This is a thought that has been slowly building in me over time.
It’s origins started from a message from Elevation Church which Steven Furtick gave.
If you search YouTube for, “God’s Got Your Back | Pastor Steven Furtick | Elevation Church”, then you should soon find the orginal message.
I’ll come back to the picture that Steven shared in a bit. But first another thought that is intertwined with this thought. “Why is it that new christians can see theirs prayers answered so much more quickly than those who are a bit longer in the tooth?”
There are probably different variations on that thought, but they generally go along the lines of, new christians just have an excitement about them. Things just seem to happen for them that much quicker.
If you are not careful, then you could end up thinking, “It’s not fair, why can’t I have some of that?”
Some of the answer to that question might be coming in this post…….. possibly??? 🙂
During Stevens message, he showed a video of one of his children’s fist steps, as recorded by Holy, his wife. Holy was excited and giving great encouragement. “Go on” and “Well done” were probably among the words she said.
Any parent will probably have experienced a similar time when their children took their first steps.
When the video ended, Steven then asked his son to join him on the stage.
His son stood up, walked to the stage, went up a few steps and then across the stage to where Steven was.
Steven made a couple of comments along the lines of, “no cheering for them steps”, and “that was more technical than what you just saw on the video, it even included going up stairs”.
Of course no one cheered, it was just a grown man having a walk. Who is going to cheer someone for doing something that everybody takes for granted?
When we start something new for the first time, then more encouragement is needed, as such more encouragement can be given. But as we progress and hopefully become more grown up, then some things are accepted as being so. Walking being one of those basic things.
Could you imagine what it would be like if your mum cheered your every step?
“Well done you, you took another step, go on keep going!”
“Mum! I’m just going to the toilet, can you please give me some peace!” 🙂
It would be beyond ridiculous, and exhausting for both parties.
As we grow, we hopefully grow into maturity, becoming older and wiser and as such knowing what is the right way to go. We still need guidance, but the level of that guidance changes.
Back to Steven and his son. Steven gets his son to walk on the stage. But he takes a different position to where Holy was. Holy was in front of her son, in the video. Steven goes behind his son, then says, “This is my way, walk in it.” He then caries on doing this, changing his son”s direction so that he doesn’t walk off the stage. “This is my way, walk in it.” Staying just behind him. (Steven does this as a picture of a christian who is growing into maturity.)
Put the two pictures together and you have two stages of a person’s life. When they first start out, and when they are older, and hopefully wiser.
Could this be part of why new christians apparently see more answers to prayers that much more readily?
Because they need it?
But as we grow, we should then be able to stand on our own two feet that much better, so are we then expected to do just that?
I’m not talking about being fully self reliant, we all need to be rooted and trusting in Our Lord God. But for the simple things where we should be able to do …… . Then shouldn’t we just do …… .
This thought could be summed up as “Do what you Know, How to Do!”
Sometimes, as christians, we can want to know exactly what it is that we are meant to do before we take the next step. Down to the smallest details. Sometimes, do we just need to do the next step?
How silly would it be if a carpenter who needed to join two pieces of wood together, wouldn’t take the next step, just because they didn’t know which nail to use. Could you imagine it?
“Lord, please tell me, which nail should I use?”
The answer comes back as, “Any one of the nails from the big box in front of you! They are all good!”
Could it sometimes be that when we ask, “Which way should we go?” We don’t hear the answer because the answer comes back as, “There are many routes open to you, choose one and I shall be with you. If you go astray, then I’ll nudge you back to where you should be.” ?
Could it be that we can be given such an answer as above, but dismiss it, because it’s not what we want to hear?
Because we are waiting for the exact right way to go?
The exact nail to pick up?
Sometimes we may be directed to use a particular nail, for a reason that we might or might not know about, but are there other times when we just need to do something, instead of endlessly waiting for the exact right move?
It’s good to wait on Our Lord God Almighty. But if He is telling us to just do something, then shouldn’t we just do the something?
Hence my starting thought, “Do What you Know, How to Do!”
Ecclesiastes 9:10
Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the realm of the dead, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.
Wannabe Christian Doorman 