|
ON "VACATION"
I am in a season of rest right now and I have been
pondering how different people respond to the idea of
resting.
This season while the Lord gives you time to rest,
refresh and regroup for what is coming, may He give you
revelation and wisdom to His will and purposes for you.
THE DIE HARDS
These are those type A personalities that simply have a
hard time letting go! They are so productive and
determined that even in times of rest, they bull doze
full steam ahead even in their vacations.
 I am
reminded of those Jacob personalities that are still arm wrestling
with God. They contend for their promises, they war
over their losses and are so full of front line
stress, they would never consider yielding it, lest it
be labeled giving up. It never dawns on them that
perhaps they are wrestling with God and not the enemy.
He has His times and purposes for every season in our
life and it is not ALL about contending and producing.
While on your vacation, consider asking God for
understanding of why you have wrestled so long over the
same issues year after year. Consider yielding what you
are holding onto into His care and let Him have
ownership. He gives and He takes away, blessed be the
name of the Lord!
Change is the very hardest thing to do for these
pursuing ones. Really is it all about the fear of
losing control, which is the opposite of faith. Don’t
forget Who is Sovereign and Who holds your future,
whether you grip onto it or not. There is nothing in
this world like the peace of finally coming into the
believing, trusting REST in His Sovereignty.
Hebrews 4:1-2 Let us therefore fear, lest, although a
promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of
you should seem to come short of it. 2 For unto us was
the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word
preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith
in them that heard it.
THE RUN AWAY HORSES
There others who are so fed up with being penned up that
as soon as the gate opens for some escape, they run away
and leave everything behind, including what God
established for them. They do everything they can to
forget and get as far away as possible. The problem
with escaping is that inevitable Monday does come.
While on your vacation, consider pondering exactly what
you are trying to escape and see if it is really the
right priority (or direction) for your life. After you
find your priorities, re-consider how you might better
balance your life so that ON A DAILY LEVEL you are
feeding your body, soul and Spirit what you need in
order to stay in the race.
Matthew 6:11 Give us this day our daily bread.
THE BURNED OUT
There are others who are so burned out, they are on
vacation because there is no other choice. They have
learned to just take life as it comes, and get through
one day at a time. They cry out to God and simply WAIT
for His deliverance because they have found there is no
other life without Him.
Psalms 116:6-9 The LORD preserves the simple: I was
brought low, and he helped me. 7 Return unto your rest,
O my soul; for the LORD has dealt bountifully with you.
8 For you have delivered my soul from death, my eyes
from tears, and my feet from falling. 9 I will walk
before the LORD in the land of the living.
THE DAILY GRIND
The hardest thing to do after a vacation is returning to
the same old grind.
Vacations have a way of weeding out those who are called
and fully committed to His purposes. Sometimes we need
a time away to really settle where our priorities are
and what we need to do in order to keep them.
John 6:67-68 Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will
you also go away? 68 Then Simon Peter answered him,
Lord, to whom shall we go? you have the words of eternal
life.
CREATIVE THINKING
Vacations are also a creative time for brain storming
over the upcoming season of crossroads which may take us
in a totally different direction than before.
Joshua 3:4 Yet there shall be a space between you and
it, about two thousand cubits by measure: come not near
unto it, that you may know the way by which you must go:
for you have not passed this way before.
WHAT TO PRAY ABOUT WHILE ON VACATION
The Lord has His own ways of bringing each of us to the
end of ourselves. This year, we have come full circle
to years and years of dealings and preparations. Full
circle times are a divine pause, in between the old and
the new. Full circle years are a time to reflect and
regroup. We come to full grips with the reality of what
we faced in our past and why it did not work. We
understand what our promises are for the future and what
we learned in order to move into them.
That is why it is very important to really pray whether
to remain or move in His exact timing and direction.
While you are on vacation, remember to spend time with
God in prayer and reflection. And spend time with your
loved ones to pray and reflect with you. No matter what
your future holds, you know that He holds it. There is
no life at all without Him as our focus. What has He
really called you to?
Matthew 22:37-39 Jesus said unto him, You shall love
the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your
soul, and with all your mind. 38 This is the first and
great commandment. 39 And the second is like unto it,
You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
And when it is all said and done, what will remain?
1Co 13:13 NLT
Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and
love—and the greatest of these is love.
2 Corinthians 5:9-10 Therefore we labor, that,
whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him. 10
For we must all appear before the judgment seat of
Christ; that everyone may be recompensed for the things
done in his body, according to what he has done, whether
it be good or bad.
|
