For the last few days, the Holy Spirit has been dealing with me about some decisions and opportunities that have come my way.

Ooh! Yeah! I should be excited, right?

Yeah, not so much.

Why you may ask? Because it doesn’t look like the opportunity that I was believing God for. Honest to God truth. It doesn’t look, smell, taste, feel like that perfect opportunity that I enumerated in my journal as the “perfect” ideal opportunity and I’ve turned my head and heart to “no” on the matter. 

Many times what we don’t want to do is exactly what God wants us to do. Sometimes He finds the time to tell us why, sometimes He says it’s none of our business, just do it! But I’d like to believe that He sometimes asks us to step out of our comfort zone and do something never done before to get what it is we ultimately want.

I’ve found that what I DON’T want to do is usually what He WANTS me to do. Once I remember that, it’s enough to get my feet moving in the direction He wants me to go.

Now, here’s the caveat: It always seems that once we get our mind wrapped around this unorthodox idea that we decide to “run it by” someone to see what they think.

Epic and total fail.

It’s not that we shouldn’t seek Godly counsel (Proverbs 19:20), but we can’t let the opinions of others override what God has told YOU to do. Yes, it may seem crazy. Yes, it may be unorthodox. Yes, it may require you to humble yourself and do something that you said you would neeeeever do. But we must get our mind and heart “yes” in line with God’s will so we don’t miss out on what it is He has for us.

A good friend of mine told me this morning that we have to stop telling everyone everything God tells us to do. 9 times out of 10, they won’t get it anyway! Sit on it until He begins to manifest it and let His work do the talking. (Can the church say “Amen?”)

Oh, I hear you thinking: But what if I fail? What if I make a total fool of myself trying to do what I think God is telling me to do?

If God told you to do it, there will be provision. He will meet you where you are and take you the rest of the way. Think about the number of times you stepped out to do something (pursue a job, a Greek-letter organization, plan an event, apply for a grant, anything) and you were successful. Many times you pursued those things and you weren’t even qualified or equipped to receive them, but He allowed you to be successful anyway.

We need no man’s approval to do what God has instructed us to do. The radical thing about those who achieve great success in God is because they could care less about what people thought. Take a close look at what God is telling you to do. When you remove yourself (your mind, thoughts, opinions, bias) out of the matter, does it present an opportunity for you to do exactly what God has called you to do? The answer, my friends, is yes. It’s okay. Wasn’t what you were expecting, but hey, go anyway.

Finally, know that when you’re pressing your will against His will, you will lose. Whether you lose by default (bowing out and giving a resounding “yes, Lord!”) or by a total knock out (refusing to submit, doing your own thing, failing miserably, and coming back to the Lord holding your bruised and bloody eye), there will be a loser in the matter. The last time I checked, God is like 1,233,9932,210,23223,643,774,132,890 and 0. Hasn’t lost yet.

Go. Be steadfast. Stop drowning out his voice with the voices of others. Just do it.

On the Chase,

Alisha L.