A Tip to maximise your Mid-Week Truth Turn Up …
Your Mid-Week Truth Turn Up is a 'meaty' devotional that can re-centre your heart on Jesus as you go along in your week. The devotional is slightly lengthier than a daily devotional and that is because I post them only once a week and they are meant to be your repeat meditation for the next 7 days till you receive the next Truth Turn Up. My tip is therefore that as your week goes on, you visit and re-visit your Mid-Week Truth Turn up and meditate on the Bible Meditation passage, my write up as well as the Further Study at the bottom of the devotional. Take the whole week to meditate on it and get it into your spirit. Do not try to compress the whole devotional into one reading. Enjoy (* wink *) Coach Toyin
What shall I do, Lord? And the Lord said to me. Get up and go! Acts 22:10
Take a moment. Look around you, look within you. What is troubling you? What is foremost on your heart? Are you feeling blinded and tugged down to your knees? Define what is going on. Own it. Now be real. Ask God. What is this about? Why have You allowed this in my life, in my home, in my community, in my world? And then, most importantly, ask the Lord, “What shall I do?” And when you get the answer, know this. It is likely linked with God’s purpose for your life. So, get up and go!
Now, if you are anything like me, your first reaction to what I have just said will be, “Oh my goodness, she is asking me to drop everything and start conversing with a figment of my imagination. And then she wants me to waaaiiiitttttttt for God to answer me before I move! Arghh! Shoot me now!!” Yes, I loooove the dramatics! But hey, I hear you! Don’t shrink back just yet though. Check out the context of Acts 22:10, in the broader chapter of Acts 22. Paul was narrating what had happened to him when he met Jesus. He was on a road of destruction – destroying himself and destroying the children of God. But God had earmarked Paul for a purpose that nowadays we would call EPIC! So God blinded him! And no, I don’t mean that figuratively. As in, Paul could literally not see! (Acts 9:1-22 has the first-hand account). He could not see! God was ready to thrust Paul into purpose-driven living, and so what did God do? He stripped him of his sight, leaving Paul with two options. He could remain blind and go about from physician to physician trying to get a cure, or he could turn to the One who could restore his sight, reveal to him what in the world this experience was all about, and get him going on the path to unlocking solution spaces in a needy world! Paul chose the latter, and here we are today. Benefactors.
So, I ask you again. What is troubling you? What is foremost on your heart? Now think. What are your options? You could figure things out in your own savvy, mustering together all your knowledge and life experience, and forging ahead in your own strength, or like a man standing at the narrow gateway, you could bring your savvy, knowledge and life experience before the Lord and ask Him, “What shall I do?” And will you have to waaiiitttt for an answer? Maybe. But likely not. Chances are that you will find that God has been speaking all along, possibly even through that very agitation that has driven you to this place. Run with what you hear! You’ll probably find yourself running into purpose driven living.
Let’s pray:
Lord, I am facing ___________________ [name the circumstance]. I know, that You know, what is going on, and it does not make You nervous. I know that You have a path that You want me to walk, in response to this thing that is rummaging through my life. Jesus, I choose Your path. What shall I do Lord? I trust Your way. I key in to Your grace that enables me to follow Your way. I pray in Jesus Name. Amen
Last word:
Journal what God is saying. It helps you internalise it. It helps make it real and tangible. Get accountable to a trusted, likeminded person who can coach you through it. You are about that God-life, that pearl of great price. Pursue with passion.
Written by: Toyin Oladiran for The Narrow Gateway (www.thenarrowgateway.com)