| Colossians 3:3 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. |
Years ago, I was attending a young couples retreat with my husband. We were sharing the hotel room with another couple. Around six o’clock in the morning, I heard the Lord say, “Pray for today’s meetings.” I was not one of the speakers for that day and I was honored that the Lord had called on me to pray and be part of His plan for the meetings. Everyone in the room was still asleep, so I quietly sat up in the bed, moved the pillows around and began to pray in the Spirit. Within seconds, I was fast asleep. I woke up along with everyone else when it was time to get ready for breakfast. I realized I had missed the opportunity to pray as the Lord had led me, I felt awful. I had let the Lord down, and the guilt and condemnation began to move in.
The Lord began to minister His righteousness to me, He told me I was just as if I had prayed because I am in Christ Jesus and Jesus always prayed when He was led to pray, He never missed, not once. He showed me that my identity is in Him and what He did, not in what I have or have not done. The cloud of despair lifted and the joy of the Lord filled my soul.
But what about obedience, where does that come in you might ask? My relationship with God is just as if I had done all His will all of the time because I am in Jesus and Jesus has done all of the will of God all of the time but the meetings and the plan God had for me that day did not happen just as if I had prayed. It’s like when I ask my children to come some place with me, but they decide not to and go somewhere else. I still love them, I still take care of them, they are still my children. My relationship with them has not changed but they did not partake of the day I had planned for them.
Although I did not follow the leading of the Spirit that morning, I learned a valuable truth that would be with me for a lifetime. God’s love and grace has moved me to a place where “I want” to hear and obey, it’s not a relationship where I have to or else. If I should happen to fail in some way, He picks me up as a loving Father and puts me back on track with His mercy and lovingkindness.