"Balancing Your Life" Class Lesson #2

“LORD, Will You Order My Steps?”

Have you ever been driving then suddenly realized you were going down the wrong way of a one-way street? If you’ve been driving long enough I bet it has happened to you at least once or twice. It’s a terrible feeling isn’t it? If you could push a button causing your car to suddenly reverse directions and simultaneously get a pair of eyes in the back of your head you would. When you aren’t paying a lot of attention to where you are going; when you don’t slow down long enough to read the road signs it’s almost easy to go in a wrong direction. Interestingly enough, the same thing can happen to you as you travel down the road of life. As I was attempting to organize lessons for an upcoming discipleship semester at church I was at a standstill on how to put them in order. I had no leading at all. I’ve learned after many years of messing up that when this happens it’s better to stop everything you are doing and just be still. I can’t say that I was consciously praying but I do remember lying down on the sofa and just being still-doing nothing. Within minutes as clear as anything across my mind came the following phrase in this exact order: “Slow ‘em down, clean ‘em up, fill ‘em up, and send ‘em out.” There was no effort on my part to receive this except that I got still and then wrote it down. As I looked at what I had written I realized just how crucial order and direction is to our every move. To do what He has called each of us to do requires all four steps in the exact order. I’m sure that I’m not the only one who has hauled off driving down a road I thought I was being called to when suddenly I hear Him say “Reverse, reverse, reverse!” Let’s put some meat (scripture) on the four steps He calls each of us to follow.
1) Slow us down=Be still=Prayer
Psalm 46:10 “Be still and know that I am God.”
2) Clean us up=Confession/Repentance/Deliverance from evil
1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”
3) Fill us up= Holy Spirit’s power
Acts 1:8 “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
4) Send us out=Service=Great Commission (Inside and outside our homes)
Matthew 28:19-20 “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I will be with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Can you see clearly that #4 can’t be #1? The Father is saying “Reverse, reverse, reverse!” but oh so many of His children are just continuing to drive down a street the wrong way. This NEVER happens when you slow down and get still long enough to hear His voice. You must hear YOUR marching orders. If you don’t hear anything YOU STAY PUT. You learn to wait. Yes He has probably placed His vision in your heart but you must learn to wait on His timing before you start driving. What about the perfect formula for burn-out? That would be 1,2,4. That’s doing it in your own strength (flesh) not the power of the Holy Spirit. Zechariah summarizes #3 perfectly, “Not by might, nor by power but by my Spirit says the Lord.” You must acknowledge that “Apart from Him you can do nothing” (John 15:5).
It would be easier if we could go through these 4 steps just one time and then that was it for the rest of our lives but it doesn’t work that way. His manna is only for today. Our marching orders are often moment by moment vs. day to day. And then there’s the staying clean part to be able to hear. Because we get dirty so quickly we have to have that spiritual bath daily (or maybe hourly on many of my days!) Because of His great mercy and forgiveness we can fall back into His loving arms and start over again and again. Begin to think about the direction you are currently going, the steps you are taking moment by moment. Are they ordered by the LORD or are they “planned” by you? Psalm 119:133 tells us the perfect way to walk, “Direct my footsteps according to your word; let no sin rule over me.” The LORD is in the foot business. He knows where to place them. He knows how to keep them moving forward. He knows how to stop them and yes, even reverse them. Psalm 37:23-24 says “If the LORD delights in a man’s way, he makes his steps firm; though he stumble he will not fall, for the LORD upholds him with his hand.” I’ll close with George Mueller’s summary (and addition) to these verses, “The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD…and the stops also!” Won’t you ask Him to order your steps today? You’re in for the time of your life.
Ann Allen Salter
July 18, 2008