Week 1 Limitless Life Bible Study: In the valley of Sheep

Many people do not slay a Goliath because they think that tending sheep is beneath them.

This quote from the Limitless Life book really stood out to me.  I know that I am definitely in the valley of sheep right now. I am in a season where nothing appears to be happening, but I know EVERYTHING is happening. 

I expect God to do something

 A few weeks ago, the preacher said "Don't label what God is doing because when you label it, you limit it. You just need keep saying 'I expect God to do something'."  He must have repeated "I expect God to do Something over 50 times during the sermon.  It was definitely a word from the Lord. It has been ringing in my spirit and I have been praying and repeating "I expect God to do something" these past two weeks.  

Since January of this year God has been doing an intense inner work in my life and I am noticing a LOT of growth in my life.  Before I had what would be considered negative faith.  I had faith that something NEGATIVE would happen.  Now I say I am expectant for God to do something.  I have also decided to refrain from giving God suggestions on what he should do.  I think He has better ideas than I do.

In the Valley of Sheep

Preparation

Drawing from David's story, God had anointed him to be King and it took about 20 years for that to actually happen. During that time God prepared David for his call using enemies and yes tending the sheep.  

I believe the same is true for me.  I believe that the bigger the call, the more preparation.  Just this year alone, God has shown me ugly stuff in my heart that needs to go such as envy and bitterness.  I cannot be an effective anything with envy and bitterness lurking in my heart.

Remaining Faithful when God instructs you to take care of his sheep

I shared this story during our A Confident Heart Bible Study.  You can read about it here.  A short synopsis.   Last year God instructed me to pray for someone.  It has been exactly one year since I began praying for this person. 

The person doesn't know (at least I've never told him) that I have been praying for him since last year.  I've written about it on my blog and told some that are close to me, but I've never told him that I have prayed over their life for the past year.

I've tried to stop doing it several times because it seems pointless, but I always end up starting again.  All I know is God gave me instructions to pray and I have continued on even though I don't know why or what's going on.  All I know is God said to pray and I just made up my mind to do that without worrying about what's in it for me.

Testing....

I look at it this as a test:  

Am I going to be faithful to what God has said to do or am I going to try to figure out why he said to pray for this person?  

Am I going to rationalize and reason that this isn't my problem and I don't even see this person so why should I do this?

OR

Am I just going to believe God and know that he has some sort of purpose for this?

I have decided to go with the last option.

This next piece of the puzzle is for receipts purposes...

One of the main reasons I started blogging was because I believed God wanted me to share my journey and not just wait until the end so I could sanitize it and write a revisionist history of my testimony.  I wanted to share the dots as they were going down on the paper.  I didn't want to write the story after the dots had all been connected.  I look at this blog as RECEIPTS of what GOD can do when you trust him.  I want to have it all on record.

I wasn't going to share this next point, but I feel compelled to do so because I think it's another piece of the story.  Over the last few days God has laid this person very strongly on my heart and mind.  As I mentioned I've continued to pray for this person consistently, but in the past few days God really laid him on my mind.  I wrote down in my journal that I don't know why he has been on my mind so strongly in the past few days, but I figured it was because we were getting close to the anniversary of when God said to pray for this person.

To make things even MORE interesting, I have not seen this person in months but I have continued to pray without knowing anything that was going on.  

Well this past week I randomly saw this person, but did not say anything because I was so startled and I didn't feel like I was supposed to say anything. I got a strange feeling and decided to check my journal  and sure enough it was 1 year EXACTLY to the day when God first instructed me to pray for this person.

Now I have no idea what any of this means and frankly I don't care and it doesn't matter.  I just want to have this down on record because God has some kind of purpose for all this.  

All I can tell you is that I expect God to do something.

Humbling yourself to become a shepherd

As Derwin Gray says, many people won't take the time to take care of sheep because they think it is beneath them.  They have too much pride to humble themselves and admit they don't know it all.  They certainly aren't going to lower themselves to shepherding!  Where's the glory in that.

I know firsthand because that is how I used to think.  I wanted to go straight to the Kingdom without getting my training in the shepherding field first.  Taking care of sheep looks menial, it looks pointless, and it looks fruitless.  Before I would have spent my time grumbling and complaining about taking care of sheep.  I deserve better doggone it!  I deserve a parade!

I believe God has called me to do great things, but first I must be in the valley of sheep learning how to be faithful in all tasks God asks me to do and also humbling myself and admitting that I am first a humble servant and not just want all the royal titles.

This chapter was good for me because it encouraged and reinforced that no part of God's process is in vain or a waste of time!

To God be the Glory