The Devil Ain't Always Busy, Sometimes You're the Problem

If I can be real honest, God read me all up and down before lunchtime today! I believe transparency is extremely important in your walk with Christ because you can bless others by talking about how God is continuing to work in you. I always say that the things that we go through are never just for us but to bless someone else from our lesson as well. 

 The devil ain’t always busy and up to something. Sometimes YOU are just busy ignoring God.

As I’m driving to work this morning, God kept putting the words from my best friend’s prayer last night in my mind, “keep your eyes fixed on God.” Focus, FOcus, FOCus, FOCUs, FOCUS! That’s literally how I felt the words were showing up in my mind. God was showing me that He needs me to be focused not for myself but so that I can effectively help others. To break it down in the message version, Angel I don’t have time to play with you! I need you focused now period and the end. Got a problem with that? Good, didn’t think so. Yes, all up in my face before 8 am! 

Long story short, God placed something on my heart about a week ago that is requiring me to delegate responsibility and involve people in various ways for the vision. This is something that is difficult for me to do because I find it difficult to find dependable people to delegate to then I also get concerned about having to put out fires, and correcting things that are said that don’t line up with the word of God by someone that is linked to me, etc. So God has been showing me various things regarding this vision and I have had multiple conversations with people who I consider wise council that have stated the necessity of delegating and that pretty much I can’t be superwoman and do everything on my own. As I’m sitting at work this morning, I start thinking again about different people/things that God has shown me and I’m questioning every detail about it. Can they do this? What are their intentions? What if this happens or that happens? What if they don’t do it? How will it work? As I’m thinking about all of this I had already said “I’m not sure about this” to various things/people that God was showing me regarding certain things all week. In the midst of all this I see myself walking and closing doors. These are all doors that are open remind you, and I’m going through and closing each of them. Then God shows me that’s what you’re doing with the doors I’m trying to open for you…Completely messed me all kinds of up! He showed me that I’m so caught up in what I think is best, what I think I know, what I think is right that I’m hindering my own blessings because He’s opening doors to reach more people and to network and my busy body self is coming right behind Him slamming them shut. God’s screaming ANGEL!!! Take your hands off of everything, step back from it, and let ME take the lead! Rest, please and thanks!! God has to deal with me like that because I get so busy being busy doing absolutely nothing but running in circles that He just has to gut punch me every once in awhile. That’s how we roll.

Proverbs 3:5-6 tells us to, “trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct thy paths” (KJV). The funny thing is we incorrectly paraphrase scriptures with our lives and don’t even realize it. Well what in the world does that mean? We quote the scriptures and we verbalize them to people but the way we live it is different from what we say or what the actual context is. So we quote Proverbs 3:5-6 as one of our favorite scriptures but we live it as though it says, “trust in the Lord with the parts of your heart that make sense or satisfy how you feel at any given moment; and lean not on your own understanding unless God is taking too long or doesn’t give you the answer that you want than go on ahead and shoulder lean on it (HFV aka Human in Feelings Version, don’t buy that version FYI).

            Day in and day out we continue to lean unto our own understanding when God desires to lead us and guide us but we just swear up and down that we know best. He can’t take control if we won’t give up our own control. Do you not realize that He created you for the very thing that He has given to you and wants to teach you how to hone your gifts and visions and develop them so that you can be effective in helping others to know Him! Psalm 32:8 reminds us of this, “I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with Mine eye” (KJV). We have the best coach ever yet we ignore Him…the Holy Spirit is given to us to guide us so if we choose not to follow it or even question it’s leading are we not saying that we don’t trust the Holy Spirit? Sometimes you have to really break things down and look at it like okay, by me not doing this or that what am I really saying to God? 

           

            We’re so quick to say the devil is busy blocking our blessings! The devil sho is up to something, got me stressed out, this that and the forth. Uhm no, sometimes it’s YOU honey. Sometimes you are the problem, closing doors on your own blessings, and keeping God from using you to your full potential. My pastor always says the devil is our enemy but sometimes our other greatest enemy is our own selves. We hinder the spirit of God in our own lives and we blame it on the devil and he looking back laughing at you with his little fallen angel’s geeking it up watching you self destruct. Stop feeding the nonsense. We don’t have time to sit around and fight God on the things that He is trying to do through us and in us. We’re on the same team! Why are you trying to go back and forth with God on the things that He is trying to bless you with and also bless someone else in the process? Rest, He’s got this. Whatever it is that you’re so busy doing right now, stop. Take your hands off of it and just stop. Stop and go before the Lord in prayer and say God above all else, Your will be done. If it’s not in God’s will it’s going to fall apart and it’s going to stress you out in the process. When God ordains it, it just works. Stop questions the when, the how, and what’s. You have to let Him take the lead because believe it or not you really are not capable of leading yourself. So many of us are getting our ballroom dancing on in this world trying to lead and follow at the same time while God is sitting in the audience like you don’t even realize I’ve stepped off the dance floor. You have to let Him take the lead and you have to sit down and follow period.

            If you read this all the way to the end I’m sure you’re thinking uhm excuse me Angel but did you forget that you told on yourself in the beginning??? Hypocrite much! Trust me when I say the message hits the messenger first. What I share is because God convicted me to change and my prayer is that in sharing the lesson I learned that it will convict someone else to change as well.

  

“A man’s heart deviseth his way; but the Lord directeth his steps” (Proverbs 16:9, KJV).