September 16, 2015
Have it Your Way…
Teach me to do Your will, for You are my God; Let Your good Spirit lead me on level ground. Psalm 143:10 NASB
One of the most successful advertising campaigns included the slogan, “Have it your way”, championed by the international fast-food chain, Burger King. It obviously was designed and crafted with the intention of appealing to the innate, personal agenda driven nature which we all possess; the part of each one of us which from infancy, cries out…I want things…I want everything my way! And, if you do not have this propensity, then this blog is definitely not for you! You may quit reading now!
But in all honesty, this is for me. I came to the realization long ago that even when I thought that I had whipped my innate selfishness into some type of pitiful, but improved condition…I found when I became a parent that my personal agenda shifted…and suddenly my own ‘personal slogan’ changed from I want things my way…to I want things my child’s way…for my child’s benefit…for my child’s comfort…for my child’s well-being. And, yes it is true that by God’s design, we as parents are called and assigned to be their advocates…
Advocates…hmmm…An advocate is a person who is a supporter, a promoter, a proponent, a crusader, a defender …a parent! Yes…we are advocates for our children…we are the first line of defense…we are the first protective hedge…we are the warriors on their behalf…fulfilling God’s calling and God’s design to protect, instruct, and to raise up children who choose to enlist…who choose to say…
Have it Your Way…Lord
I remember being a new parent and the challenge of fulfilling the wants, which were actually the needs of my children and desperately praying for the ability to do that. Then, as they grew, I remember praying for the things which, we as their parents wanted for them…to teach them…to give to them…our best.
And, I know about the really tough challenges of moving to the place of realization that their needs and wants are real; my desires, my dreams, my ambitions for them are real also…But the Lord’s plans for them…The Lord’s desires for them…The Lord’s purpose for them…the Lord’s love for them far exceeds anything that I could ever imagine for my precious ones.
The Truth is that the circumstances of our lives and of our children’s lives, even when they are pain-filled, challenging, and seemingly impossible, are tools which God does not orchestrate, but He promises to utilize everything for Kingdom good…and for our good…for our children’s good. The Truth is that He delights in blessing His children…He delights in being the Promise-Keeper…He delights in listening to the prayers of His children…and He absolutely delights in answering the prayers of parents for their children…for His children, according to His Best!
And, I have learned through circumstances, through challenges and difficulties, through seemingly impossible obstacles, through joy-filled moments, through miraculous moments…through answered prayer…that I can always, always, entrust my precious ones, my precious children and my precious grands to the Creator and the Author of life…I can trust them with the One True God…with the Loving Abba Father, and I can confidently trust and pray, “Have it Your Way, Lord!”
The Truth is that Jesus is the First and foremost Advocate for each one of you…and the First and foremost Advocate for your children. And in spite of and in the presence of things which are difficult and challenging for your precious ones as they walk the halls of elementary school, or middle school, or of high school…as they mess up and as they succeed…As you deposit them on the college campus of their choice…as you sit on the front row of their wedding, as you congregate in the hospital waiting for the birth of new grand…As you cry and as you laugh with them…You are able to be absolutely confident in the First and the foremost Advocate, Jesus Christ. And you can boldly pray… “Have it Your Way, Lord!”
“For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. John 6:38
The way that I have chosen to approach my Advocate, Jesus, is to acknowledge that He willingly entrusted His life, His death, His resurrection, His ascension to His Father…He willingly and intentionally chose to live His life according to the purpose and the will of His Father…Because Jesus, being God himself…in the human and flesh condition, knew His Father in a way that I cannot and do not presently understand…But, I trust Him!
And I pray that we His people will choose to entrust the ones whom we love the most, our spouses, our children, and our grands to the care of our loving God… to the model which our Advocate Jesus walked before us…and the model which He calls us to in this moment and the next. His example of trusting and of praying… “Not my will but Your will…Have it Your Way, Father.”
As we love our family members with our best love…
May we be people who boldly pray…
May we be people who boldly trust…
May we be people who boldly say…
“Have it Your Way Lord”…
And that is His Best Love…
Abundant and overflowing joy,
