Before you read any further I would encourage you to go listen to the song I have attached. It sets the foundation for what God has led me to talk about today. https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/pursue-all-i-need-is-you-feat-hillsong-young-free-medley-live/1050070588?i=1050070935 Today I want to talk about the seasons we walk through as followers of Christ. And as you and me both know, not all of them are joyous. There is the harvest season, where you just feel in tune with the Lord and his voice. You are eager to learn, eager to serve and eager to love others. You have this new-found excitement for church and people, a desire to serve in the band or in children’s ministry. The word of God has this sweet flavor that just speaks directly to your heart. And this is a fruitful, beautiful season. But then there is also the season of drought. Where there was once his glory richly embedded into your soul there is now a void, an emptiness, questions and doubt. His voice that was once so clear and familiar, is now a soft distant whisper. That desire you had to serve, and worship, and fellowship with others has now turned into a dreaded task. His word once tasted sweet and spoke directly to your heart, now tastes stale and frankly boring. And this season is hard, confusing and painful. But I want to ask you to 1. embrace both seasons, and 2. lend yourself grace in both seasons. My friend, you do not need to have to have it altogether, he knows you don’t. He just wants you to be present and come as you are. I know many will agree that it’s easier to seek God, to serve and love others in the harvest season. And it’s difficult to simply do anything he asks of us in the season of drought. I think that’s where faith is put into action. Faith isn’t about a feeling. Just like loving others isn’t dependent on when you feel like it. It’s a choice, we can choose to love that mean neighbor down the street, even when we feel like they don’t deserve it. And why can we do that? Because God loved us first. You and I both know we don’t deserve for God to love us the way he does, or forgive us the way he has forgiven us. But we love because he loved us first. What does this have to do with anything? The point I’m trying to get across is that the same way we have to choose to love others when we don’t feel like it. Is just how we need to choose to seek God even when his presence feels distant. That is faith in action In the drought season, I think God is asking us to wrestle with him. Bring to him your grief, your questions, your doubts and pains. And simply wrestle, cry, and scream. He can handle it. He doesn’t want us to be apathetic followers. {Apathetic meaning, ap·a·thet·ic adjective 1. showing or feeling no interest, enthusiasm, or concern} He wants us to be eager and alive in both the harvest season and the drought. He wants us to truly desire his word even when it tastes stale. He wants to surrender our feelings from the moment we wake up in the morning to when we go to bed. He wants us to choose to say -Lord even though I don’t feel your presence, I know my relationship with you is about more than a feeling. Psalm 145:18 says “The Lord is near all who call out to him.” Lord you are near! so I will wrestle with you today, I will read your word, until the sweetness returns. I will love others even though I don’t feel like it. I will serve at my church, even though I would rather be doing anything else. I will worship you with hands held high and heart abandon, even though the place where your presence was once alive and beating is now filled with emptiness and void. And how will I do this? John 14:13-14 says ask and you shall receive. He will provide you the strength and perseverance. All you need to do is ask. John 14:13-14 Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it” And why will I do these things? because you Lord deserves all my effort, all my energy and all my time because you sacrificed everything so that I may know you. And also, I will do these things because my life is no longer my own, every breath I breathe is to glorify you. I no longer serve myself, when I gave my life to you. I died to my old self. I no longer serve myself and my own interests, I serve you. I am yours and fully yours. Thank you for your truth. My friends, respectfully it’s not all about us! but do not be discouraged or ashamed, this is where grace comes to play. The reality of life is that we will not walk through the drought season perfectly, and I’m not asking that of you either. I’m just saying walk through it, bring your messy and brokenness and just walk, or crawl. Just surrender and seek him. He will strengthen you and guide you. I hope and pray this encourages you all to embrace both seasons. Our relationship with God is bigger than us! just breathe, let the pressure that you have placed upon yourself fall at the foot of the cross and let his grace rain upon you. You’re not facing any season alone. He will guide you through each one. In your weakness, he is greater. 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 “But he said to me, my grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in my weakness, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties, for when I am weak, then I am strong.” God bless you all, Mikayla Ann Kent
1 Comment
Gina
8/21/2018 07:16:51 pm
So loved this!! It is so true and accurate! So proud of you and blessed to call you my friend! ❤️
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AuthorI'm just a 17 year old girl, who has a passion for Jesus and longs to encourage and connect with other people through the shifting seasons of life, and the lessons learned through them. Archives
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