When You Feel Like Your Hands Are Tied

Sometimes in life, we can find ourselves feeling enslaved by circumstances that seem impossible to control or influence. Whether it’s at work with a boss, peer or colleague that we don’t see eye to eye with or an unexpected health diagnosis that comes out of the blue. Life can present many situations which leave us feeling uncertain about our future. Difficult relationships, financial struggles and dreams lost can all leave us feeling like the future is hopeless with no escape route in sight. 

It’s not just negative circumstances that can present obstacles to us moving forward. Stepping out in faith, whilst exciting, can also be daunting and overwhelming. Although we may wholeheartedly believe in the decisions we make, inevitably we don’t have the full picture of how everything is going to work out. A life lived by faith sounds inspiring and adventurous, but it often requires walking into a future we believe for, but don’t yet possess. What can start as a positive move in the right direction may quickly feel like venturing into a dusky wilderness rather than following a clear and steady road and weariness sets in. 

Since a personal loss in my own life, I have developed somewhat of a holy dissatisfaction; a longing to see God move more. Loss, unfortunately, is an inevitable part of life this side of eternity. Disappointment, failure, pain and weakness are experiences we all face. However, despite the fragility of this life, and even because of it, God still can step into our daily lives in miraculous ways if we can just keep persevering in our faith and fix our eyes heavenwards.

As I grow as a Christian, I am increasingly challenged to exhibit my faith in the good, the bad and the ugly seasons of life. Either God is Who He says He is and can do what He says He can do, or He isn’t and He can’t. In “God is Good, He’s Better Than You Think” Bill Johnson puts it this way…

“If He is as good as many claim, how we respond to this truth will require a massive change in how we do life. Instead of creating doctrines that explain away our weakness and anaemic faith, we’ll actually have to find out why ‘the greater works than these’ have not been happening in and around us (see John 14:12).”

When I read the accounts of some of the great influencers and leaders in the Bible, I see that their success was in spite of difficult and challenging circumstances. Daniel, Esther, and Nehemiah for example, all influenced some of the most tyrannous world leaders of their time and yet they were all slaves. Slaves! In the natural, they had little influence and significance according to the hierarchy of the day. They lacked a title, resource and freedom of choice. It’s easy to forget these important details. The conditions of their lives saw them outwardly enslaved and in many ways lacking. Yet, in spite of their slavery, they experienced breakthrough and change, not only personally but also for their nation. Their courage in the face of adversity was not based on the outward condition of their lives but rather their inner conviction about Who their God was and His promises to them. Knowing and believing in God Almighty caused them to pray and believe in their time of need. God miraculously saved their lives and opened doors of opportunity as He responded to their faith. They weren’t passive in their actions but they did seek God first.

Another great account of God responding to faith-filled prayers in a time of need is found in Acts 12. Here we read that Peter has been thrown into prison by Herod. The opening sentences describe how James and his brother John have recently been put to death at the hands of this same Herod which heightens to us the severity of Peter’s present situation. The passage continues to explain how he was bound with not only one, but two sets of chains and guarded on both sides. There was no escape route in sight and his future looked bleak. Yet, despite his seemingly slim chance of survival beyond this imprisonment, verse 5 states that the “church was earnestly praying to God for him.” When it appeared that this could be his end, that there was no way out of his circumstance, the church prayed anyway. They believed anyway. Miraculously Peter was rescued from the prison by an angel of the Lord and “the chains fell off Peter’s wrists.” (Acts 12 v 7). 

God is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. If He could come through for Daniel, Esther, Nehemiah and Peter in answer to prayer, He can for us too. Not only did he rescue them and provide for them personally but His greater purpose was fulfilled through them.

Just recently I was reminded again of how God feels about me as I looked on at my daughter Sienna. As her mother I so want her to do well, to be healthy, to succeed, to nurture and grow all that God has placed within her. I am biased towards her because she is mine and I’m invested in her doing well. I will do everything in my power to ensure she grows up knowing my love and belief in her. Rich and I will do our best to practically provide for her in whatever way possible to help her to flourish. In the same way, we are His. He loves us, He provides for us, He is invested in our wellbeing, in our success and our future. He wants you and I to find freedom from the entrapments of life and to flourish into all He designed us to be. 

Whatever circumstances we may be facing right now, even if our hands feel tied like Peter’s, we can remember that our heavenly Father is on our side ready to lose the chains that are holding us captive. Sienna has to take her own steps and build her own life but all she has to do is ask and Rich and I will be there to help. As we remember God’s love for us we are emboldened to pray earnestly and in faith see His breakthrough.

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!”

Matthew 7 v 8 – 11

 

 

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Have A Little Faith

Do I allow space in my life for faith? If you follow my blog regularly you may know that I’ve felt challenged over the past year to pray more. Not only to pray more but to be intentional and focused as I pray. I’ve been inspired afresh to persevere in the pursuit of breakthrough through faith as I use the free gift of communication and power that is prayer to connect with God. I’ve also felt convicted that I have too many get-out clauses available in my comfortable first-world life that soften the blow of seemingly unanswered prayer. There are many opportunities daily to rely on my own strength or the strength of my privileged society. These things have become crutches to rely on rather than a springboard that propels me into daring to believe for more. They aren’t necessarily bad things but they can cause a distraction averting my eyes away from a big God who is able to reach into my circumstances and do a miraculous work. I reach for the paracetamol before I pray for a headache. I go to the opticians before I pray for my sight. I ask for provision and then borrow from someone else. If I don’t get an immediate answer I search for the next best thing, but second, best is never best.

Do I know Him and His heart as much as I could? Have I become too accustomed to my comfortable bubble? Do I feel more at ease with religious tendencies which allow me to do lots of stuff and so appear to be walking in step with God’s heartbeat? If I just open my eyes and look beyond my four walls there is need everywhere, situations desperate for the miraculous and lives to be reached with the love of God. What situations, illness, discomfort and dysfunction have I learned to live with because they are ‘easier’ to manage?

Great innovation has allowed us to develop and create many inspiring things. We’re made in God’s image. It’s in our nature to create.  I believe it pleases Him when we excel in art, learning, social change and more by using the gifts He’s given us. I also think He works through many a great endeavour and even planted the seed of their conception. However, rather than use these great inventions and strategies and pillars of society as inspiration to aspire to more, perhaps I’ve let them become convenient excuses for self – sufficiency. I don’t know. There have been times in my life where I have been indignant in faith and seen incredible answers to prayer and others when I’ve struggled or felt disappointed. Faith is a key component to a life lived in Christ and it’s a shame that I can count the number of encounters of personal radical faith on my hands. 

Faith pleases God, in fact, scripture goes as far as to say, “Without faith, it’s impossible to please God” (Hebrews 11 v 6) I used to feel a pang of anxiety as I read this verse and wondered if my faith was enough, would it ever be enough? Scripture tells us however that God does not delight in our sacrifices or offerings (Psalm 51 v 16) Perspective changes everything. Now I believe it pleases God for us to have faith because He wants His power to be released into our lives and the world in which we live. Sienna becomes easily exasperated when things don’t seem to be panning out exactly as she envisioned, especially when attempting to build stable towers with all sorts of unstable objects. Rich and I have been trying to teach her that all she needs to do is simply ask for help and it is our pleasure to step in and build alongside her. I believe that faith pleases God because it is our way of stopping to ask for help and put our trust in Him.

According to Romans 10 v 17, “faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God” The knowing of His word and therefore Him are inextricably linked with faith. How much I know of Him and experience Him relates to the amount of faith I will possess and express. God isn’t wanting something from us given from an empty place of duty but rather He asks us to know Him and then to trust what we know of Him and so act accordingly.

God is “slow to anger and rich in love” (Psalm 145 v 8) He patiently and graciously waits for us to catch up. The beautiful thing I’m still learning about faith is that it’s not so much about the quantity we have but rather where we place it. We couldn’t even begin to fully comprehend what He can do, Ephesians 3 v 20 tells us that He is able, “to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine” This takes some pressure off my imagination to try and conjure up a mystical faith. Rather, by placing faith in Him and not myself, duty, self-sufficiency or the advancing world around me, He is able to take what little I have and do the impossible with it. Whatever I dare to imagine or dream He can still do more. He simply wants us to come to Him, and come often, with prayers, hopes, dreams and seemingly impossible situations.

Friendship, counselling, practical help and advice, love and belonging should all be attributes that God’s people should be known for, but the miraculous I’m convinced should be in there too. A real God, motivated by love and full of grace, changing our lives and that of others in ways that no man could conjure up, no positive thinking or team effort could compare with and no logic explain. Only God. There’s little more powerful than the personal testimony of what God has done in people’s lives through faith.

I’m challenged anew to speak faith, think faith, persevere in faith and accept nothing less than what faith has to offer. I’ve failed often, but I’m determined to leave a legacy for Sienna beyond what Rich and I can make happen. We will do our best to provide for her with all the grace that God gives us to do so. However, it would be one of the saddest things for me to give her every opportunity possible to excel in her gifts, talents and skills, draw out all of the potential that we are able to see, and yet fail to show her the adventure that lies in a life lived by faith.

What’s your journey of faith?