Shift Up!

There's something about looking out of the window of an airplane. Things that are so grand and  daunting from the ground appear small and manageable from above the clouds. Everything looks mapped out and in its proper place. I can see where the roads begin and end and even the mountains look small. Just as I was about to close my eyes for a nap, I heard the Lord say, "That's what the view is like from up here." It took my breath away. I immediately got it and I hope it hit you similarly but if not, let me share what I got. God sees the entire picture and it's laid out perfectly. You know those mountains in your life that look impossibly wide and overwhelming? They are nothing for Him to handle. Those roads that seem so long and winding to you? He sees exactly where they started and where they end. From His vantage point, your life is perfectly manageable. Here's the thing though, you have to be able to trust what God is doing. He reminded me of the classic verses in Isaiah 55. "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways," says the Lord. "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts." (vs 8-9 NKJV). You have to be willing to shift up to get through.

So many times you want the victory without the battle. You want the road to be smooth and the answers to fall from the sky like rain.  It's human nature! But I think what God wants you to know today is that the victory has already been assured. He already has it planned out. Can you see it? Can you shift your thinking to God level? You know the drought you have been experiencing in your job search? Are you looking through to the end of it and taking advantage of the time you have to hear from Him? Or maybe it's the struggle that your marriage has been for the last few years? Are you taking every lesson and cataloging it for the others you will be able to help when they come to you for advice and prayer for their marriage? What about the terrible state of your finances? Are you still living your life and giving when instructed and led in preparation for the breakthrough? God is not looking at the map of your life like you are. He is way above and beyond and you have to seek out His viewpoint instead of your own so that you can shift to that next level. You have to be willing to shift up to get through.

In my own life, I often ask God why I have to keep going through some of these difficult things when I am just trying to do what He has asked me to do. Today, He highlighted something for me in the introduction to the book of Hosea in my bible. I just happened to open my bible to this page and these two sentences jumped out at me and all of a sudden...the answer. This is what it said. "The problem was how to get this message of God's love to a people not inclined to listen, and not likely to understand if they did listen. God's solution was to let the prophet be his own sermon." Do you see that? That's the kind of thinking God does. He sees your purpose and He knows that you can handle the assignment, the weight, the ministry so that others can get to Him. So He uses you and your life to break others through. If you are struggling today with a decision or a situation that feels impossible, understand that God already has what you need laid out in the plan. You just need to change your thought process. There is a lesson, a reason, and a deliverance in where you are. Someone is watching how you respond so they can trust God's plan for their own life. Come on, saint! Shift up!

Amen