Keep Calm And Shut Your Mouth

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Slightly brash? Maybe.

Totally applicable? Definitely.

As I sit here disturbing the neighborhood with a loud worship-music-jam-sesh, I keep thinking about what happens when we ask God to speak to us.

For example: within the past two days, I’ve sought after the words to explain Passion 2012 in summation. It hasn’t happened. And rightfully so, I began to ponder the process that we use to seek God in prayer. Hebrews 14:14 came to mind:

[box_light]The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still.”
(NIV)

The LORD himself will fight for you. Just stay calm.”
(NLT)

The LORD will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.”
(ESV)[/box_light]

But I like The Message translation the best:

[box_light]God will fight the battle for you.
And you? You keep your mouths shut!”
(MSG)[/box_light]

Poignant, huh?

“And you? You keep your mouths shut!”  It sounds like something you’d hear in a locker room (Ed: the top search for that video was “Ryan Leaf freak out”).

How often do we forget this, though? Instead of letting God be God, we insist on trying to call the shots in one way or another.

I often think back to the many spiritual battles I’ve participated in, and the eventual result. Time after time, my innards would become battered and bruised from the warfare within… leaving me to finally seek outward help. Their first question was usually something like, “have you prayed about it?”

Well … … … no.

Instead of letting God fight the battle, I was fighting a double war. I was on one side of the battlefield, with Satan on the other… and yet God was on the battlefield too. Instead of letting him take control, I thought better of myself to fight Satan with my power instead of his holy power. Eventually, sin would win and I would relent and repent to God. Repeat cycle. I’m stubborn.

[divider]

Our response?

Keep calm and shut your mouth.

God is in control.

I am reminded of last month, when I was suffering through some tenacious allergies. In response, I walked down to the beach. The great part about living in a beachside community is that the ocean is always at your disposal, and in this case, I wanted to use the saltwater to cleanse my nostrils. To do so, it required me wading out into the water and battling high surf (not a good idea).

I walked out, reassuring myself… I can handle this. One step … two steps … three steps … I’m back on the beach again. Not of my own volition, of course, but rather tossed onto my head by the glory of God and power of mother nature. I think I’m still picking the sand out of my hair to this day.

I thought I was in control. We’re never in control.

God wants to fight for you. God wants to fight for you. God wants to fight for you. You cannot let him fight for you if you’re always fighting for control. Relent control, and let him do-his-thing.

Let’s take another look at the directives in Hebrews 14:14: be still; stay calm; be silent; keep your mouths shut. It sounds pretty clear, right? Most of the time we think otherwise.

There isn’t a laundry list of things you can do to give God more control, primarily because it’s not an “us” thing anyway, but here are three simple words:

Stop. Listen. Pray.

[God:] Open our mouths. Fill us with your words for the world. Fill us with love for the world. We surrender to you Lord. Take us. We love you.

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