Out of Bounds

Ever felt like you just can’t seem to get comfortable? That as soon as you feel like you can manage everything going on, God challenges you to believe for more?

I know in my life this is constantly happening. It can be in the simplest things like altering my usual route to pick someone up or taking the time to talk to the attendant at the petrol station to tell them about church down the road.

It can even be changing job or moving house. But I've learnt that it's just when I've nailed my routine, my schedule, that God decides to switch things up.

That instead of just going to church, you're now serving. Instead of attending a small group, you are now being asked to lead it.

Maybe you got a promotion, maybe God wants you to connect with different people. All the while you feel more and more stretched beyond your natural ability.

You keep thinking, 'but God I was doing so well before' and 'I had it all together'. But God was always operating 'out of bounds', outside of your self-enforced limitations and he is just asking you to join him.

It’s time to step out of the boat or out of the tent onto the enemies camp. To walk into the King's throne room, completely outside your jurisdiction and have confidence in him.  

‘Enlarge the place of your tent,
stretch your tent curtains wide,
do not hold back;
lengthen your cords,
strengthen your stakes.
For you will spread out to the right and to the left;
your descendants will dispossess nations
and settle in their desolate cities.’
Isaiah 54:2-3

It may not be ‘your territory' but you're now walking in your inheritance. God has already won it for you. It's out of your control but now it's completely in his.

As you walk with him, he gives you special access. Those levels, those doors you could never open or reach, God's unlocking with his 'all access key'.  

It all feels foreign, it feels weird, you're not sure if you really belong here. But when the time is right, all you need is for God to say 'he/she's with me'.

When your position or route changes, the hardest thing is to stick to the path.

I was driving back from church and I had learnt the day before that they had changed the road up ahead, so I needed to be in a different lane.

Even though I knew it would be better to be in this lane, it was so hard to stick to it when I was so used to being in a different one. I kept second guessing myself and just wanting to change back to what I was used to.

It was in this moment that God gave me the revelation that this is exactly what the journey with God looks like. He has already gone before us, determined the best route and often that's going to require us to go off our mapped path and onto his.  

'You enlarge the path beneath me and make my steps secure,
So that my feet will not slip.'
Psalms 18:36

It might mean a lane change, it might mean a hidden path - just like when he parted the Red Sea. But one thing is for certain, being in the right lane, on the right path always pays off.

It may be uncomfortable, it may be unfamiliar but all because it's outside your bounds, doesn't mean it's outside Gods. So allow yourself to be challenged. Allow God to enlarge your capacity and extend your boundaries.

"Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain." And God granted his request.
1 Chronicles 4:10