God resides in the pause, It’s the feeling between knowing something needs to be done and not knowing what needs to be done.
Sometimes we can misconstrue blind faith in God with a lack of vision, because we think that God doing all of the work for us is him guiding us. God made us capable. Capable to learn, have ideas, grow and develop. As we develop in our relationship with him we can learn to trust our instincts more. Our desires are born out of him, so we don’t have to look back every two seconds to say “God is this okay”? The fact that you desire to do it, makes it, okay. He is in you and working through you, so trust the God that lives within you – it’s one of the many benefits of salvation.
(Disclaimer: I am only speaking of desires that directly align with the word of God, obviously not evil, hateful or condemning things done in the name of God.)
God’s design for us is so unique in the way that he made us capable, but also ill-equipped to carry the entire load on our own. If you ever hear someone say, “I’m doing this all on my own”, then whatever it is, may be great and impressive, but STILL has yet to be fully actualized. He designed us so that we will only get so far without him. He designed everyone with a God sized hole for him to fill.
YES!, even that million dollar business you’ve built from the ground up with no help, is probably worth triple with God’s help. Even that amazing marriage with the partner of your dreams, can grow even deeper and loving, with God at the center of it. Even that book you wrote, with the most practical tips, will touch even more lives when you allow God to speak through you about it.
A God idea vs. A good idea
A God idea is one that you couldn’t have conceived on your own, and more importantly you won't be able to execute without him. The idea is often times too large for us to conceive, within the scope of our skill level and confidence.
A good idea is one that is measurable and obtainable within our own right. There is nothing wrong with a good idea, it is favorable by many and in most cases could be very successful. But it will never be enough, you will always desire a God idea, when there is an abundant God living within you. You will always yearn for God to pour you out a blessing that the world can’t contain. So your good ideas will honestly just never satisfy you, because internally you know you were built to do more!
So how do you avoid choosing a good idea and running with it? When you think of it, you then pause and ask God, “Is this a good idea or God idea and wait for an answer. His answers can come in many different forms, sometimes it’s a direct response, sometimes it’s a confirmation from various sources, & sometimes its the things around you that just falls into place to usher you in with ease. Once it’s clear and confirmed there’s no turning back and no amount of obstacles will stop your plan in motion.
Consulting him while carrying it out
The best analogy for me to describe God’s insight is a staircase that you keep walking up but you never see the top. Some of the steps will already be built and some God will tell you to build, even if you’ve never built a staircase in your life. The key is listening to which one he tells you to do. Walk up a step or build a step - he will show you how.
We need to also become comfortable with the “pause”. God resides in the pause, It’s the feeling between knowing something needs to be done and not knowing what needs to be done. Some people will just do things without a direct or clear answer from God and then say, “I believe faith will work it out”. No answer is an answer as well. It could mean not now, or he already has a plan in motion. But, what we do is fill the silence with what we think is the best thing to do. And two things either happen: his plan goes into action and we say “aww I didn’t even have to do (insert task) because this happened instead” or we do it and it interferes with the plan at play and we’re stuck cleaning up the mess, which God also helps us with because he’s merciful.
Blind faith vs. A lack of clarity
Blind faith is faith that has a direction but just an unclear understanding of how it will all manifest. A lot of times when we lack vision, we take shots in the dark, while trying to apply faith, we have no clear direction or even a desired outcome but just believing God to do something. Like Patrice Washington says, “You have to give God something to bless”. And by that I mean believing and asking God for a direction, instead of letting life lead you where it wants you to go resulting in you always being dissatisfied.
If you don’t know the ‘what’, then you’re really asking God for the vision to be clear. I struggled with this for a long time. Prior to clarity, I had a desire, but didn’t really have a “what”. I have always known I wanted to help people, but help them to do what and how? I began to be as specific as I possibly could with my prayers, such as what my help would yield, in other words: what was my ‘why’. Once I had a ‘why’ it made some other things clearer. As a result, I looked at my gifts and I started moving in that direction and other things began to align. Meeting like-minded individuals, developing new ideas, and having divine downloads (as Marshawn Evans would say). All the while, my vision is now becoming clearer and clearer, and my prayers are becoming more and more specific. My time is now more and more focused and doubt becomes less and less present.
God always has the how but you need to have an idea of the what & why and that often times begins with the very things God has gifted you with. Take some time to analyze what comes easy or natural to you. What you like to do, and even what you're afraid to try. There were times when I have pointed my faith in the direction of my fears and like in a video game I had stumbled upon a hidden gem. It can be as simple as saying, God, I like/I’m good at/I want to do this a lot. What do I do with it? Then believe that he will show you.
Here are a few verse references of God’s guidance:
2 Chronicle 18
Psalm 119
Psalm 25
Genesis 31
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