Do you feel like you have lost something—or missed something?
Whatever this something may be, it affects your sense of purpose, or maybe even your sense of self.
It would be unsettling enough to have these feelings within a world that made perfect sense. But this world that we live in is making less and less sense every day.
The confusion and chaos of this world, combined with a lack of purpose, means that every day is filled with flying arrows—arrows of doubt, uncertainty and fear.
You might be wishing you could jump into a time machine, and return to that carefree world of your childhood, or yesterday—or almost any day, other than the one you seem to be facing now.
You don’t have a time machine, but you do have a weapon.
There is infinitely much more to the world—and your place in it—than you can see, with your natural eyes. Let’s take a look at the world, with a different perspective.
Our world—this rock on which we all live, and each day that we wake to every morning—is a story. And we find ourselves as characters, written into this chapter of the story.
In a way, the story is about us. But it is not as much about the “all of us”, as it is about each one of us. That is, it is less about the masses, and has much more to do with individuals.
Each one of us—with a personal history, present, and future. Each one of us—with a heart. We are all pretty much all the same inside, because we’ve all come from the One.
He is the eternal God, and this is actually His story—the eternal story of yesterday, today, and forever.
But whether or not we understand or even appreciate His story will greatly depend upon who is telling it. That’s because the “story-tellers” vary greatly.
Churches of our modern day vary greatly. Some seem to be conveying the story quite well, while others almost seem to be telling some other story.
The gospel message—God’s story—is lost among so many other stories, issues, ideas, formulas, politics, programs, and potlucks.
How easy it is for us to get lost in the activities of religion! God wants so much more from us than mere religious activity.
It is easy for any of us to lose our way, and become vulnerable to the enemy’s attack, if we’re not fully plugged into the life-giving truths of Almighty God.
How do we function in a world where even the story-tellers tell very different accounts of the story?
How can we deflect those flying arrows of doubt, uncertainty and fear?
We need to have our secret weapon firmly in place.
What is this secret weapon? It’s not impressive—and doesn’t seem powerful to our human eyes. Our secret weapon is our heart of submission before God.
That’s right. Submission.
Does it sound overly simplistic? It is simple—and it isn’t. It is vital to our survival in this world we all face.
Being submissive to the will of God means caring only about what pleases Him, and not about what pleases others. This releases us to take part in the plans and purposes of Him who framed us, and set us apart on this journey of life.
After all, He is the reason we are here—and there is no other reason.
Living in submission to God’s will for our lives enables Him to create in us a new standard—a God-Standard that we could not possess on our own.
This is true freedom and purpose. Nothing else matters, because nothing else comes close.
Submitting to God’s will for our lives is a life-long process, consisting of many individual moments of decision. Like everything else done well, it is learned—moment by moment, decision upon decision, action upon action—through obedience to Him.
Obedience—like any other prized possession—is to be closely held. Practiced consistently, obedience becomes a weapon.
“Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” (James 4:7)
Let’s just say that the enemy of our souls is never pleased with the submissive heart. He wants you distracted and unplugged at all times.
He wants to make you focus on everything and anything else, all the while ducking those arrows—even focusing on the arrows themselves—so that you never remember to pull out your weapon.
Because once you do, those arrows of doubt, uncertainty and fear are deflected.
The real problem is not with the arrows—the real problem is with the story. We must be submitted to the story—the real story—God’s Life story.
He gave His life so that we might understand, and live out our role in His story, to the fullest.
Any other story but His is not based in God’s reality, or His life-giving truth—but upon some other premise which has nothing to do with the freedom God gives through Christ.
Any other story isn’t about freedom, but control.
Not quite convinced? Look around, and be realistic as you do. Now, what kind of world do you see? One that gives us more and more freedom, or one that consistently takes freedom away?
I think you already know, deep down, that we are no longer safe. And that we are no longer truly free—and actually never were—unless we personally know the One who gives true freedom.
Jesus Christ is the only One who can make us free. The only one. That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.
Stop ducking those arrows, and let’s check this weapon out.
Open yourself up to God. Be real. Be honest and open with Him. Remember, He’s the lover of your soul. You can trust Him. Is He going to be able to trust you?
Learn to be obedient. He’s your Father—and He needs your obedience to have a great and personal relationship with you. Learn to take little steps of obedient faith in His direction.
Taking little steps of obedient faith with the little things now, will increase your ability to submit to bigger things later on.
Read your bible. Through His Word, you will better understand what your role is, and what steps He wants you to take.
Release control to God. Submitting to God’s will means surrendering your most precious possession to Him—your own will.
Pretend that your own heart is a hand. Now, open your hand—and let go.
Purpose to do this a little every day, at the right moments, and you’ll soon discover that you are walking in greater faith and security. Because your Father now holds the burdens of your life.
Have you used your weapon, and deflected those arrows? We love to hear about the enemy’s defeats! Leave a comment below!