of the walls which enclose them in their misery.  As they hear the instruction as to where to find a foothold, then the next one, and so on, they take the steps in the order they are instructed.  In turn, they find themselves leaving the rut behind and breaking out into the light of God's grace.

God's favor is his grace - unmerited, undeserved.  Our passage reminds us of God's opposing the proud - those who stand strong in their own ability - demanding to find their own way.  It also reminds us of the freedom which comes to the one who is willing to lay down his pride - choosing instead to walk in the humility which opens one to learning from those God has placed in their lives.  Peter reminded the believers to maintain this posture - one of being both willing to hear the advice (counsel) of those who God places in our lives AND to be open to spurring another on when we finally find ourselves free of the behavior which had us so emotionally, spiritually, or physically bound.  

Guess what?  To embrace truth, we must be open to truth.  To be open to truth, we must be willing to shed some of the defenses which we have erected in our pride.  This often means we "suffer through" the transparency of being "real" with another.  In so doing, we are choosing to no longer "enable" our own bad behavior, much less that of another.  It is in us choosing humility (the laying down of our own stubborn strength), in really laying down our masks of prideful concealment, that we break free.

Not sure if you are being "enabled" or are the "enabler" today.  I imagine we all have been both at some point!  Regardless of our present "role" - let us be willing to shed our masks of pride - opening up to the possibilities of finally living free of the limitations of our pride!  In humbling ourselves, we will find ourselves exalted - right into the arms of God's grace!  Just sayin...

Agents of change

Before you know it, the Spirit of God will come on you and you'll be prophesying right along with them. And you'll be transformed. You'll be a new person!  "When these confirming signs are accomplished, you'll know that you're ready: Whatever job you're given to do, do it. God is with you!"
(I Samuel 10:6-7)

This passage is taken from the story of the anointing of Saul, the first King of Israel.  Samuel is the prophet in the land at the time.  He had been sent by God to anoint Saul.  In turn, Samuel is telling Saul that he will receive some "confirmation" that God has anointed him.  Those "signs" will be: 1) He will encounter two men at the tomb of Rachel who will share news that his father is worried about his whereabouts and he should return to home; 2) He will come across three men on their way to worship - each carrying a different thing (goats, bread and wine); and 3) He will meet a group of prophets coming out of Gibeah (a Philistine town) - when he does, the Spirit of God will come upon him and he will be transformed!

God's anointing is always followed with an evidence of that anointing.  In Old Testament times, the signs that followed being anointed by God for his service were similar to what is described above.  The Spirit of God came to "rest upon" a man or woman of God in those days - not fully indwelling them.  Why was that?  Simply because the Spirit resident within us was not accomplished until Jesus's sacrifice for the atonement of our sins was accomplished.  The Holy Spirit then became resident within the believer - permanently residing within, not upon.

One thing is quite evident - where the Spirit of God is, there is evidence of his action.  There is a "transformational" process.  The work of the Holy Spirit is to bring us to a place where we have evidence that we have an exchange or change of character.  We transition from being self-directed, self-centered sinners to being Spirit-led, Christ-centered saints.  The "nature" of who we are is transformed.  As the passage implies, "You will be a new person."  That is as true today as it was when Samuel conversed with Saul those many years ago.

The result of the Holy Spirit's work in our lives is to conform us to the image of Christ - to help us walk according to the plans and purposes of our heavenly Father.  In turn, we are to be active in the mission for which we are prepared.  Most of us get hung up right there - we don't "feel" called to service (like full-time ministry of pastor, teacher, etc.), so we don't "feel" we have a mission to fulfill.  In actuality, scripture reminds us that we are each called to be "ambassadors of reconciliation".  (See 2 Corinthians 5:20)

An ambassador is one that represents another - acting as the authorized agent or representative of another.  In our case, we represent Christ to a lost and dying world.  We are the agents of reconciliation.  Big mission, huh?  Reconciliation is a process of bringing back into harmony what has been affected by something that results in chaos.  In our case, it is the process of bringing Christ into a world affected by sin - sin being the agent of chaos, Christ being the process and person of peace.

Paul tells us in the book of Corinthians that we are ambassadors - as though God were making his direct appeal to mankind through us.  He is using us as agents to spread his message of hope.  We each have a mission - an assignment, a commission, an objective to which we are called.  We cannot escape that fact.  We may not feel "enabled", but that is usually because we are relying on our own strength to fulfill that mission.  When we begin to rely on the strength of God's Spirit within us, there is an enabling that will take us beyond our "feelings".

Just as Samuel tells Saul to be engaged in whatever work God gives him to do, we are being called to that same call - do whatever work God gives you to do - for God is with you!  There is no reason for delay - God is with us.  We have an objective - not to attain something in our own power, but to represent the power of God to a world that desperately needs that revelation of supernatural power.  In ourselves, we are powerless - in Christ, we are power-full!  Isn't it time we step up to the purpose for which we are all called?  It is time to be on "mission with Christ" as his ambassadors to a hurting world!

Enabled for Great Things

⁵"Before I shaped you in the womb, I knew all about you.  Before you saw the light of day, I had holy plans for you: A prophet to the nations—that's what I had in mind for you."   ⁶But I said, "Hold it, Master God! Look at me.   I don't know anything. I'm only a boy!"  ^7-8God told me, "Don't say, 'I'm only a boy.'  I'll tell you where to go and you'll go there.  I'll tell you what to say and you'll say it.  Don't be afraid of a soul.  I'll be right there, looking after you."  God's Decree. ^9-10God reached out, touched my mouth, and said, "Look! I've just put my words in your mouth—hand-delivered!  See what I've done? I've given you a job to do among nations and governments—a red-letter day!  Your job is to pull up and tear down, take apart and demolish, and then start over, building and planting."
(Jeremiah 1:5-10)

Jeremiah was called into his ministry as a prophet during a time when Judah, the Southern kingdom consisting of mainly two tribes is Israel (Judah and Benjamin) that remained loyal to David's offspring after Solomon's death.  The nation of Israel was split into two kingdoms at this time - the Northern Kingdom and Southern Kingdom.  Those who made up Judah were loyal to the line of David - serving under a king from the line of David.  Josiah is king at the time he is called into his prophetic ministry.  Josiah is known as a "good king" because he called the nation back to worship of God and God alone - calling for the destruction of the idols that they had come to worship in the land.  Jeremiah did not have a great message to bring to the people of Judah - in fact, it was one of impending judgment if they did not fully repent of their idolatrous ways and return to their God.

Jerusalem was the capital city of Judah - the place of God's Temple and the center of the nation's worship.  During the ministry of Jeremiah, a heartless marauding Babylonian king by the name of Nebuchadnezzar would take Jerusalem and its inhabitants.  Jeremiah would undergo all kinds of torture, rejection and ill treatment during his ministry - beatings by his family, being placed into stocks by the priests, and then imprisonment by King Nebuchadnezzar.  If he had known all this would happen to him from the beginning of his ministry, I kind of doubt that he would have "signed up"!  

The fact of the matter is that the call of God is a difficult thing to avoid.  We may try to escape it, looking for all kinds of excuses for why we are not suited for the calling.  Jeremiah was no exception.  His first "excuse" for not being qualified to be a prophet to the nations was that he was "only a boy".  He wanted to show God how "disqualified" he was because he was untrained - really did not know whatever it was that prophets were supposed to know.  Alas, we see the response of God that age does not matter, schooling is really not significantly important, and the fact that when God calls, he enables.  

If there is a lesson for us in the life of Jeremiah it is just that - when God calls, he enables.  Jeremiah was called to pull up, tear down, take apart, demolish, and then start over with the rebuilding project of making a nation strong in its love and service to their God.  A pretty phenomenal task if you ask me!  My first inclination would be to ask God if he had the right person!  The nation was already torn into two - the pagan kings were rallying to take advantage of the divisions that had occurred.  Now God expected Jeremiah to rise up in his youth and prophesy about their sin, the need for repentance, and that if it did not happen, judgment would be swift!  Can you see why he did not feel he was qualified?

God's enabling is not something we realize at first.  It is often in the steps of obedience that we take that we begin to realize that the calling of God comes with the necessary enabling.  As we begin to dig into the Word, we find that he brings little tidbits of truth to the surface that help us to stand strong.  As we find ourselves stepping out into unfamiliar territory, he comes alongside to give us strength to face the fears head on.  The process of enabling is really the process of equipping.  What we need, we have at our disposal.  Even when we do not fully recognize it.

The next time we feel impressed by God to step out into unfamiliar territory, we will do well to remember that when God calls for our obedience, he also enables (equips) us for that very step of obedience he requires.  He places within us the exact words we will need.  He even brings us into the exact "audience" we need in order to accomplish what his purposes are for our life.  No encounter is ever accidental when we are walking in the calling of God.  We may not "feel" equipped at first, but when the need arises, we have all the moment requires.  This is what Jeremiah learned as he stepped out in faith to do what God required of him.  He had what he needed to face all the opposition, doubt, and lack of enthusiasm he would encounter.  Why?  Simply because God enables those whom he calls into service for him.

If you think that the "calling of God" does not apply to you - think again.  Each believer is called into service for the King of Kings.  Each believer is asked to step up, embrace the call of God on their lives, and to step out in faith to go where he directs, do what he requests, and touch those he brings across our path.  Remember this:  Those he calls, he equips.