They say that what you perceive is your reality. I find this to be interestingly true, and yet I wonder how many of us lie to ourselves because of the perceptions that we carry. Generally, what we perceive is based around our emotions at any given moment. Our emotions/feelings are much like the soundtrack to a movie. What is happening on the actual screen of a scary movie is generally lame with out the added sounds. What’s even funnier is that you can actually change the feel of the movie altogether by playing a silly soundtrack.
Now back to reality. What you and I focus on, becomes our reality. This is not about positive thinking, but about control. Can we control our focus? Again, as Christians, we learn all this stuff in church. We memorize scripture after scripture, especially the ones that say good stuff to us, but do we actually do anything with those scriptures.
God’s word is totally about reality! The truth of that statement, however, is that His word deals with reality as far as He is concerned. That being the case, I constantly find that His version of reality is at odds with mine. I have often thought, “how easy it is for You God, … you’re God!” His response, though, is that I am made in His image and called to conduct myself as He conducts himself.
He says to “speak” to mountains/circumstances in my life! That seems utterly ridiculous and feels pretty silly when actually carried out. I remember being fired from the last church that I was on staff at- (a long and crazy story for a later time). I firmly heard the Lord tell me to be still and trust Him to lead me where I should go. I thought it would be no problem, until I realized that He was serious- and that I literally had to trust Him from day to day for months on end. I literally went over 10 months without being employed, and yet God supplied every need just like He said that He would.
My reality said, “I need a job”! God’s reality said, “all you have to do is trust me!” I am grateful for the experience, for I learned to see reality from God’s perspective instead of my own. This demanded that I daily focus on His word to be my new reality, and that was not easy. The only way that I can describe it is in terms of a new-born colt. I have seen when a mare has a baby, and the colt does it’s best to stand. The new-born wobbles as it does its best to stand on all fours, looking as if it will collapse at any given moment. That has to be what I looked like as I stood on God’s word in the new reality of Him being my source with out a net to fall back on.
He would command me to speak to my bills and believe that the doors would open that would supply those needs. Please understand that I am not encouraging anyone to just go out and quit their job and just trust God. That season ended after 10 months, and I was once again employed. The purpose of this illustration is to simply bring home the fact that God’s reality and ours are very different. In fact, His words says My thoughts are not your thoughts, and my ways are not your ways. It’s a given.
Just because it’s a given, however, does not mean that God isn’t expecting us to change our ways and our thoughts to match his own. He is calling us to choose which reality we will live from. The reality of impossibilities or possibilities. Reality of doubt or faith. Reality of love or hate, and so on.
The Bible tells us that the sons of this world are more shrewd in their generation than are the sons of light. It really bothers me, but I see it play out over and over again. The sons of this world are visionaries. They exercise their faith to bring about buildings, computers, record labels, clothing lines, movies, television programs, and even governments. Yet where are the sons of light? I am asking this question of myself as I explore changing my reality of life once again, for I believe that it is constant.
The Bible states that “My people perish for lack of vision”. So I pose the question. What is our vision? Is it to live a comfortable little existence while praising God and shouting Hallelujah in our church houses, all the while waiting for the sweet bye-and-bye to finally come? Pretty lame, as far as I am concerned. We need to become movers and shakers of mountains. We need a reality check, and if we are comfortable where we stand- I venture to say that our present reality is not a God-reality.
You and i were made to dominate. To bring things into existence that do not yet exist. We are called to be like God! To reflect Him to the earth. Romans says that the expectation of the creation is for the revealing of the sons of God! According to this scripture, I just can’t see having a good ole time in church cutting the mustard! How about you?
