In His Stride

When God gives His people instructions, He expects to be honored. He expects His assignments to be fulfilled in compliance with His instructions—to be done His way and in His time. No exceptions, no excuses. This is why we must learn to walk in His stride. We do as He instructs, go where He guides, and according to how He provides. The task we are assigned in the kingdom must be approached in like manner. It really is quite simple, although learning to walk in His stride is not always simple. We do not decide how our assignment will be developed, nor do we determine when and where our assignment is to be applied. Because of this, our natural propensity, our stride, must be broken. We don’t decide. He decides. We learn to listen for His guidance with discerning eyes and ears, be sensitive to His impulses within, and attentively watch and listen for opportunities and the provision He provides to manage our tasks.

The renewal of our minds is a continual process because we are subjected daily to the distracting and denigrating influences of the world. The more our minds are renewed, the easier it is to perceive the voice of God and the guidance He provides. We also learn to discern more acutely destructive influences we encounter from degenerative influences, which aim only to dissuade us from our appointed task.

Whatever assignment the Father has given us to fulfill will require His consultation. We need His wisdom to direct us through each successive phase for its optimal completion. Even Jesus confirmed the cooperative nature of His work with the Father’s direction as He fulfilled His ministry and purpose: “Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do, for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner” (John 5:19). And, “I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent me” (v. 30). If it were necessary for Jesus to seek the Father’s counsel, how much more necessary is it for us to follow His example. After all, He is “the author and finisher of our faith” (Heb. 12:2), who said, “If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me” (John. 12:26).

We receive wisdom and guidance from God in the way we receive any other request: “And this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we asked of Him” (I John 5:14-15). The surety of this promise is certain, yet we must be patient as we wait for His response.

Many of the phases we undergo in our spiritual lives are multi-faceted and multi-layered—each facet and layer requiring its unique and specific course of development, which requires time. God is the one who promises, prepares, cultivates, and controls it all, not us. As Dr. Joel Mullinax so eloquently explained during one of his marvelous messages: “Do not be as Abraham (and Sarah) who tried to help God out by taking control of the fulfillment of the promise God had given him in giving birth to a child, resulting in the birth of Ishmael.” Instead, God will fulfill His promise, His way, and in His time, as only God can. God places the expectation for the fulfillment of His promises on Himself, not us. He merely needs our cooperation as we yield to Him. God’s promises are fulfilled only as we walk in His stride.