God’s Vibes Matter

You know how to physically get in shape, but the most important conditioning you can do is with your soul. This is how the Holy Spirit coaches you as you are in Christ. How many times has he tried to speak to you and give you instruction but you didn’t hear or listen? As you grow and mature, you follow through in the formation of your mind effectively and efficiently as you get out of the way. Not all can grow in him because not all are coachable; they want to run their own lives. When you receive Christ, you choose to be coachable. Some can’t grow and mature in him and experience all the freedom and joy he has for them. They don’t believe they can change or even need to. They are selective listeners and selectively let him run their lives; they are reluctant to let him have full access. They need to get to the place where they put it all on the altar and surrender their lives to him. Those who become completely coachable will be able to withstand all the pressures and bullying they come up against. Being willing to give God your yes requires three things. Understanding You need understanding not about what he is calling you to but about who he is and how he operates. Some things will not make sense until you get there, so understand that you do not have to have it all figured out before you get there; you just need to know who is speaking to you, and then you move. God already has a vision for your life, and he is reliable and trustworthy. You won’t get there by him showing you but by listening to him. Your destiny is tied to your yes. Understanding says you cannot become what God wants you to become without your yes with no strings attached. He will not give much beyond instructions; there may be a little affirmation, but once he gives instruction, that’s it; he doesn’t have a plan B for you. Only he can speak it to you. Sometimes, you may be tempted to trade destiny for company, for the familiar, for the way things were. But trust in God. You want heaven’s applause; don’t live for the applause of anyone else. Belief Belief is a big deal. You may be pursuing God and trying to figure out what is right and wrong, but “Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness” (Gen. 15:6 NIV). It was nothing that Abram did; it was the fact that he believed. You won’t give God your yes if you don’t trust him. You have enough confirmation already, so will you step out or not? Will you be righteous in your belief? Destiny unfolds in steps. Sensitivity Sensitivity is cultivated and developed through your relationship with God, and it gradually teaches you to discern and understand his voice. You gradually connect what you’re feeling to what God is saying or acknowledge what you’re feeling is God. God has made you sensitive enough to learn and understand how to understand his voice. You learn how to connect what you are intuiting in your gut to the voice of God so you can give a timely yes. You must know how to hear God. There is no course on this, but you are wired to hear the voice of your Creator. A perfect example of this is Samuel, who was being called by the Lord but did not yet know his voice, so his friend Eli taught him how to respond the next time he heard the Lord. Eli said to Samuel, “Go lie down, and it shall be if He calls you, that you shall say, ‘Speak, LORD, for Your servant is listening’” (1 Sam. 3:10 NASB). Once you dispel distractions and be still, you will be able to hear the word the Lord has for you. When you are still, you can experience God with expectancy rather than anxiety. You will be positioned to hear his voice; this is everything because you cannot say yes to what you do not receive. The rest is trial and error. Learn from the times you didn’t listen when you knew you should have. As you walk with God long enough and you give him these yeses, you’ll become more sensitive. The more you say yes, the more God will feed you his daily manna. Give him your heart, obedience, and yes responses all along the way. His instruction will always elevate you. Success for the purposes of this book is being abandoned to Christ and co-laboring with him. With this as the new definition of success, we will find that joy is being continually refreshed in him. God gives us what we need to behave correctly and has invested his power in our spiritual growth. Sometimes, it takes a painful experience to make us change our ways, but it doesn’t always require that. The miracle of redemption is that God turns us unholy ones into the standard of himself by putting us into the disposition of Jesus Christ. You will know you are living a set-apart life when you are not aloof but are living in another world. Just like Jesus, you will strive to never allow anything to interfere with your concentration of spiritual energy. You will be interested in what God is interested in, and there will be no dull moments when the king is with you.