Wow, this past summer was a good reminder at how much Toni and I enjoy being comfortable! The temperature had reached 108, one day when our power suddenly went out! I’m not sure why, but most of Copperopolis had no power for well over six hours. Without air conditioning, our home quickly got very uncomfortable!
We love being comfortable, as I’m sure you do too. But, for many people throughout the world, being uncomfortable is normal, and not just about climate issues either.
The truth is we were not created for a comfortable life. I think that deep within our hearts, many of us are longing to break free from routine and a comfortable life – we’re searching for something more. God’s Word tells of countless stories of risk takers joining Him to do enormous feats of faith. These stories tell us that a freed heart, acting on faith, can do the impossible with God.
Isn’t that what you want also to do the impossible with God?
What I’m talking about here is pushing against the gravitational forces of comfort and guarantees. To do so, it will require us to break the chains of fear. Fear is a weighty force, keeping us from our divine purpose. Fear is the enemy of the heart, and the heart is needed in order to follow God.
It’s always the heart that challenges our mind and body to achieve great things. To listen to your heart is indeed a scary and costly proposition. But, it is absolutely necessary if you truly want to live and to be free!
Proverbs 4:23 instructs us to: “above all, guard your hearts, for from it flows the source of life.”
If we are to be free from the mundane, humdrum life, we must be willing and brave enough to tap into the source of life and follow God into the unknown — into the impossible.
God doesn’t require us to know much, but to simply trust and follow Him. He’ll train the stouthearted during the journey. He’s after our passion and our faith. Neither of these two precious qualities happens while sitting in our offices or on sofas, or for that matter, even while enjoying our Sunday morning service, sitting on our favorite pew or chair.
Pushing against the gravitational forces of comfort and all the niceties of guarantees is where it begins. Do nothing, and neither you nor God are pleased.
What happens when you’re willing to break free from the cozy comforts?
Well, God awakens hidden desires that he put into our hearts long before we were born. He won’t awaken our desire until we’re willing and ready to venture with Him and courageously risk doing His will.
God spoke to Abram and invited him to a new and better land that He would show him along the way. In spite of all that was comfortable and familiar, Abram said, “Yes,” and God began the journey by explaining to this childless 75-year-old man that he would become the father of many nations.
Do you see how God awakens a forgotten and hidden desire in the childless Abram?
Many years later, God changes Abram’s name to Abraham, meaning: “Father of Many,” and tells this old man that his aged wife, Sarah, would bear him a son.
Miracles will only happen when you are willing to risk with God beyond your comforts.
You must be willing to risk the familiar for the unfamiliar. If you want freedom and a true identity, you must break the chains binding you to earth and all its comforts. Free yourself from the gravitational forces of fear, worry, doubt, and all the what ifs holding and weighing you down.
Isn’t that worth the risk of following God with our hearts and to love Him with everything we’ve got?
Do you want to be comfortable, or do you want to be free?
Call To Courage 