God is omnipresent. A big word that means He exists in all places at all times. He is everywhere. He is there, but we may not always recognize that He is there. One of the tactics used by the World, the Flesh, and the Devil is to put God into boxes and then shrink those boxes. While this doesn’t really work in terms of limiting God, it is often effective in limiting our awareness of God. The solution is very simple; maintain a close relationship with God and the reality of that intimacy will overwhelm any attempt to shrink God into a box. The practical application of this is sometimes a little harder to achieve.
One of the early lessons in my walk with Christ was that I am not always capable of the success and achievements I aspired to. But God did want me to be successful. I believe that is true for every one of us. God wants us to be successful, but not necessarily in the way we have pictured in our mind. For me there have been goals that have had to be laid down because they did not line up with what God had planned. And the interesting thing has been, when those have truly been surrendered, what has replaced them has been so much more fulfilling.
I was a project engineer early in my career. I had a project to install several pumps, piping, tanks and assorted equipment. I had $4.5 million to spend and a timeline to meet. As a young Christian God was really training me in many areas. One of those was an amazing season of prayer and God’s faithfulness. As it approached crunch time on the projects with the paper machine outage and installation at hand, I was overwhelmed by my inadequacy to anticipate all the demands of the job. I had done everything I knew to do, but I was also sure that questions would arise that I was not prepared for. This drove me to asking for Gods’ guidance. Not just a quickly uttered prayer as I rushed out the door, but a true covering-the-work-in-prayer type of prayer. I knew in my own limited knowledge and understanding I would not be successful, however I trusted God to provide the wisdom and guidance I needed each day as I faithfully asked. As the project progressed the questions and challenges did arise, but in every case the answers and solutions came. Sometimes they came directly to me from out of the blue (God exists in the blue since He is omnipresent). Sometimes they came from other persons. Sometimes they seemed to resolve themselves. At the end the project was a major success… on time and under budget. The biggest take-away from that project was that the Lord’s faithfulness carried the day. I offered up what little knowledge and skill I had and applied them to the job while surrendering this meager offering to the Father who supplied the remainder.
Today I get to that place of surrender on occasion, but unfortunately not always. Because I have a lot of experience now in my field of work I sometimes just do what I have done before and not take the time to surrender each situation to the Lord. In many instances it goes fine and when there are bobbles I can usually make the necessary adjustments. However I realize anew how desperately I need the Lord’s help to be the man he wants me to be. In the work I do, in my role at husband and father, with my grandson and the people I meet every day. I want to be a success in the manner God wants me to be successful. As I head out the door is a few minutes I am reminding myself that everywhere I go and in everything I do, God is there and aware. Since He is a gentleman He patiently waits to be invited to join in.
“I want to be your man Lord. I want to do your will. Father I offer the work I do this day, the people I meet this day, and every conversation, action, and thought I have this day to You. Be glorified in and through me today.”
God’s peace to you and yours today and always.
areliablefaith 