Walking In Obedience to God's Call

When I chose to say yes to God’s new season for my life at age fifty, I began to enter into a new and greater phase of ministry. I believe the same will be true for any who step out in obedience to God’s call. Whenever God is asking us to embrace a new season, it can often feel frightening or confusing. But we do not need to be afraid, because He is always with us, always leading the way, and His plans for us are always and only good. The same promise God gave to Jeremiah still applies to us today: “For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares theLORD, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” (Jer. 29:11).

When God leads us into something new, it will never harm us. It may look different than what we have done before, but that is just a reality of walking with a God who likes to do new things: “See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland” (Isa.43:19). God’s words to Israel still apply to us today. He loves to bring newness to our lives and stretch us into new adventures with Him. This means, if we want to walk in His will and experience His true prosperity, we must be open to change. It is impossible to be a person of faith while being resistant to change, because resistance to God’s will is pride. About the proud, the Bible says, “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble” (James 4:6).

True humility manifests in a heart willing to embrace change and the unknown, when God leads, even if it seems frightening or confusing. True humility trusts God more than self, and the reward for it is favor from God. Several times this year, I have awakened with these lyrics from Bethel Music running through my head:
 

Where you go, I’ll go.
Where you stay, I’ll stay.

God was working in me and preparing for the upcoming change and the need for me, once again, to dedicate my life to Him by saying yes to His will. We don’t always know what’s coming, but we can trust Him to tell us where to go and what to do. He will prepare our hearts so that, when decision day comes, we can embrace the change He is bringing to our lives. Our faces will turn in His direction, and we will begin to walk into the perfect destiny of God for our lives, which is always far better than we can imagine:

However, as it is written: “What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived”—the things God has prepared for those who love
him—these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit… (1 Corinthians 2:9–10).

It is so important to listen to God's leading in all areas of our lives, whether they seem significant or not, because each of these areas points us toward God’s ultimate plan for our lives on earth. In the next chapter, we will consider our great role model, Jesus, who lived out this lifestyle of surrender, even when it cost Him His life.