I was at a prayer meeting recently, and we were praying for the country I’m in (which is in precarious political situation at the moment, more than normal), the adjacent countries (several of which are in the middle of huge bloody wars), and the refugees displaced from those countries (Of which, there are more than any of us have any idea what to do with, or how to help).
Prior to the praying part of the prayer meeting, we had taken half an hour to spend worshiping the Lord. One of the songs we sang was “Oceans” by Hillsong United. In it, there’s a line that goes like this:
Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders.
Let me walk upon the waters, wherever you might call me.
Take me deeper than my feet could ever wander,
And my faith will be made stronger
In the presence of my Saviour
I was praying into the line, “Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders”, and asking for that to be the case for me; that I wouldn’t let any borders, any walls, anything keep me from following.
As I was praying, I saw in my spirit a picture of me being fenced in by a bunch of stone walls. All of the sudden, the stone walls turned to dust, and fell. They were gone. All that remained was just a slight trace of dust on the ground where the wall had been before. I then saw me looking at the wall, acknowledging that it had fallen, but staying inside where the walls had been, scared to step outside of the walls I had known for so long.
It reminded me of a principle I had learned years ago, summed up well in this video:
When we’ve been trapped for a long time, hitting our head against walls over and over again, we accept that we can’t do what we were working towards and believing for, and instead we go about living within the boxes we’re in.
Then, when freedom is offered us, we decide that we’d rather stay within the space that we’ve been in for years.
Why? Lots of reasons. But one of the biggest is that it’s just what we’re used to, and we’re afraid of what is beyond the walls we’ve been stuck in. We’ve been trained not to cross the lines we’ve drawn. “This isn’t how it’s done. We’ve done it this way for years, so we should continue to do the same thing. Crossing those borders is dangerous. You could get hurt. People might hurt you or kill you. It’s not safe.”
When I saw that picture, I felt Jesus saying, “I want to take you where your trust is without borders. Your picture of what I want to do and who I am is too small. I want to do more, and I want to take you with me. But that means following me beyond the walls that now exist no where but in your mind.”
So, it got me thinking, what are those walls? What have I come to expect that God just won’t do?
I’ve seen and heard stories lately that have blown my mind. Muslims seeing Jesus in their sleep, children who have never even heard Jesus’ name seeing pictures of a man on a cross who is “the man who is going to stop the war”.
But there’s more to be had. There’s guys like Reinhard Bonnke or Daniel Kolenda, both of whom have personally lead literally millions and millions of people become lifelong followers of Jesus throughout the nations of Africa. I don’t have a grid for that! That’s so much beyond the borders of my understanding. Or Heidi Baker, who on a regular basis simply prays, and food for thousands of orphaned kids shows up in pots that were completely empty mere moments before.
These guys are walking with Jesus in places I’ve barely thought possible.
I believe that level of fruit and faith is something He wants to call us all into. So, that means stepping out into places we once thought scary and impossible, and trusting Him to work it out and hold us up.
That’s something that both excites me and freaks me out… But it’s the direction I’m choosing, and I want to invite you into it too.
Come on. Let’s cross the lines we’ve drawn, and change the world.
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