With God
I had a preacher a while back have a line in his message that for the moment seemed like a throw away line. It was small and said and then he moved on. And in the moment, I thought not much of it. However, my wife was impacted. From there we began to talk about it and that lead to it changing from something thrown away to a life motto for me. The line:
Do you want to live FOR GOD or WITH GOD?
To which I have changed to.
Do not live FOR GOD but live WITH GOD.
This might seem like semantics, but as I have prayed and thought about this more and more God showed me it is actually based in scripture.
'But the sons of Israel acted unfaithfully in regard to the things under the ban, for Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, from the tribe of Judah, took some of the things under the ban, therefore the anger of the Lord burned against the sons of Israel. Now Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is near Beth-aven, east of Bethel, and said to them, “Go up and spy out the land.” So the men went up and spied out Ai. They returned to Joshua and said to him, “Do not let all the people go up; only about two or three thousand men need go up to Ai; do not make all the people toil up there, for they are few.” So about three thousand men from the people went up there, but they fled from the men of Ai. The men of Ai struck down about thirty-six of their men, and pursued them from the gate as far as Shebarim and struck them down on the descent, so the hearts of the people melted and became as water. '
- Joshua 7:1-5
https://www.bible.com/bible/100/JOS.7.1-5.NASB1995
Here we see that Joshua after the battle of Jericho has decided that Ai (one of the next towns) was to be the next conquest for God and Israel. I can imagine Joshua kind of bouncing on his feet going “Whoa, whoa, WOW … or who do we take out next?” He is excited at what he witnessed God just do. So it seemed natural to go ahead and find out what was next. However, there was one problem with this and it is not the sin of Achan.
The problem .. Joshua did not inquire of God what to do next. How do we know?
'Then Joshua tore his clothes and fell to the earth on his face before the ark of the Lord until the evening, both he and the elders of Israel; and they put dust on their heads. Joshua said, “Alas, O Lord God, why did You ever bring this people over the Jordan, only to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us? If only we had been willing to dwell beyond the Jordan! O Lord, what can I say since Israel has turned their back before their enemies? For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear of it, and they will surround us and cut off our name from the earth. And what will You do for Your great name?” So the Lord said to Joshua, “Rise up! Why is it that you have fallen on your face? Israel has sinned, and they have also transgressed My covenant which I commanded them. And they have even taken some of the things under the ban and have both stolen and deceived. Moreover, they have also put them among their own things. Therefore the sons of Israel cannot stand before their enemies; they turn their backs before their enemies, for they have become accursed. I will not be with you anymore unless you destroy the things under the ban from your midst. '
- Joshua 7:6-12
https://www.bible.com/bible/100/JOS.7.6-12.NASB1995
Verse 6 begins with “THEN” Joshua essentially sought the Lord and God did answer and tell him about the sin of Achan and a very important statement that I think a lot of people miss in verse 12.
I will not be with you anymore
God tells Joshua that he will not be WITH them unless they cleanse out the things that they did wrong. Then we see in Chapter 8 that Joshua inquires of the Lord if they can go back to Ai and how to take the city and they do so without any reported casualties. This tells us it was not that God did not want them to take Ai and it was not solely that Achan sinned but that Joshua, probably getting so excited like any of us would do, did not inquire of the Lord and instead did what seemed like the next thing the Lord would want and did something FOR GOD. But as we can see he was not WITH GOD.
What does this mean for us?
It means that we need to not just be walking around doing things FOR GOD as if he needs our help or we can read his mind but instead inquire in prayer what God wants us to do and walk WITH GOD.
What happens when we do not hear God answer?
This is the struggle. Many times we can not hear God. When we do not have a clear answer then we need to not just become immobile and sit on our couch. We have a few steps we can do.
First, examine ourselves for any sin that might be in our life. Just like the sin of Achan caused God to not be with the Israelites, sin in our life can to the same. If you find sin then repent (ask for forgiveness and walk away from it intending to never go back). When we are honest with ourselves and do this we can clear the way for God to be with us.
Second, examine any and all things God has spoken to you previously for anything unresolved. God does not need to give you a new word if you have not completed the last one. A preacher I heard once said this, “I am in Texas and if God tells me to go east then I am going east. If I hit the east coast and do not get further instructions then I am getting on a boat or a plane and continuing east.” That needs to be our own attitude. If God has not given us a new word maybe we have not completed the last one or even one before that.
Third, after we have honestly done the above and have gotten to a point we have no sin blocking us and have completed everything God has spoken for us to do, then we add something to our prayer. Or at least I do. It goes something usually like this:
Lord, tomorrow I have do make a choice on XYZ to do it or not and I have yet to hear from you but I am yours and fully submitted to you. So, I am going to choose to ABC. If that is not what you want me to do, then shut it down completely. Slam the door in my face. Make it clear that was not the correct choice. However, if it is what you want and I have just been unable to confirm then kick that door wide open. No matter which I am yours and thankful that you love me so much and will guide me.
What I am trying to do is to keep moving forward on whatever God wants. I do not believe he ever wants us to stop advancing. That does not mean there are not times of refreshing. But what I do not want to do is let things pass me by that God may want me to be part of because I was unable to hear a word. So I pray this kind of prayer and believe that God will show up and if something is shut down then it is shut down.
An example, I was convinced that God was opening a door for us to get a home in the community with my daughter. I prayed a prayer like this and went down to the office to see about possibly getting a home. Because of certain items it was absolutely clear that the builders would not sell us a home. God closed that door. I thanked him and moved on. Six months later, we get the urge to go to a different place. I pray the same prayer and this door is wide open. In fact, we are going to get a new home on a bigger lot with a ton of options not available at the other builders place because God was opening this door. And it is a short 20 minutes from our daughter.
Ok, I have rambled on for enough. The key thing is I want you to change your paradigm (way of thinking) to shift to wanting to walk WITH GOD no matter what that path looks like and stop trying to live FOR GOD.
