Kingdom At Work
Have you ever thought it’d be easier if God could just send you a bulleted list of what your next steps should be? Cal Zant, Betenbough Homes president, unpacks the topic of “Clarity vs. Trust” in January’s Kingdom at Work Webinar. You can watch the full webinar here.
The product of clarity is a decision and the product of trust is a relationship. So, we challenge you to ask God for trust instead of clarity and faith instead of certainty.
Below are questions from the Q&A portion of the webinar that Cal wasn’t able to answer because of time.
Q: God’s guidance can often seem counter-intuitive, correct?
A: Absolutely! I’d say the overwhelming majority of the time, what God leads us to seems counter-intuitive! However, there are occasionally times that God might lead you to what you were initially thinking or down a traditional path, so it’s not always counter-intuitive. That’s why it’s so important to ask Him and not assume you know what God would want you to do.
Q: When starting out in trust, what is the No. 1 way a person can exercise their trust muscle with the Lord?
A: Well, I’m not sure I know of any tips, tricks, or shortcuts here. The only way I know how to practice is to start taking risks in trusting Him. If hearing from God is new to you, that is actually a learned skill that gets better with practice. Often, it’s best to identify people who you know who hear from God and ask them if they’d be a safe place for you to start trying that out. When I started at Betenbough in 2006, I didn’t believe God talked to people – so I learned all of it here, and that is how I started. The people who were a “safe place” for me were Andy and Kathryn Miller, and Rick Betenbough. When I felt like I had an impression that might be from God, I’d try my best to explain that to them, and they’d ask me good questions or join me in prayer to see if that was from God or if I got my wires crossed.
But in my experience, most people don’t have a hearing problem – we have an obedience problem. Often, we know in our hearts what God is leading us to do, but it feels crazy or makes us highly uncomfortable. We often can’t say we know it with 100% certainty (more like 50-90%), so we use that as an excuse to explain it away or ignore it. If we can’t justify something or explain it, we don’t do it – but that isn’t obedience. Obeying and following through on God’s prompting is the part that takes faith and courage. There is ALWAYS a risk in stepping out and applying our faith!
Q: Have you had moments where you felt like you didn’t have the very next step and how did you proceed?
A: Absolutely! That might be more common than me knowing what the next step should be! I’d bet at any point over the past 5 years if you pulled me aside and asked, “Hey, are you waiting for God to tell you the next step on anything?” My answer would have ALWAYS been yes. I’m actively waiting today for the next step on at least 3 big things for our company. That is how you know it isn’t conjuring! God isn’t a magic 8-ball that gives you the answer whenever you shake him. You can’t force the answer. I can say from experience that waiting on God can be extremely frustrating at times. If someone tells you it isn’t, then you better watch them because they’ll lie about other things, too!
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