Who are you leaning on?
Trust in the Lord with All your heart, and do NOT lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he WILL direct your paths. Proverbs 3:5-6
We have all heard this verse time and time again, we can recite it in our sleep, and it is embedded in our hearts which is good, but do you live it? Do you understand what this means? It’s easy to get caught up in going to others for insight and wisdom and that can also be a good thing if it’s godly and biblical wisdom. However, when we find ourselves going to others more than we go to God, or we go to our emotions and feelings more than we go to God this is where things can start going downwards for us.
Trust in the Lord with ALL your heart. Do you know what this means? It means come hell and high water I am going to stand flat-footed, firm and trust that God has got me. His word is my guide and blueprint to get understanding. Like the mothers of the church would say “ I know that I know that I know”. We must know with ALL of our heart that whatever we go to God with he will see us through, he will give us instruction and direction. Do not lean on your own understanding. Isaiah 55:8-9 says; For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
The above verse shows us that how we think is very different from how God thinks. He will cause things to happen and we will need to depend on the Holy Spirit to guide and lead us. To walk in God’s ways, it is necessary that we understand fully God’s thoughts.
When life starts to get challenging we start to question what we go through. Such as financial difficulties, friends starting to distance themselves, family acting strange and your job is making changes that affect your workflow, mental health, and peace. We are going to face challenges that is inevitable ( John 16:33), so we as believers must realize we need God and His wisdom to navigate this thing we call life. We cannot do this merely on our own. There is a saying “ When you hit rock bottom, The only way to Go is Up.” That is true. Sometimes we have to get to a place where we have nothing left to give, we have no one to turn to, we have tried it our way and nothing worked, we give up and now we find ourselves crying out to God for help. Now God can move. Once we surrender our will, motives, and desires and move out of His way then God can move.
Keyword: Surrender
The next part says “In all your ways acknowledge him and He WILL direct your paths” or make your paths straight( depending on the translation). What does it mean to acknowledge? Acknowledge means “to accept or admit the existence or truth of”. When you make sure God is in your plans and talk to him about your everyday thoughts, feelings, moves, etc there is no confusion (1 Corinthians 14:33). When we acknowledge God we are saying to him “Lord, you know what’s best for me and I trust the plans you have so whatever you say I believe.
There have been moments in my life where I did not acknowledge God in my decisions and it did not end well for me. It could be as small as hanging out with friends. I know it may sound silly, but it’s that deep, sometimes things that look and seem so innocent to us may be life-changing. God may want us to stay home and spend time with our family, or spend time in his presence instead of going out to the movies or dinner with your friends. It could be in that time when he answers a prayer or gives you revelation on something you had been seeking him in your quiet time. It could even be keeping your life because where you were going you did not know there was going to be a tragic event. So it’s good that we acknowledge God and make sure he is a part of our moves, thoughts, and decisions.
I can remember when I was 18 or 19, I was going through a transition of coming back to the Lord, I had joined a church and was restarting my walk. I had one foot in the church and one foot in the world. It was a Wednesday and Wednesdays were known as “wasted Wednesdays” and I wanted to go out to the club with my friends as that was the norm for me, I was a party girl. On this particular night, I was wrestling with going out or staying in and keeping it lowkey. I felt it in my gut not to go and this was the beginning of my understanding of the unction of the Holy Spirit, this feeling would become something I would feel time and time again to come and it would save me from A LOT. At the time I did not know what I was feeling but I knew it was strong like an uneasiness. I just sat in silence for a few minutes with this feeling and all of a sudden the wanting to go out left.
Long story short I did not go, and thank God I did not go because there was a shoot-out that night between the guys who I always went out/ hung out with and some other guys at the club. The side of the car that got shot up was the passenger side and I always sat in the front passenger side because I was in charge of the aux cord. Imagine if I had ignored that feeling, pushed it to the side, and did not acknowledge God trying to get my attention.
God speaks in many ways!
How can you acknowledge God in your everyday life?
Start your Day with Prayer: Give God thanks and ask for Him to lead and guide you throughout the day. Praying is a good way to set the tone for your day.
Seek God's Word: The Word of God has so many Gems of Wisdom. There is not one passage that you won’t be able to apply to your life or be able to see it in today’s world.
Practice Gratitude: It’s always good to acknowledge the blessings of God. Thanking him for the big things and the small things. He is always working and moving on our behalf whether we see it or not. So just thanking Him is a good way to show that.
Involve God in decision-making: When you involve God in your day to day you can have that peace and reassurance that you are covered and your steps are ordered.
Surrender your plans: We must remember that God’s plans are greater than ours, so if things do happen or look how we thought they would just know that what He has in store is bigger and better than you could imagine.
Serve others with Love: As believers, we are to walk in Love already because God is LOVE and we are to be Christ-like. So whatever we do for others should be done unto the Lord. Only what we do for Christ will last.
Share your Faith: We should not be ashamed of the God we serve. Any chance we get to share and spread the good news we should. You never know what that moment you took to share with someone could do. That could shift their whole life trajectory. We should not be selfish to withhold something so good from others. We should want everyone we come in contact to at least have the chance to know Him and have an encounter with Him. You can share your testimony, its that simple.
