Complacency

    Recently I have heard some people say that they're feeling like God is stale in their lives. That God was so impact-full and huge in their life and then they hit a wall. They feel they must have done something wrong that caused God to pull away from them. Let me stop you right there! God does not pull away from us once He has drawn near to us. God doesn’t choose to walk in and out of your life at leisure like Gandalf does in the Hobbit. He doesn't play peekaboo in our lives. He's always there and He's always ready to pour out His love on you. God has so much joy in you, each and everyone of you!

    Maybe this feeling has come from a place of complacency in the Lord. It's like this for most of us. We find struggle in our lives and God is yelling, arms high waving to get our attention. He is trying to get our attention so we might find shelter from the storm in Him. We enter into His rest and find peace and then we get super comfortable with life. We loose sight of the struggle we walked out of and then without ever thinking about it, we start to take control of our lives again. You see in our Storms God YELLS to get our attention and in our Peace He whispers softly in our ear. We get so used to hearing God yell we miss the still small whisper.

    1 Kings 19:11-13 - And he said, “Go out and stand on the mount before the Lord.” And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire the sound of a low whisper. And when Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. And behold, there came a voice to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

    You guys, God passes by and things happen, great and huge things! Things that grab our attention when we are lost and struggling. But we get so used to God being around and fighting our battles we forget to rely on Him and we simply walk away and never even realize it. The problem is not that God is leaving us but it's that we're leaving Him. Our relationship gets stale or dull because we're not taking risk! We're not stepping out into the unknown to get scared! We're not running back to our father for protection, we are simply sitting here inside watching TV and losing the drive to experience our Wild and Passionate creator! He causes Fires, Earthquakes, and Strong Winds and that is just His presence! But when he Speaks to us intimately, it comes as a low whisper. So soft and comforting. We need that. We need to know that when things aren't in utter CHAOS that God still loves and desires us to seek Him. We need to find company with God in every situation. In good times we need to be desiring to dive deeper into His presence and Deeper into His word than ever before. We should walk in His blessings and Peace. In times of struggle and hardship we should Cling to God and hold fast to all that we have learned in those times of peace. In doing so we find victory in struggle so much faster and with less heart break.

    God does not withdraw from us and we need to remember that. We need to remember that in times of feeling hollow and empty, we need to fill ourselves up. That doesn't mean just showing up for church on Sunday or Wednesday. But cry out to God and asking Him to stir the passion in you! I know this Because I have struggled with this my whole life! I get so complacent that I stop pursuing God and stop taking risks and start falling into depression or spiritual drought. I hate it and I never understood why it would happen. I had to learn to hate that feeling so much that when it comes on I shout to the Lord “Come alive in me again! Don't let me depart from you Lord! Renew the flames of Passion in me!” God hears my cry in that because it comes from my heart! It comes from all that is in me and it's absolute truth! I want Him real and new in me daily. If that’s what you truly want then call out to Him! I mean it when I said shout. Sometimes you have to go somewhere secluded and just yell it out. Don’t hold anything back! If we don't want God to hold back from us we cant hold back from Him!

    If you you're not willing or wanting to Free Fall into life with God then this won't help...I'm sorry if that’s blunt but it's truth. If you don’t truly want it with all of your heart and all of your soul then the words will be hollow. The reason I say Free Fall by the way is because there is no controlling it. We cannot control how much or how little of God we get. It's all or nothing. You're either all in or all out. What do you choose? I know that I want to Free Fall into God. He has never once left me wanting or lacking in anything, He has only given me more than I deserve and more than I have ever asked for. He draws me out of my sadness and feeling alone and with out God because my desire is to never be without Him. If you feel the same then press into Him always and never accept simple getting by. Take risk and step out on His word and see what the Lord wants to do with you!

Much Love

The Bear