{"id":22717,"date":"2018-03-27T03:30:45","date_gmt":"2018-03-27T10:30:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/?p=22717"},"modified":"2018-03-23T12:16:24","modified_gmt":"2018-03-23T19:16:24","slug":"march-27-2018","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/2018\/03\/27\/march-27-2018\/","title":{"rendered":"March 27, 2018"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u201cYet they did not obey or incline their ear, but followed the counsels and the dictates of their evil hearts, and went backward and not forward\u2026 Yet they did not obey Me or incline their ear, but stiffened their neck\u2026 You shall also call to them, but they will not answer you.\u201d<\/em> Jeremiah 7:24, 26-27<\/p>\n

Onward!<\/strong><\/h2>\n

I have made many decisions in my life without consulting the Lord for His counsel. For most of my life, I did not know I should ask Him what His will was; but even after I saw in Scripture that we are to ask Him before going ahead with decisions, I still went with my own gut feelings. In other words, the only person I consulted was my own self. I didn\u2019t incline my ear to hear from the Lord. I followed the counsels and dictates of my own heart.<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s Scripture summarizes the result of what I was doing: I was moving backward, not forward.<\/p>\n

If a person is facing in a direction away from God, and God calls to her, she has a choice to make: either turn to face Him, to better hear Him with the intent of obedience, or at least being curious what He has to say; or else to stiffen her neck, having no intention of talking with Him about what her heart is counseling her to do. He calls and calls, but she does not answer.<\/p>\n

If our heart is in charge, leading the way in our actions, intentions, and emotions, then we are moving backward, away from Him. \u201cBackward,\u201d by definition, means that we move \u201cwith the back foremost,\u201d in other words, pointing our back in God\u2019s face. Backward also means \u201cin reverse of the usual or right way, toward the past, or toward a less-advanced state.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is not God\u2019s heart for us. He has always moved His children in a forward direction\u2014in the direction of hope and promise. When the Israelites complained about their 40-year trek through the desert and wanted to go back to Israel, God told them to go forward. When they feared crossing the Red Sea, He told them to go forward. When the spies were afraid of giants in the land, God told them to go forward. When Jesus prayed for the cup of suffering to be removed from Him, God told Him to go forward.<\/p>\n

God continually works to keep us forward-facing in His direction. \u201cAnd they have turned to Me the back, and not the face; though I taught them, rising up early and teaching them, yet they have not listened to receive instruction\u201d<\/em> (Jeremiah 32:33). Facing forward is facing Him, being closer to Him, having more knowledge of Him, bearing fruit in Him, being more Christ-like and more useful to Him. Facing Him acknowledges that He is our Leader.<\/p>\n

Backward: stuck. Withering. Shrinking. Dying and desolate in our inner man. Let\u2019s not face away from God, but toward Him. Walk forward and upward with Him. Step up and step out with Him.<\/p>\n

\u201cLord, we\u2019re curious what comes next in this life lived with You. We turn our heads in Your direction so we can see what You\u2019re doing and hear what You\u2019re saying. With You leading, we\u2019ll move forward! Amen.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

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