I know the plans I have for you
It’s funny, we think we can figure out the plans God has for us. Well, I think that I know anyway. There was a time when I had it all figured out. I knew the schools and the area of town we wanted. I did a pretty good job of getting to a nice comfortable spot. I pretty much did it all on my own though. I never sought God’s will in any of it. I sought His help in accomplishing my plan which was awesome because He was in it and I was just learning really who He was.
There is an app called pocket god. I am not sure how this game works but I think I played pocket god for a lot of years. If I got to a turn in the road or needed some help with something I would remember. Hey wait, I have a pocket god. I can get him out and pray and he can help me. We can do it together. Love it. And for a while, it worked.
Problem was God was not in it the way I thought. He was watching and leading but He was not on my plan. Because His plan is WAY WAY bigger. Stupid bigger.
My pocket god prayers were keeping me from His plan. He wanted my heart but I was not about to give it to Him. He wanted my stuff and I was not about to give that to Him. He wanted my kids and my wife but I GOT it. I can handle it. Life is great!
I was going on mission trips and that gave me life. Our home was open to Young Life and we did all sorts of crazy fun stuff loving on kids. It looked great from the outside. And it was great. But there was more, a pull that Jeannie and I both felt and pocket god was not going to be of any help. Because he is just that. A small god that sits on a shelf in our story. An idol. We did not even know it.
Prayers of the righteous
I think when we started praying bigger prayers our path started to shift. Prayers like break our hearts for the homeless. Or for high school and middle school kids.
We stopped doing sports in the fall of 2010 and we woke up late on the weekends and did not have anything on the weekdays. We spent time together out on the patio after our young kids went to bed and talked. It was great.
We prayed for Him to break our hearts for people. For our schools. For the homeless. And for our family. We prayed for Him to lead us. So guess what happened…He did.
He started to move our hearts toward some things and away from other things. As we moved away from things we held dear like our house and school we found Him showing us who we were. It was very hard for us. For me. I did not want my reality to be that I worshiped the car I drove and the place I lived but I DID. And it was obvious when we left it. I think back on some of the things I said in the process of buying a new house and wish I could take the words back.
Jesus loves us all in those times and I think the further I get away from those days the more I see it was all part of the plan. We bought the house we live in today because we were inviting God into our house buying process. Early on in the process, we had found a great house one afternoon just a bit out of the price we had agreed to pay, and prayed that if it was the house then let us have it. Next day it was gone bought for cash, waived inspection, and moving in two weeks. I jokingly asked our friend and realtor if he could find out if Jesus bought the house. God was clear on that but more importantly we saw Him move. James 2:22 “His faith and his actions were working together and his faith was made complete by what he did.” When God moves in your life you know it so the next day we bought the Forclosure house that had the features the kids had asked for, the one with a sidewalk, and a cul de sac. For me it was the free fridge. ( I am still a work in progress)
We had started to see these “God sightings” we called them in our old house but this was different. I mean, He bought a house out from under us to get us here. Why? There are a lot of reasons but those are another blog…He is moving everywhere in these crazy ways we can never understand.
The bible says the prayers of a righteous man will be answered. I do not consider myself a righteous man. I am full of sin and my flesh must be beaten back each day but I think Faith is key to this. I think Faith in Jesus makes us righteous and opens up the blessings of God. Coming to Him first like we would when we were a kid going to a parent. He wants more for us than anyone in the universe so if we can go there first then things can happen. Crazy nutty God sized things.
Knock and the door will be open
I love the idea that we can knock on God’s door and He would answer. How do we knock? Sometimes when I go up to an unfamiliar house I am kind of hoping nobody is home so I knock on the hardest part of the door softly and hope there is no answer so I can get moving. When I go to my sister’s house I knock on the door and walk in and say, “HEY! Campbell clan!”
How do you knock on God’s door? I mean He created us and the universe so I am pretty sure that if we go with the soft knock He can still hear it. But we might as well go big, right!?
I think the knocking really does not matter at all. Nope! I think the next step is the real challenge. The next step through the now open door is really what makes the difference.
The bible says the door will be opened. This is huge. What we are learning as a family is that when we knock we need to walk through the doorway. We need to knock and step, one , two and bam He is there..
I think so often we as people want to knock on the door and have God, creator of us, step out on the porch and give us directions to some place. I know I have prayed those prayers “Lord show me this or that” then a week later “Lord please show me that this thing you showed me is really your plan” I mean Gideon, that dude was like me. OK now “Lord, I promise last time, just suspend the water directly above the wool in the shape of a Dallas Cowboy logo. Great thanks got it.”
NO! He says knock (I think He means PRAY) and walk through the door when your prayer is answered. Nicaragua this summer was like that; we prayed, sent out emails, one came back and we stepped through the door. It was amazing. I mean the way God moved just blew my doors completely off. (Also a longer story.)
Fullness of God
When we start to bring Jesus into our lives more and more I think often we get wrapped around religion and church and doing stuff. Those are great, but I think that what He wants is to show us some amazing things. I mean story after story of the way I have seen Jesus move in my life even for little things like helping me find Kim Perkins one afternoon in East Austin. Or this house. Or Nicaragua.
I read Oswald Chambers in the mornings and one day he referenced Ephesians 3:19 and the fullness of God. Jesus came to give us an endless supply of life. Endless.
I can only tell you as we continue to pray over Costa Rica that this doorway that we are stepping through has revealed a world of possibilities that I could never have imagined. Opportunities, people, kids, etc. It is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen and brings me to tears just writing about it. Ephesians says “that ye may be filled with the fullness of God” to me that means that when you trust the Lord you will start to see His enormity fill your life and I felt like that is what Costa Rica can be. To think that God would create a whole new life for my family where each opportunity in this new place is specifically designed to use ALL our gifts and talents? Is that possible? How big does God have to be to create this world and lead us into places where we get to do the things we were made to do, but for Him and His glory.
I mean that is ridiculous. We want you to be part of it. We really should grab a taco.
jimmy