staying under…

Staying under… for me… is a word-picture of perseverance…

perseverance… the action or condition or an instance of persevering: steadfastness

persevere… to persist in a state, enterprise, or undertaking in spite of counterinfluences, opposition, or discouragement

–Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, 11th Ed.

The words come to mind when I think about dismissing the Spirit’s leading… even if just for a few moments…

You see… He works in His timing… His way… and to do His work… we must answer His call… stay under… until He’s done speaking… working… leading…

That’s the way I feel this afternoon… when my flesh wants to lay on the couch… watch TV… take a break… I hear… I feel… the call… Stay under…

Stay under His Lordship…

Stay under His teaching…

Stay under and finish what He’s begun…

Stay under…

So I stay… because I know at the end of this time… there will be a sigh of praise… a satisfied… joy-full… Whew…!

The source of my willingness to stay under… comes from past experience of walking away… trusting my timing… rather than coming under His…

I’ve felt the conviction of missing out on the moment… because I wouldn’t stop what I was doing… to take note of His leading…

There have been opportunities missed… because I thought my timing would be better… telling Him… I’ll do that later… just a minute…

But those minutes pass… and so does the power of the Spirit…

The Israelites knew the pain of missed opportunity… of opting to listen to their own hearts rather than trusting God’s timing…

Moses sent spies into the Promised Land… for forty days they scouted the land… then returned with their report…

They brought with them produce from the land… wonderful fruit… abundant fruit… just like God said…

But most of the spies gave reports of the greatness of the people… they said… We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we… The land through which we have gone as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants… There we saw giants… we were like grasshoppers in our own sight…” (Numbers 13)

Two spies… Caleb and Joshua… encouraged the people to go into the land anyway… to stay under God’s call… but it was too late… the fear-full spies stirred up discouragement among the people… who began to look for a leader to take them back to Egypt… back to slavery… (Numbers 14)

Because the people would not stay under… because they refused to trust God’s timing… the rebellious spies died from a plague… and all those of the age of accountability… twenty years and older… would never enter the Promised Land… those who saw the wonders of the Lord in Egypt… would wander in the wilderness for forty years… dropping dead along the way…

Staying under… persevering… comes with its blessings… but rebelling against the call of the Spirit… His leading… comes at a great price…

I wonder at times what I’ve missed out on… where I’ve spent time wandering in spiritual wildernesses of my own making because of my rebellion…

But I’m learning to heed His call… stay under His Lordship… not following the flesh… but the Spirit…

Is there something you need to stay under…?

I encourage you to… because it is always worth the effort… which really in His strength… is not much effort at all… it’s just a choice… to choose Him… over you…

For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, bu to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.

Romans 8:5-6 ESV

[Note… I wondered where this picture of staying under came from… and here I find it in these verses…

To live according to… in the original Greek… means… down through… and I see a picture of being under… what comes down through the Spirit… so there it is… staying under according to what comes down through the Holy Spirit… Whew…!]