Held Hostage by Comfort

 

          These past several weeks, I have felt strongly that the Holy Spirit urges me to pay close attention to a particular area of my life.  Unbeknownst to me, a pattern became evident as I reviewed my most recent lessons.  I began to realize that my experiences were about to change.    On the 20^th of October, I recorded, "Earnest Prayer brings amazing faith-building results." With a passage from Acts 12, I wrote two keywords in my Christian Planner, "Sincerity and Conviction." I was pondering my prayer life and recognized that as of late, I realized that this area resembled far less effort than it deserved.   The ache in my heart toward things that genuinely matter was minimal. I've settled for life in the comfort zone, which is a dangerous place to hang out.  How do I know?  My prayers have been focused primarily on gratitude.    

     Maybe I should have noticed that the Holy Spirit was about to move in my life when I found my reading plan positioning me once again in the book of Job.  What did He want to show me on the topic of suffering and God's Sovereignty?  Why would Satan gain such great delight in afflicting Job, who he claimed God had protected with a hedge?  It was time for God to speak to me about the trouble with my comfort.  God desires a deeper, richer relationship with us, and if we are willing to tune our eyes to Scripture, God will enrich our lives with adversity.  Rarely does a man seek God when he doesn't recognize his need to do so. 

     This idea caused me to think about my Thanksgiving cactus.  For the past several months, I've tucked my cacti in a dark closet, refusing to give them light or water.  Unlike my hydroponic garden, where I grow kale and herbs indoors, I've watered, supplied nutrients, and supplemented sunlight with indoor grow lights. It's not because I love my kale more than I love my cacti.  It is because I know how to make them flourish.  Just this week, I pulled my plants from their dark chambers and provided their wilted leaves with a volume of water.  The flat leaves are now plump, and I know that I will begin to see pinhead-sized buds forming on the tips of their branches within a matter of days.  This will follow with oodles and oodles of bright fuchsia blooms that will overtake the green plants.  I do not repeat this ritual regularly because I am a hard-hearted gardener who hates cacti. Instead, I do it so that my plants will produce fruit.

     On the day I received this lesson regarding my prayer life, I wrote, "I know the people who request my prayers would benefit far greater if my heart became radically changed by their requests.  If I desire to be a vessel of honorable use in the hands of God, I need my compassion to increase.  I need to tap into the Holy Spirits' power to move mountains."  As I contemplated how to turn this burden into a prayer, obviously, I realized that I would be asking God to move me out of my comfort zone.  Yes, fear filled my heart as I asked God for discomfort.  I prayed, "Help my prayer life to flourish, and my desire to pray with compassion grow.  Please help me look more deeply for your answers, and with those answers, build testimonies of your faithfulness and goodness that I can share with others.  Help me not to diminish my effectiveness by not approaching prayer with the right mindset."   

     Wow, the LORD has laid many burdens on my heart in the last fifteen days.  Just this morning, I spoke with a friend about the heightened awareness of spiritual warfare surrounding my life and the lives of those God has drawn close to me.  The Holy Spirit knew that I was about to enter a new phase of life.   I appreciate that God opened my eyes to reveal what He was about to do; otherwise, I might be in deep despair over the volume of needs that have come to my attention.   If you are open to move outside of your comfort zone, I am sure that God can put your prayers to good use.  I believe I am approaching a season of tremendous growth, I could be wrong, but I trust I will witness many faith-building miracles in the weeks and months ahead.  I thank God for answered prayers.

     In the brief moments I was correcting grammatical errors in this article, I received a confirmation text from a friend.  She said, "The treatment worked, there's no rejection."  My response, "Hallelujah, praise God, praise God, praise God!"  I am so blessed to be a participant in observing the goodness of our God.