Advice For The Christian Girl

Why The Short Cut?

Why is the shortcut so glamorous

Shortcuts are common. In our generation, we have grown up with instant gratification and a life of shortcuts. We don't need to follow many steps to see results which wasn't always the case before.

Want to bake cookies?

We can easily buy a cookie dough mix, put it in the oven, and bam. Want to get pizza, we don't need to drive to a pizza shop, just place an order, and right at your doorstep, you get what you want.

Want to own your own business? There are thousands of apps you can download that can get you started.

Life has become increasingly easier. This easy has many benefits. Now we can do things quicker and use our time more. But this lifestyle of speed, getting what we want quickly can start affecting how we see God.

God has His agenda. His timing. It's called His appointed time. We see from the beginning how God took 7 days to complete His work. He could've done it all at once. He could've just made man first but He chose to wait. We see this also with Abraham.

Genesis 21:2-4
NKJV
2 For Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him

God had an agenda. A plan already set and made in heaven. That's why a point Jesus calls us to pray is to let God's will be done on earth as it is in heaven (Matthew 6:10).

God has a time and purpose. He's a God of time and seasons. God is never in a rush or never behind. He never does things too fast or too slow. They appear to us this way because often our timing isn't His. We often set our calendar of what time seems best while God has His own that He had purposed.

God had a calendar for your life and there are no shortcuts. You cant skip a chapter of God's novel for your life no matter how boring it seems. You cant skip the scenes of the movies God created because it's been at the sad part of a bit too long. You need to go through the whole book, the whole process, and everything so you can live God's completed story for your life.

But does tempt us to skip steps. Why do we often want to rush the process? One of the battles satan fights us is to get us to skip steps and to rush God's timing. His fight is for us to go ahead of God or miss where God sees us.
I want us today to examine what are some common temptations the enemy places for us to skip steps.

1) Skip Refining

Hebrews 12:6-11
ESV
6 For the Lord disciplines the one he loves,
    and chastises every son whom he receives.”

7 It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? 8 If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. 9 Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? 10 For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. 11 For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

God takes time to break the things inside of us that make our Foundation weak. He breaks the hidden things. He heals our hearts. He makes sure that our pride is destroyed so we embrace humility. He removes that selfishness to install selflessness.

And this process can often be painful. Where you feel misunderstood. Where you get upset and angry. Where your character is constantly tested and checked. Where God highlights the flaws you've tried to hide. Where God tells you what needs to change and instructs you how to get better.

This process can be difficult so many desire to skip it. Instead of going through a journey to being transformed from selfish to selfless people want to remain how they are but gain the promise land too which is impossible to keep the promise land if your heart, motives, and character are contrary to what can sustain it.

2) Skip Waiting

At the appointed time. God's timing often doesn't look like our own. When we want to skip steps and take shortcuts it's usually because the appointed time (God's timing) is taking much longer than what we anticipated or desired. Because God thinks above us and His timing comes when He sees best for us and when everything is well in our eyes, we can make the mistake of measuring our timing with His and expectation on our ways to be automatically aligned with His time.

It's important to remember that God's appointed time is His appointed time. He could look earlier or later than what you imagined but if it takes time, don't let the inch and whispers of the enemy tell you everything is late, you're falling behind or that God forgot abour you.

It's during these times the enemy tells us God doesn't care. His ignoring us. We are wasting our time praying. He tells us to give up. The spiral of discouragement gets more and more real, trust me I know. I've gone through some discouraging times when I felt tired of praying and just wanted to throw in the towel. I got tired of expecting and trusting but it was in those moments I could recognize the voice of discouragement seeking to make me want to give up and do my own thing.

Recognise that voice and choose to ignore it.

3) Skip practicing what you preached

Another temptation to skipping steps is you don't need to practice what you preached. It's easy to give everyone advice to wait on God's time. It's easy to tell everyone to keep going and to believe God is hearing.

It's not as easy to exercise that same advice.

The waiting season of God's preparation season is when everything you've learned is not needed to be put into practice. All those videos you watched talking about God's timing? Time for you to take that advice. All those times you encouraged others that God is faithful? Time for you to tell yourself that. All those songs you listen to about God being a way maker and Him keeping His promises? Time for you to be singing them the most.

It's not easy listening to such worship songs and remembering those sermons in the heat of a time of waiting and feeling discouraged but listen anyway.

What makes waiting uncomfortable is how real your faith becomes. You have to do all you have read, learned, and studied from men and women of God, from the bible, from songs, etc. You have to put that work into your faith. You will have to choose either to believe or doubt.

4) Skip the hard work (price to pay)

Similar to Skipping refining is that you don't need to sacrifice anything. God when we are in seasons of waiting and preparation usually prunes us. He removes all those bad characteristics we have. He disciplines us. He teaches us. He corrects us.

Suddenly you're more aware of your sin and your heart. You realised you are imperfect and your flaws come to the service. You see how much you need healing and growth. You see the trauma you've had and how you've ignored it for the longest time.

During this time God humbles you if you got pride. God teaches patience if you are impatient. God teaches you forgiveness so you can let go of those who hurt you in the past. God teaches you discipline and perseverance in prayer. He teaches you how to watch over your mouth. He guides you to how you should live. He tells you to let go of some friends. He is preparing you and His starting with your heart.

God will lead you to sacrifice things. He will lead you to fast. He will lead you to pray longer and seek Him more. To see the promise come to pass you must be willing to pray the price to see it fufilled. 

With all these examples of the many temptations, we get to want to skip steps I want you to choose today to not fall for these lies, traps, and temptations of the enemy. He does this to everyone but it takes the perseverance of a Godly woman to fight these lies with truth, to resist the temptation, and to run to her Father trusting and remaining in prayer.