This, my friends, used to be something that scared me to death. Stepping out of my comfort zone was not something I wanted to do. Actually I told God I was pretty content with where I was. For years, because of my fear of man, I had disobeyed God in so many areas because I was afraid of what others would say. It began to grieve me to the point I was crying during every service at church and several times at home, begging God to free me from my fear of man and to fill me with His Spirit which He promises is of love, power, and a sound mind. I was tired of allowing the enemy to fill my mind with lies and fears to keep me from doing what I knew God wanted me to do.
In October of 2022 I knew I needed to be filled with the Spirit of God, but I didn’t really know what it meant at the time. In High School I had to choose one Character Quality that I felt was the most important to demonstrate and have in your life. I chose Self-Control, which had the definition of something like, immediate obedience to the initial promptings of God’s Spirit. I assumed that if we could just hear from God and be able to obey His voice, life would be a whole lot less complicated.
Fast forward to February of 2023… Our Pastor started speaking a lot on how we should ask God to pour out His Spirit over us. His enthusiasm and passion on the matter really stirred me. So I began doing just that. God started doing some great work in my heart, which was amazing! There has been multiple times that something I said or did, shocked me because it just wasn’t me, it wasn’t normal.
But then He started leading me to do different things that were out of my comfort zone. I disobeyed because I was afraid. This is when I began crying during services because who was I to tell God, the Creator of the world, NO!?
I began begging God for forgiveness for my disobedience. I began praying that God would do the work through me because I was clearly weak. I still argued with God when He told me to do something, but it gets less and less as the weeks go by. Is it uncomfortable still? Yes! But it has shown me more of who God is in a way I would have never experienced otherwise and that in itself is worth it.
Now that I know what I’m missing if I don’t throw myself out in the deep waters and take a leap of faith, it motivates me to keep asking God to work through me. When I disobey or even try to obey in my own strength, I’m missing the richness of a total dependence on God and then seeing Him work in ways I didn’t even think was possible. Just in the last month or so I have seen God do so much just in the little things… and I want more. I can’t wait to see what God does down the road as I continue to step out of my comfort zone to obey God and see Him work on my behalf.
The Christian life really isn’t as complicated as we make it out to be. When we totally surrender to God and ask Him to do the work through us it really is so much easier. I wrote a book based off my last training block and how it related to the Christian life in so many ways. The main theme is Changing our life from an “I have to” Christianity, to “I get to!” You can learn more about it here or download it right away here!
Stepping out of our comfort zone to bring glory to God isn’t humanly possible. If it was, it would bring glory to us, not God. Think of the last time God led you to take a leap of faith. Did you obey? If not, I challenge you to ask God for forgiveness. The next time He leads you to do something uncomfortable, stop and ask yourself, “Do I want to bring God glory or myself?” Surrender yourself to Jesus and ask Him to do the work in you, acknowledging that you’re weak.
I love ya’ll and pray you have a blessed week! Happy Running!
Listen to episode #42 on the Be Still and Run by Alli Anne podcast using your favorite platform.
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