A Different Approach

Whenever we try to predict that God will act in a certain way, He changes the paradigm to expand our thinking and perception of His possibilities. 

When Jesus became head of His household at the death of Joseph, He led the household in the ways of God with faith. So, He did perform miracles even before He was 30 years old and His ministry started, but as Jesus the man. As the eldest son, he would have taught the household faith, and it’s evident that His faith produced great miracles and that His mother was accustomed to faith miracles. How do we know this? John 2:1-11 tells the story at a wedding celebration. Mary informs Jesus that the wine has run out. Jesus responds, “My hour has not yet come.” His reply indicates that His ministry had not yet started. What is His mother’s response? “His mother said to the servants, ‘Do whatever He tells you to do.’ 

She fully expected that His faith would change the circumstances. Like Mary, we can have an absolute expectation that God will bring change and that the change will be far beyond what we think - in all situations we face. 

God will help us think outside the box. Jesus taught His disciples to be like Him in their expectations of God. They learnt to think outside the box - outside their own limiting thinking.

Can you join up all of these 9 dots with only 4 lines without lifting your pen? (Answer is at the end of the article with the explanation of why it’s significant).

So, how do we cultivate a mind that thinks like God thinks? Isaiah 55:8-9 & 11 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord… my ways are higher than your ways, and my thoughts are higher than your thoughts… The words I say do the same thing. They do not return to me empty. They make the things happen that I want to happen. They succeed in doing what I send them to do.” 

Let’s face it, God knows the beginning from the end. He sees everything, knows the best way for every life, delights in enriching and enlarging the lives of those who love Him and helps them to discover Him anew. Thinking like God means listening to God and responding. It's through meekness… 

Meekness means being responsive and obedient to the heart of God. 

Meekness defined: “expresses that spirit in which we accept His dealings with us without disputing and resisting; and it is closely linked with humility…. because it is only the humble heart which is also the meek, and which does not fight against God.” Unger. So, we yield in meekness because we know God is going to do things so far beyond our thinking. Meek isn’t weak. God called Moses meek, yet he was a great leader ruling with authority. Meek is a softened heart that responds to God. In Exodus 3:3, Moses thinks to himself, “I will go over there and see this strange sight - why the bush does not burn up.” Moses had never seen a bush that burned but did not burn up. It got his attention, and it drew him to God. It also prepared Moses to become what he had been destined to be. But first God had to teach him to think outside the box. So, when Moses is at the Red Sea, out of logical options, he relies on God. And God had an unexpected solution for the Israelite’s problem - He parted the sea to demonstrate His power and allow the people of Israel to cross over to escape the Egyptian army. A faith exercise in thinking differently. 

When Jesus appeared on the water in the middle of the night during a storm, the disciples exclaimed, “It’s a ghost!” They had never seen a man walk on water. This led to a great miracle - Peter walked on water, too. So, when Jesus asked Peter to catch a fish and get the coin from its mouth to pay their taxes, Peter took the quantum faith leap because he had seen Jesus operate like this. He followed Jesus’ example, expecting the same result Jesus would get. 

Each of these new paradigms was a stepping stone of encounter with God so that the individual would experience God in a new way. God uses our journeys to bring amazing things through quantum leaps of faith. We can expect that God will allow us to experience our own leaps of faith. To do this consistently, we need to take care to respond to God just as He instructs. We can ignore God - think with our limited intellect. We can use our skills and abilities to force what we believe should happen, contrary to God’s instructions. Or we can have a different approach that brings great fulfilment. God wants to bring you into a state of living in His blessing, His way. It will require walking in the spiritual dimension, expectant that God will “…do exceedingly, abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to God’s power that works in us.” Ephesians 3:20. Expect God to do things differently. 

Here are two examples of God doing things with a different approach. And in the books recommended earlier are many other amazing accounts of God at work today. 

“Use cabbage and camomile”: This is the case of two serious cooking burns needing urgent, immediate treatment. With the first, we prayed, and it was instantly healed, before our eyes. The other time, God gave an odd instruction, “Put raw cabbage leaves on the burn mixed with camomile.” In neither case was there a scar. Years later, we found that using cabbage and camomile was a little-known treatment for burns! 

“Park there, now! He was a minister accustomed to obeying the voice of God. While driving up a cliffside road, God told him to stop, then park as close to the inner edge as possible – the wrong side of the road! And then, a truck, out of control, came hurtling downhill, sideways, covering both lanes. If he were in the correct lane, he would have been sideswiped and hurled to his death far below. Expect God to do things with a different approach.

Discover more examples of living with a different approach in this book... 'Tales out of Africa: Ordinary People having Extraordinary Encounters with God.' This book is filled with real-life stories of God constantly demonstrating that He’s here with us and ready to show Himself in amazing ways. His presence and power are His calling card, revealing that He’s intimately and lovingly involved in our lives. This is a collection of true-life events that happened to us and others we encountered while ministering across South Africa. On very ordinary days, while just living life, we and others encountered a miraculous God. To read these amazing stories, simply click the button below. Please also use my free resources available to you when you subscribe - just click the button.

Can you join up all of these 9 dots with only 4 lines without lifting your pen?(Answer is at the end of the article with the explanation of why it’s significant).

ANSWER: We are trained to think we have to stay in the box and think that we must follow the lines in a certain way.

Meekness becomes the point of strength because we are being responsive and obedient to the heart of God, knowing He will work through us way above what we can imagine. God works outside the box. 

When we allow God to do this, we become transformers. Our lives will make a difference. So, get ready, responsive and obedient to the heart of God and expect Him to be great and present beyond your wildest dreams.

Explore living outside the box in my book 'Tales out of Africa: Ordinary People having Extraordinary Encounters with God.' Click the button for the adventure and subscribe for more ways to live limitless and empowered.

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