The one word that should scare you ( IF )

There are two types of people in this world: those who believe there is greatness to be unlocked in them and that there is significant purpose as to why they have been put on this earth. And those, who don’t.

Both, have had the same God who breathed the stars, breathe life into their lunges for an incredible, if not astounding reason, but only one set of people believe it. Worse, only one set of people will ever step into it.

By default, I fall into the latter category, and because of it, I don’t know if I will ever find the courage to step into what I am put on this earth to do (the jury’s still out on that one.)

But the harsh truth is, you might not either.

…And God’s hoping that will scare us, today. (And He will attempt to do so, with just one word — IF.)

 

 

A couple of months back, my husband and I were prophesied over. (‘Prophesied’ is just a fancy way of saying, someone receives a powerful word from God on your behalf and speaks it over you.)

I’m not going to lie, it was exciting and intriguing to hear the incredible things God wanted to do in our lives; incredible things God wanted to do through – incapable, silly ol’, can-barely-write-a-blog-post-without-breaking-into-a-sweat – ME.

But I’ll never forget what was said at the end.

The man speaking said, that all of these incredible and miraculous things (he had just outlined) would happen in my life and ministry,  – IF – I would just take on this assignment…”

If…

That word stayed with me for months.

The prophecy was spoken with such clarity and certainty, and yet, whether I had accepted the assignment God had set before me, was somehow still up in the air?

And I think the same is true for so many of us.

We want significance, I think everyone does. We want to live a brave and robust life, the type only God could write. I believe, you too, would hang on every word God said as He outlined all the extraordinary things He has planned for your life.

There’s just one problem. It’s still up in the air as to if we will ever experience it, because we have yet to take on the assignment God has set before us, today.

I’ll be the first to admit, I want to know with certainty that when I exhale my last breath from my lunges, that I did exactly what God always envisioned I would do with my one, beautiful, life.

But like I said earlier, there’s this other part of me, if I’m honest, that would rather just make bread…

(Stay with me.)

Making bread is instantly gratifying to me. Its safe, its easy, and its in my wheelhouse. (That may the nerdiest sentence I’ve ever written, but its true.) Give me some yeast and some flour, and I forget all about the big scary unknown’s, the deficits that need delivering, the blog posts I don’t have the words for, and the God who seems to be letting all of my most frantic calls go straight to voicemail.

And I’m not the only one.

For me, I may find pride and control in a golden loaf cooling on the counter, but maybe for you, it’s a job you’re really good at, a career or a relationship, you tell yourself you would be straight ludicrous to give up (even if, say, God was promising more amazing things if you would just let go.)

And so, we hide behind a life that is comfortable, a goal, like flour and water, that is attainable. And in doing so, we receive just enough satisfaction, to numb the reality that we’re not doing what we’re – really – supposed to be doing. (It might even get us some extra likes on instagram.)

But today, God is lovingly confronting us (and our most beautiful bread loafs and back up plans) saying, “Great work, my child…Wrong assignment.* There is so much more I want to do with your life! We could do something truly riveting together… if only you would try.”

“…If only you would believe that I will do what I said I would do.”

“…If only you would step out obediently into the unknown and go out on a limb for Me.”

“…If only you would say, ‘yes,’ even when everything logical in you is screaming, hell no.”

“…If you could just embrace this life I’m writing for you, willingly and enthusiastically, and for the love of all that is holy, stop settling for making bread. (tho, shout out to those scones you made, they were bomb.)”

“My Child, you are so special to me, and there’s so much I want to show you; so much I want to do through you! There’s nothing we wouldn’t be able to tackle together.

…If you would just take on this assignment.” – God

Matthew 17:21, Matthew 21:21, Exodus 19:3-5, Allrecipes.com

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I don’t know what assignment God has given you. More than that, I don’t know what’s holding you back from not doing it. (I do, however, know a girl whose a solid three months behind on her own God-given assignment to write every week for a year. Holla.)

But here’s what God wants us to know: there are words He spoke over us while our purpose and our bones were yet to be woven together in the womb; amazing feats He had planned long ago, that we could never imagine ourselves being capable of doing on our own.

The question is, will we ever be curious enough, courageous enough, to find out what they are?

God is inviting you right now, to do something amazing – its in your heart, maybe it’s already on the table, heck, it might even be in your inbox.

The invitation God is extending is likely out of your comfort zone, maybe even light-years away from what’s in your wheelhouse, but you know what it also is? It’s an invitation to know why you were put on this earth by God.

God wants to do something amazing with your life, He already has it all planned. It was spoken over you long time ago by a God who knows what He’s doing, and we could watch His purpose unfold in our lives – if only – we could step into the story He is writing for us, and step away from what’s giving us (just enough) accolade to numb the reality that we were created for (so) much more.

A life of greatness is ours for the taking,

If only, we would choose to take on this assignment…

 

// 52 weeks to write, 30 more to go. //

* – the amazing, Wayne Cordeiro