I heard these words, as I drove to Auckland one day, not knowing that The Lord was leading me into a remarkable journey with Him, that I’m sharing with you today.
A Journey of Discovery for how He would ask us to live the life of abundance He has provided for us, to be willing to embrace the challenges He lays in front of us, along with the right views and perspectives.
Intrigued? Good, let’s begin in the Word of God, with this verse I love.
The Way of Escape
1 Corinthians 10:13
“We all experience times of testing, which is normal for every human being. But God will be faithful to you. He will screen and filter the severity, nature, and timing of every test or trial you face so that you can bear it. And each test is an opportunity to trust him more, for along with every trial God has provided for you a way of escape that will bring you out of it victoriously”.
What’s interesting with this verse is that it contains multiple views, perspectives and promises.
So let’s break this verse into bite size pieces and points.
- “We all experience times of testing, which is normal for every human being”.
Doesn’t that encourage you, none of us are exempt, we ALL experience times of battle, testing, hard, pressing times, and more than that It’s NORMAL it’s part of being a human living here on earth. Hallelujah.
The FIRST KEY to making a calculated risk is Preparation
For without risk we will not grow, overcome, learn or discover the Abundant Life the Lord has prepared for us. Because when it comes to making decisions about a direction, or purpose of a challenge or opportunity face or are facing, the one thing that stands out is Preparation.
How well prepared are you? And how much Preparation are you willing to do? Hmm selah there with Holy Spirit.
Preparation starts at heart level, goes to the Mind, and ends with Physical (including our body and ALSO what we will need for the journey) . But the key to all of these and to making a calculated risk is found in the second line of this verse
2. “But God will be faithful to you”.
Personalise this promise, But God will be Faithful to me (name), read it over again, until your heart, mind and gut believe and receive it. Your God will be Faithful to you.
Need more confidence of God’s Promise? All we need to do is look through the Bible and we will this truth over and over again.
Remember to the level you believe He is good and faithful will be to the level you will trust Him, you will be obedient, and you will fulfil His plans for you.
Remember Joshua and Celeb the two guys who truly understood But God will be faithful to you.
On entering the Promised Land as spies, they both saw things in the reality of how the Lord sees things. And as you know they were the only ones from that generation who entered it. Read up in Numbers 13.
When we are facing an opportunity or challenge the next thing we need to do after our Preparation, is go to the Lord and ask Him how He sees it?
So that our eyes are not set on what we see, But the truth of reality that can be seen from Eyes of Faith.
This is important because of something I like to call first time effect. First time effect is snap shot of time, place, reasoning or understanding in our brain memory that will be the default we use, when we face the same obstacle, challenge or subject in the future.
And the first time effect memory once stored seems to be a hard thing to remove or replace!
So it’s super important to make sure these first time experiences are based on foundational truth, not a warp reality of a lie!
We will continue Part 2 next time.
Challenge Time: Grab your journal, space and be with the Lord recording His responses.
- Preparation Check: Lord how’s my Preparation level each day?
Lord where and how are You inviting me to be well Prepared?
2. Reality Check: Lord how do I see things? (battles I face, battles my family, ministry, community, nation face)
3. Lord now how do You see ALL these things?
4. What is the verse You are giving me as Foundational Truth?
5. Choice time: If you want new eyes, new perspective, like Jesus, Joshua and Caleb had, then simply pray a prayer like ‘Lord today I ask for Your eyes and heart to see and say things about (….) how You do. I lay down my view, words, perspective of (…..) and I pick up Your view, words, perspective of (….) Thank You that today I have the Eyes of Christ to see and speak as You do about it.
6. Worship Time for the NEW the Lord has done and for you His Beloved.
Father God, thank You for Your Faithfulness that never ends. We give You permission to search our heart for any first time effect memories which are based on warped reality or lies, please replace them and establish them on Foundational Truth of You and Your Word.. In Jesus name. Amen.
Craig Patten
Itinerate Pastor/Prophet
Encounter Ministries
Good word. Just off to get my journal!
Good on you !!!!