Recently I read a story that hit home with me, and with what the Lord has been telling me lately:
One snowy day a man bundled his two small kids into the car and drove his wife to work. Upon returning home, the snow was six inches deep and he couldn’t get the car into the garage, so he left the engine running for heat, and quickly started shoveling the driveway.
In a flash, inside the car his 2 year old son got out of his car seat and locked all the doors! The father sternly told the boy to unlock the doors or he would spank him. His son hollered, “No!” and began to turn knobs on the dashboard. He cranked the heat and the radio full blast, then turned on the wipers and the signal lights!
The father began to panic. He worried that his son might even put the car into gear! He dashed into the house for the extra key, but couldn’t find it. He ran back to the car with thoughts of disaster in his head. He even imagined the police hearing about it and taking his kids from him!
He realized his panic was out of control, so he stopped for a minute, took a deep breath, and prayed a simple prayer. “Father, help me find an answer.” And he heard, “The answer is within you.” He realized he didn’t need a physical key, he needed a mental key — a strategy.
Then it came to him. Calmly he walked up to the car and offered his son a piece of candy to unlock the door. You know what happened – the little guy reached over and unlocked the door.
Just like that father, I believe our answers are within us, where the Spirit of God dwells (1 Cor. 6:19, John 16:13). Lately I’ve run into a lot of situations where circumstances have gotten people into such agitation that they can’t see an answer. They’re just too stressed out and overwhelmed.
And it has become increasingly apparent to me how important it is to get our souls (our mind, will, and emotions) into a place of calm before we can take hold of the answers we need.
First we must realize that there is an answer. Just like the father in the story, we need to stop panicking, look to God, and expect a supernatural answer – a key.
When we’re tired and stressed out by circumstances, we get distracted from our answers, which come from God, through our faith. Read that again: our answers come from God through our faith. Don’t be looking somewhere else for your answer, and realize it’s going to come by your faith (by you believing God).
Faith doesn’t work in an atmosphere of agitation. Faith has to believe what God says more than the circumstances. Remember Peter walking on water, when wind and waves (circumstances) caused him to sink? Now, walking on water is impossible, yet Peter was doing it – because he believed the Word. Wind and waves don’t have anything to do with walking on water. It’s supernatural.
So faith was holding him up (just like our faith will hold us up), but when Peter stopped looking at the Word and started getting agitated by circumstances, he faltered. So will we. It’s almost impossible to keep hold of our faith when our soul is in turmoil.
Matthew 11:28 AMP says, Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy-laden and overburdened, and I will cause you to rest. [I will ease and relieve and refresh your souls.]
I believe that we often need to get in position to ease and relieve and refresh our soul so we can strengthen our faith. Realize that all this stuff going on is a smokescreen – wind and waves – bent on keeping us from going to the Word and taking hold of our answer.
Remember what Jesus told Martha when she was agitated over getting dinner on the table? She thought a hundred things needed to get done, but He told her, Only one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her (Luke 10:42). What had Mary chosen? To sit calmly, put away the cares of the day, and look to Jesus for answers.
I want to encourage you to do whatever it takes to get away from the agitation and put yourself in a place that soothes your soul so you can saturate in the Word and hear from God (see scriptures on next page).
For me that might mean going to a coffeehouse with my Bible, sip on a mocha and refresh my soul in the Word. For you it might mean going to a park or walking on the beach; sitting at the library, enjoying a candlelight dinner, taking the boat out, or browsing a nearby bookstore. Do whatever you can to put your soul in a restful place that helps it to calm down and receive.
This may sound frivolous, but I don’t think so. I believe it’s important to get our soul into a place where it can receive. So I encourage you this month to refresh your soul…then expect to hear from God!
