THE NEXT STEP
This next step is the best step I’ve ever taken. I can hardly wait to pick up my foot and set it down again on the fresh welcoming ground before me. Did I mention that I can’t really see where I am going? Have I told you that if it were up to me alone I would just rest here in the comfort of two feet firmly planted?
God has ordered my steps so I am compelled to continue. It has become more an act of obedience than one of courage. It takes very little courage to trust God but it takes an extraordinary amount of surrender to be obedient. I have had to die to my own flesh and will and warfare. I can’t keep spending God’s time fighting senseless battles with powerless opponents.
I choose to not speak power into the enemy. If I believe has strength, he will, if I give him voice he will usurp my hearing so I shut my mouth about him and speak forth the glory, majesty, power, and allknowingness of God. If I close my ears to the enemy he has no purchase upon my heart and therefore he has no entry into my reality. I listen instead for God’s still, small voice, so audible when you crave to hear it.
This next step is great. I look forward to moving forward. I desire with all my heart to enter into the Promised Land instead of the problem land. I can imagine how so many of us think we are making progress when all we are doing is running in place on a dreadmill created by the oppressor. I step off the side of the cliff only to realize it isn’t a cliff at all. It is heaven. Heaven on earth, where each step is cleared and all motion is detected and protected by the One who walked before me.
I have fallen in love anew. I am bathed in the exquisite beauty of God’s love. I feel radiant and filled. My heart pumps with new Blood, my soul sings a new song, my feet take a new step, and my spirit has a fresh anointing. I am set free. The cross I carry was custom made for me. Encouraging words flow like honey from my lips. I rejoice in the victories of my brother and my sister. I feel good. I feel new and it is God I give all glory to.
— Julie Evans
2/4/2002