God will give us visions of His coming work through our lives! We consider these encounters with God to be a “mountain-top” experience. Recall Exodus and when God speaks to Moses through the burning bush and assigns him his task. However, there is more to this process than experiencing God. Join me as I share insights from various devotionals in how God works in our valleys. Have your journal ready and set some time aside to read these devotionals for yourself. I include various links to make this process easier for you.
Chamber’s Insights
If you read Oswald Chamber’s devotions, he encourages us to consider that God will give us visions but then send us into a “valley” to get us in shape to carry out the purpose/plans of God’s vision. I want to invite you to locate your prayer/spiritual journey journal and make some notes as you read the devotionals below.
Links below:
Devotion #2
Consider. . .
First, recall the account of Moses. Moses fled to the desert after killing an Egyptian for abusing a Hebrew. He spent years (around 40) shepherding in the wild places. I want you to reflect on the truth that God has a purpose for the seasons and times of your life! God is often at work preparing us for His purposes even when it seems like “nothing” is happening.
Second, remember the disciples who ministered with Jesus for three years. It wasn’t until Jesus ascends into heaven and later when Holy Spirit comes upon the believers that they begin to clearly understand Jesus. The Apostle John explains this in chapters 16-17 in Jesus’ prayer for them. John records this prayer for a reason–nothing is in the Gospels by accident! Was God at work even when they fled and hid before His resurrection? Consider the believers who encounter Jesus on the road to Emmaus:
Emmaus Encounter
My point is simple: we will have seasons of uncertainty and waiting in our journeys of faith. Often these times arrive after God reveals something (the mountain top) vision to us about His call and what God intends to do. The valley time follows the mountain top experience.
Living in Reality
We must live in the reality of God’s vision and purpose(s) for us. Moses made excuses but finally submits to God and that’s when the trials and difficulties begin! Chambers encourages us:
We have to learn to live in reliance upon what we saw in the vision, not simply live in ecstatic delight and conscious reflection upon God. This means living the realities of our lives in the light of the vision until the truth of the vision is actually realized in us. Every bit of our training is in that direction. Learn to thank God for making His demands known.
The Vision and Reality, Chambers
The “truth” of the vision becomes realized in our lives as we journey with God! God calls you for a reason and a purpose. What does this this mean? This is an important question for you to consider. Does God call people to accomplish tasks? What biblical examples can you recall that addresses this “call.”?
God calls people into a relationship with Him. It is then through His relationship that He does amazing things that are impossible for any person to do on their own! For example, David deals with the giant through his faith that God will deal with the enemy. Abraham and Sarah (though flawed) keep trusting that God will send them a son. Moses obeys God’s call and leads the Hebrews. God leads, directs, and protects him. The disciples left their old lives/jobs behind to follow Jesus.
Moses reveals God’s grace, holiness, and passionate love for His people. God’s nature is on display as people repent, love others, and serve Him even while suffering great persecution. The key to all of this is that God works through relationship! He seeks out the lost and transforms them into saints who then set forth on journeys of faith!
Valley Difficulties
When we are waiting and walking through the valley experiences of our lives, it will often seem like nothing is happening and we wonder if we even heard the vision part. Chambers reminds us:
When you are brought face to face with a difficult situation and nothing happens externally, you can still know that freedom and release will be given because of your continued concentration on Jesus Christ.
The Place of Ministry, Chambers
The most important action of the valley walk is to stay focused on Christ and what He has revealed to you! Do you ever struggle to stay focused on Christ? All the noise and clamor of the world and people around us can become a serious distraction. That’s why prayer, Bible reading, and meditation are vital to our spiritual journey.
God sends us into valleys to train us to be faithful!
We see His glory on the mountain, but we never live for His glory there. It is in the place of humiliation that we find our true worth to God— that is where our faithfulness is revealed.
The Place of Humiliation, Chambers
The valley is often a place of drudgery and everyday life. God’s ultimate desire for us is for us to be faithful to Him! Being faithful is infinity more important than how many people read my posts, how others’ respond (or fail to), or being perceived as being “successful.” Why is it this way? Chambers explains:
Most of us can do things if we are always at some heroic level of intensity, simply because of the natural selfishness of our own hearts. But God wants us to be at the drab everyday level, where we live in the valley according to our personal relationship with Him.
The Place of Humiliation, Chambers
Most Important Thing: Remain Faithful
We are to remain faithful to Christ! Remember that all ministry flows through relationship. I know that I repeat this truth often. Why? because I have to remind myself of this every day! It’s vital that we consistently reflect and apply God’s Truths as He walks with us daily! This final devotion gives us the purpose:
God gives us a vision, and then He takes us down to the valley to batter us into the shape of that vision. It is in the valley that so many of us give up and faint. Every God-given vision will become real if we will only have patience.
Visions Become Reality, Chambers
Keep pressing ahead in the valley! The best that a person can do is to keep moving ahead and looking to Christ. Recall the words of Paul to the believers at Philippi:
3I thank my God every time I remember you. 4In every prayer for all of you, I always pray with joy, 5because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, 6being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. Philipians 1:3-6 BSB
God will complete His work in you! He is Faithful, Just, Patient, and present when you walk with Him on a journey of faith!
God began a good work in us at salvation and then called us to live out the progressing development of being made into His image. The Christian walk is a pathway of ongoing growth. The journey brings us ever closer to God until His work in us is perfect and complete on “the day of Jesus Christ”—that is, the day of Christ’s return when we see Him (Colossians 3:4; 1 Thessalonians 5:23).
Got Questions “What Does it Mean ‘God Began a Good Work in You” accessed 10/4/23
https://www.gotquestions.org/He-who-began-a-good-work-in-you.html
Words of Grace & Hope 