Battle for the Blessing
As I pursue the God given vision that's on my heart there are times I find myself getting discouraged. I love thinking about the future…imagining possibilities. That's what vision is...seeing tomorrow’s possibilities today. But turning vision into reality is not always easy.I was reading Deuteronomy 1:8 today and was struck by the very first word of the verse "LOOK". Moses says, "Look, the Lord your God has set the land before you." He was basically saying to the Hebrew people, "look at the possibilities, look at the opportunity that lies before you. look at the blessing God has for you."Now look at the second half of that verse, "go up and possess it... do not fear or be discouraged." While God was promising to bless them with this land he was also telling them, "GO possess it", in other words you have to fight for it. This is where they wavered. You see they had enough faith to get excited about the future BLESSING...but they didn't have the faith to fight the BATTLES it would take to get them there. They ended up telling Moses "What were you thinking bringing us here? Take us back to Egypt." This generation of Hebrews were defeated by discouragement and the vision never became a reality for them. They missed the BLESSING because they didn't want to fight the BATTLES.You know I realize I’m the same way. God has a territory he wants me to possess, a vision to accomplish. He wants me to "look" at the opportunities and possibilities, and then GO fight for those blessings. I get excited about those things...but then I see the giants that I must face, I see the pockets of resistance, the rough terrain I must cross, the obstacles I must face and I get discouraged. I begin to complain, doubt, question, and worry.The truth is most of the time I want the BLESSING without the BATTLE. But God is telling me that I must go through the BATTLE to get to the BLESSING. He is telling me "Mac you are good at Believing faith - seeing the Blessing, the future possibilities, but you waiver when it comes to Behaving faith - pushing through and battling toward the finish line. You see Behaving faith faces the giants, fights through the resistance, forges through the tough terrain, and finds ways around the obstacles without losing the vision.God has given me a vision to pursue…a land to possess…but He is not going to just hand it to me, he wants me to BATTLE for the BLESSING because it's in the battle I get to know and trust God on a more intimate level. With each obstacle I face I must not doubt but realize this is just one more opportunity for me to see the power of God at work in my life.
