Skipping Steps

I was having this discussions with one of the residents living in the community from which I am employed. We were discussing the process that most things have to go through in order for success to be obtained. Although his hopes were that I didn't see the fact that he was making excuses for procrastinating, it nevertheless made a good topic for Kingdom Living and the spiritual growth of us all who believe.

I had wrote a blog a few months earlier about skipping steps coming from a sermon I heard a well known minister speak about. He specifically spoke about what God is able to do if you are willing to yield your will over to His. I wondered about it as members of the church and certainly visitors took the message, became excited, and started jumping, yelling, and running around the building with the information. I watched the television and contemplated on why God would do such a thing.

When using hormones to speed the process of producing beef, is the meat as healthy as it would be if the animal was allowed to go through the process? Because the business industry has this microwave mentality and has found ways to produce bigger products for less and charge more, is it a better product? Steps were skipped there too. Look at it from a natural perspective. Go to a staircase and skip three steps at a time to get to the top of the stairs. How easy was that? If we follow Jesus, His burden is easy and yoke is light (Matthew 11:30 KJV).

The discussion I had with this elderly man was about the venue he was going into. He was interested in taking a music score that was already produced and mix nature sounds into it. Then present it as a new piece of work to recording artists and executives. I had no desire to squash his dream even though one of the things I really detest is hearing or seeing the remake of something that didn't need any renovations. Once a classic has been created and everyone willing to hear it was more than satisfied with its outcome, why then 20 years later make it again as if the new spin is going to make it even better? Movies that have been laid to rest and every once in awhile take it out to see how people lived in those black and white versions and their plights back then, is refreshing. To change the story line to make it relevant for today's society, is just plain lazy. God is not out of witty inventions and ideas for believers to get something new. Still, I listened to him and even used the analogy of the seed growing in the ground. The seed doesn't immediately move to fruit, there is a process the seed has to go through in relationship with the soil and the environment from which the seed was planted (James 5:7 KJV). This is true for ever aspect in life (Matthew 13:1-7 KJV). It is why I believe the Lord has it in the bible so many times (Luke 8:1-15 AMP).

Knowing that the Lord would never go against His Word, why then would there be a sermon about skipping steps in a process by which we would have to use patience in order for anything to produce? I believe(now, as opposed to then) each person is different. Much like someone who was wrongfully convicted and had to do prison time for murder when in actuality he/she was there at the time of the crime but didn't report it. The prison time should have been an accessory to murder or obstruction. Both of those crimes would have a lesser sentence then murder. Yet because of the conviction this person spent 15 years of a 40 year sentence of their life. At a retrial, there is new evidence produced and the wrongfully accused receives a sentence of 3 years as opposed to the 40. Because of the 15 years served, the person is acquitted of all charges. So then how can he/she be compensated for the additional 12 years taken? In those 12 years he/she could have had a family, a career, a house, a business, had changed other lives, had an invention, discovered the cure to an incurable disease, and so forth and so on. Who can make amends for the time taken (Luke 18:27 NIV)? Who can make that wrong right?

This is where steps can be skipped. This is where our belief in God can take a a rag and make it useful. This is where a diamond can be found in a condemned house. This is where money is given for no other reason then hearing the voice of God. This is where doors are opened and opportunities are given unexpectedly to make those advances that only one can make by skipping steps. So when the time comes for the wilderness season (Matthew 4:1 AMP), the valley of the shadow of death camp (Psalm 23:4 KJV),and storms out of no where (Matthew 14:22-31 KJV) comes to an end be ready and willing to move. God will do the rest to get you over the hurdle that others are struggling to do.