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Baby Steps

by Steve Countryman  
6/13/2011 / Christian Living

I just wanted the Holy Spirit moving in me in a mighty way. To be led and used by the Holy Spirit not just on some days or on Sundays but every day. I have asked in prayer that I would be filled with the courage and boldness of the Holy Spirit to step out in faith by His leading to touch the lives of others according to God's will. Recently while I was on a service call to a customer's house I missed an opportunity. God places opportunities in our paths daily. He does this for us to take advantage of them and to notice how we handle those opportunities. Sadly He also notices when we just simply let them pass us by. They are a test from God. For God knows all things in all times and every scenario so He already knows what we will do. God's testing of us is for our benefit and growth. For us to see what we will do during that testing period and for the Holy Spirit to speak to our hearts on what we should have done. As I was leaving their house the elderly gentleman told me about his weakened heart because of the chemotherapy that he went though. I sensed that I was to step forward and place my hand on his heart and pray and declare God's healing touch for his body. But I didn't because I doubted that I was supposed to and feared what the man might say or think.

Here was a golden opportunity for me to allow God to use me and heal this man and I blew it! It didn't hit me for a couple of days but when it did I felt so foolish, infantile and immature. As God dealt with me He showed me that I had tried to run before I had learned to walk. "Lean not on your own understanding" "Don't think higher of yourself than you ought". Those were the two verses that came to mind. I have stepped out in faith before on numerous occasions to pray over someone including perfect strangers but this time I let fear and doubt make my decision for me. That is when I told God that I would be happy and willing to take baby steps to get it right.

This morning at church God shared with me what every parent goes through when their child learns to walk. In this case it was our heavenly Father as the proud parent. He was kneeling down with His arms out coaxing and motioning His child to take those first steps of faith toward Him. Like a parent who anxiously awaits those first baby steps, Father God cheers us on with Words of encouragement and shouts of joy begging us to walk to His waiting arms. God roots for us for God is on our side. God is always for us and never against us. We are the ones who turn from God in sin and disobedience; He never turns away from us! God always waits for us with open arms of forgiveness.

I guess I'm no different than other Christians who wants to see God moving in them. But I had forgotten some basic baby step rules. Running before you learn to walk by the Holy Spirit will cause you to stumble, fall and give up. We all want God to work through us but we forget to allow God to do it His way not our way or on our terms. Stepping out in faith requires action not just words. Putting your faith in action as God begins working in and through you. It requires you faith and trust in God and His ability to do the miraculous through you. You will have to step out repeatedly even when it seems as if God didn't answer your prayer right then and there. That is one of our fears is that God won't show up when we call. Another fear is how this will make us look or seem to others. The bottom line is how does this make you look to God? Someone who tries and fails or someone who never bothers to try again. Too often we try to figure out how God will do the impossible as if He needs our approval or advice on how to get it done. The how is the natural side of us getting in the way of God's supernatural side of faith. Faith is what we are to use not our lack of understanding on how it will be accomplished. When we pray and declare God's Word over someone it is not us that healing comes from but rather us who healing comes through. When you pray and declare healing over a person you on not put on the spot but you have put God on the spot and God loves to bring healing and deliverance to His creation. For our walk is by faith and not by sight and our walk is on God's path and by God's commands not our own.

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