Show Up
December 12, 2011
Luke 12:11 "When you are brought before synagogues, rulers and authorities, do not worry about how you will defend yourselves or what you will say. . ."
Sometimes it is easy to shun away from activities because we are afraid. We fear embarrassment, we fear humiliation, we fear failure, we fear what others will think, we fear everything imaginable. It is far easier to not do what we believe the Lord wants us to do, that way our fears can never come true. Inactivity is much more cozy than taking a step forward, possibly out of our comfort zone. We even reserve most of our hearts, not giving everything over to the Lord for fear He would ask us to do something crazy that we just can't do. We avoid engaging in doing good things because we aren't sure what all we should be doing anyway.
But the Lord is not going to ask you to do something He has not equipped you to do. Let me clarify that. The Lord is not going to ask you to step forward and yet leave you stranded. If He has something for you to do, then He has either equipped you fully or will being picking up where you lack. The Lord already knows the end result of all your activities but you might only be aware of the initial starting point, the first step you feel in your heart you should be taking. Take that step. Don't be fearful of falling on your face or worry about about the next step. Your job is to simply show up everyday into the Lord's presence and take the one step He asks of you that day. You don't have to save the universe, you don't have to have it all planned out, you might not even know what you are going to say. The Lord would ask that you trust in Him to give you that next step, to show you what you should do, and tell you what you should say in each and every circumstance.
The disciples had the same fear of not knowing the future or being fully prepared for everything that could arise. The Lord wasn't scared, though. He told the disciples to simply show up in His name, to take the first step. He promised to give them the next step and when they got into a predicament, lacking the words, He would empower them with the right wisdom and words at the right time. In fact, the entire book of Acts is full of the disciples simply showing up. They showed up each and every day, their hearts committed to the Lord. The Lord was faithful to lead them to the next step, show them what they should do, and tell them what they should say. He had everything already worked out, all they had to do was show up.
Your job is not to plan out the rest of your life; your job is to simply show up. Let the Lord do the hard part and reveal the critical pieces at the critical moments. If you let the Lord lead, you can rest all your fears aside, knowing that they won't matter. All your fears cannot possibly come true if you are allowing the Lord to lead. If you submit your heart to Him then whatever happens will happen. The outcome becomes the Lord's responsibility, regardless of what you do. And when you show up you still might find yourself in a predicament. The Lord would say to you the same thing He spoke to the disciples, "do not worry about how you will defend yourselves or what you will say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say.” When you show up you might not have a clue, but it will be clear, crystal clear, in the exact moment it matters.
Acts 4:8 is an example of perfect fulfillment of Jesus' words in Luke 12:11-12. All Peter did was show up, the Lord did the rest. Read it for yourself.
Don't take my word for it; look it up: Matthew 10:19-20, Luke 12:11-12, Acts 1:8, Acts 2:14-21, Acts 3:1-7, Acts 4:8
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Show Up
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