Go Beyond "The Norm"

One morning on the way to work I listened to Rev. John Hopkins on a CD I had bought a long time ago. He was speaking on the subject, "Beyond Normal." He is a former missionary and field manager to south and central America. I remember the service very well, because I remember how people sat on him while he ministered that morning down in Florida. He was talking beyond most of them.

Something he said hit me like a hammer, and that was that there is a place in God you have to get to where you become so broken that all the issues you are facing in your life are dealt with. He stated that until you reached that point, those things will continue to rear up their head against you and hound you. That's very true. He spoke of being in a spirit of brokeness for a week. I've been there for three years. It makes me wonder how many issues I had to give to God. Some days I feel like I'm a million miles from where I should be. Then I come to the realization that because of Him, I am closer now to what God is making me.

The Bible says that when a man's ways please the Lord, he makes his enemies to be at peace with him. In Corinthians it also says that God is ready to render judgment against all disobedience when our obedience is fulfilled. I think that is something every believer chases in their walk with God. Few there be that find it.

Still there is that echelon I see that never seems to touch him. They come to church and go home and never let him speak to them. They are Sunday morning saints. They may even go during the week, but nothing ever seems to happen in their lives. They travel through life, unphased by the things around them. It seems like such a "blessed" existence until you look into another level. Self-will is a killer. It is the one thing in a believers walk that God will not touch unless someone else lifts them up in prayer. They walk through life oblivious of the things going on around them in various strata, because they have all that they want. They don't want anything else. They desire nothing beyond the natural. They are content to keep the blinders on their eyes daily, never stepping out of the norm, never hungering for anything more, never feeling anything.

They seek a world of ballance that is encapsulated in the mundane, the real, the tangible...the carnal. They have determined that the desires of their heart can be satisfied with what they see and what they can grasp. Control. Living life the way they always have even before they came to God, just now they have a list of things they don't do so they are content that they will make it to heaven on their laundry list of things they did in their lives to "be right." Ever learning yet never able to come to the knowledge of the truth that we are so much more than what we see with the naked eye.

Friends told me last night that I must be very patient. I don't feel patient. When I want an answer, I want it right now. Be it from man or God. He has a sense of humor. He waits, sometimes giving the answer in degrees and watching my attitude change. We all deal with that.

What hurts most is watching those you love self-destruct and being forced to watch at a distance as they do something you know is wrong, both scripturally, morally and ethically. You are forced to sit and pray and put your faith in God that his Word is true and that all things work together for good to those who are the called according to his purpose. As I wrote in my Bible back in June 1990...TRUST GOD!