moves of God – warning sign #2 – coasting
If you’ve ever skated, stepped onto an icy path, or had children help you push a shopping cart across a parking lot, you’ll know that sometimes you can exert energy to move forward, and sometimes you can just coast or glide. Coasting seems ok initially, but when you’re coasting, you lose control and you’ll lose speed pretty quickly. Coasting is like trying to get by on past victories. King Saul’s life is a warning to us all. God anointed him to be king over Israel, but He lost God’s anointing because He stopped seeking, listening to, and obeying God. Saul started out very aware of His weakness and lack of importance. But Saul started coasting when he grew big in his own eyes and trusted himself instead of God.
We must continually walk with the Lord, listen to His voice and obey His word. We cannot rely on past experiences and presume to know what the Lord would have us do in a given situation. I’ve learned the hard way that the worst plan for any given situation is what worked last time. It might be, but we cannot presume to know God’s plan. None of us will ever arrive at a level in our Christian walk where we can kick back and relax. We are all unfinished masterpieces! We need to get fresh manna every day from God, and continually keep our eyes and ears attuned to Him.
I had an experience recently where an influential person gave me a personal prophetic word. It was framed in a very negative way, was not edifying, and neither Paul nor I felt it was from the Lord. We also asked several of our accountability partners about the word. Every one of them gave us the same counsel . . . the word was erroneous, so disregard it. We did. We prayed for forgiveness for the person. We realized that they had probably gotten out of the habit of seeking God, allowing other things to replace intimacy with God, and yet they tried to cling to their title and position. This is a dangerous place to be – much damage is done in the body of Christ by this kind of loose cannon shooting. 1 Thessalonians 5:11 instructs us to encourage and build one another up.
Just like an out of control shopping cart in a parking lot, coasting can damage both the individual and those around them. It’s a temptation to relax wherever we’re at in our Christian walk. We can kid ourselves by thinking we know God well enough, thinking we’ve done enough Bible study for a lifetime – we can take it easy for a while and focus on ministering to others. It sounds ok in a way, because it’s good to minister to others, but if we’re not actively seeking God, we’re actually living in a place of pride, trusting in our own experience, learning, strength, or gifts instead of depending on God. That is a dangerous place to be.
