Spiritual Hokey Pokey - 4 Ways To Stop Playing Games With God
/If you were a slightly weird but mostly normal kid like me, at some point you probably sang the Hokey Pokey song and dance. It is somewhat hokey, but a good time when you are 8 years old. If you didn’t get the opportunity to be silly, I’m sorry you missed out. You gather in a circle and follow the lyrics. It goes like this. “You put your left foot in, you put your left foot out, you put your left foot in and you shake it all about! You do the Hokey Pokey and you turn yourself around…that’s what it’s all about.:” By the end of the game, you have gone through all of your body parts. Finally, you put your whole self in the circle and go crazy out of breath from wiggling and laughing. I remember trying to dance to that song on a set of roller-skates at the local rink, and my backside got more than it bargained for. It makes a big difference if you are doing the Hokey Pokey in sneakers or on wheels.
Have you ever played Spiritual Hokey Pokey with God? Maybe you have asked yourself these questions. Why does my life feel like a big spiritual game that seems to work for everyone else but me? Why do I feel like my life is a constantly up and down on spiritual roller-skates and I keep crashing and burning in the same cycles of defeat? Why isn’t my faith doing what it is supposed to do? Here’s 4 ways you can stop playing games with God.
Trade your roller skates for sneakers…
Roller-skates make you go fast but they are not the most stable kind of footwear. Life is a marathon and not a roller skating rink, so it requires different footwear. Life is not a game and there are consequences how you run the race. Get a firm foundation by getting grounded in the Word of God! When you don’t have a firm grasp of what God is really like and what Jesus is all about, you will end up on your backside. God is so merciful to give you His word, His warnings, and show you His way! It will not only guide you to wise choices, but guard you from wasting your life on things that hurt you and grieve Him. Take off the roller-skates of instability, living by emotions, feelings, and anxious thoughts and strap on integrity, steadfastness of spirit, victory, and purpose that can only be found in Christ. His word is sure and can be trusted. What things in your life is God asking you to take off or put on? He wants your feet on a firm foundation.
“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”
MATTHEW 7:24-27
Look around the circle…
It is easy to look around at others doing the same dumb dance, getting the same dumb results and assume that your results will be stellar because you are different, right? At first its a ton of fun, but after awhile you look just like the neighbor next to you and you will get the same results they are getting. You can bet on that. You are who you hang with. Mimicking others behavior is not mirroring the heart of Christ. If you want to lead a victorious, spirit-led walk with Christ then surround yourself with others who are mirroring the heart of Christ and not just pretending. Does your group of girls gossip about others, complain about their husbands, control others with petty mind games, or engage in loose speech and lifestyle? Do you come away feeling filled up and encouraged in your spiritual walk, or do you come away feeling less than? Girl, if you are surrounding yourself with others that are not striving toward the high, holy calling of purity, honesty, or genuineness…honey, get a new circle of sisters! God is calling you out to be the woman that He has designed you to be, not the version of you that your flesh dictates. Don’t know which chics to stick with? One is a constant source of life giving encouragement that points you to higher living, the other won’t. Who are you letting in your circles and why?
“Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm.”
PROVERBS 13:20
Shake it all about…
A good Hokey-Pokey time can be had by all, when you shake like you mean business! But, when God shakes things up?…um… not so much. God is in the business of securing our holiness, not our happiness. God shakes us not only when He needs to get our attention, but to awaken us to the reality of spiritual warfare. God doesn’t play games! He is the LORD over ALL! It is not like He sits in heaven in front of a big chess game, holding His breath while we strategize our next epic move. God will never be outsmarted and He wins every time. Rest assured, He has never lost a battle yet and He never will! That is either a great comfort or a terrifying thought depending on where you stand in your relationship with Him. He has a merciful hand, and yet He is holy, holy, holy. That is part of our hang-up with Him in the first place, isn’t it? We want God to bless us but not mess with us. WE want happy-but He wants Holy. God will use any means necessary to get our undivided attention and refine us. Where is God shaking you? My sweet sister, if God is shaking your right now, lean into Him and hang on tight! Stop the game and sit still to listen carefully. He wants you to hear what He has to say. Get in the Word, get a mentor, seek GODLY counsel. Asking prayer warriors to come alongside while the shaking is happening is vital as well. When God shakes, it is because He is sifting the chaff from your life. Flesh vs spirit gets nasty sometimes, but trust Him. He is able to do the impossible.
"For behold, I am commanding, and I will shake the house of Israel among all nations as grain is shaken in a sieve, but not a kernel will fall to the ground."
Amos 9:9
Put your whole self in…
Most of my spiritual problems are because I hold (big and little) things back from God, how about you? We put one part in and when we don’t like what God is doing, we pull back and blame Him if it gets messy. We want our own control OVER our circumstances but not obedience to Christ IN our circumstances. We want to play HIS game with OUR rules and OUR desired outcome. We get mad at Him when OUR plans aren’t working…And guess what happens when we dance to that tune? Yep, a quick smack to the backside and life gets splattered. Ouch. Life doesn’t work with one foot in and one foot out. Ever. PUT CHRIST FIRST ABOVE ALL!!! God wants ALL of you, especially the messy parts. God is not satisfied with lip-service and lukewarmness. In fact, the more we hold back, the more He will let our backsides get bruised. It’s called surrender to His will and His way…and it is not easy and sometimes it means learning to wait. The LORD wants you to flourish, but your enemy wants you to flounder. What is holding you back from surrendering everything to the Lordship of Jesus Christ?
My sweet girlfriend, hear my heart. Put your whole self in…that’s what it’s all about.
“How blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the LORD. How blessed are those who observe His testimonies, who seek Him with all their heart.”
Psalm 119:1-2
