His Royal Influence
We often find ourselves in opposition in this life and that is completely normal, but it’s how we deal with the opposition that’s most important.
Attached to our opposition, whatever that may be, are worry, anxiety, and even doubt. I’ve learned over the years that anxiety and worry are nothing but a distraction from seeing what Abba is actually doing in us.
I recently graduated from college in August and have been seeking employment really since before I graduated thinking if I could get a leg up on the competition and maybe nail a job before I actually got out of school. I had an internal expectation that I would get my dream job right out of school and be on my way to a successful career and a life of happiness. Job searching has unknowingly thrusted me into a place worry and striving to help provide for my family, when I should focusing on His whisper.
This has not been the case for me thus far. However, I am starting to see that opposition is simply Abba reordering some things in my personal life. Trusting in the Father is something we don’t need to take lightly. I don’t mean that we should be so serious all of the time, but to simply become so trusting as that of a child.
I was in the car one day praying about my circumstance and found myself just praying the spirit because I had no other words for that moment. After a few moments, I heard the whisper of the Lord, “The thing that empowers you to trust me is the assurance that I, Abba, never change.” We spend so much time wrestling with God about something we don’t understand when we should just be waiting on and listening to Him. It is out of our union with Him that we really hear His voice.
We do not change God. Nor do we move Him. He’s already moving. He never changes who He is based off our situations. To Him, our oppositions are invitations to see from His perspective in Christ. Would you be able to trust in a father who is consistently changing the way he feels about you? Or a father who causes natural disasters? What about a God who convinces someone that they have been a homosexual all along? Of course not! That would go against His nature.
The writer of Hebrews says, “Jesus, the Anointed One, is always the same—yesterday, today, and forever (Heb. 13:8 TPT). I’m starting to see a shift in our thinking of how we see Abba as a result of our opposition. If we see Him as distant, reserved, and stoic, our opposition doesn’t really improve, but if we seen Him as never-changing, omnipresent, and altogether loving, we will see those oppositions turn into beautiful invitations to a table of luxurious feasting upon the lamb who was slain before the foundation of the world!
We spend far too much time worrying about things that Abba knows we already need. Why is that? Perhaps it’s because we don’t see his royal influence on our lives.
In Luke 12:31 from the Mirror Bible, it reads like this: “much rather pursue the extent of his royal influence and witness how all these things are provided by your Father!” To have Abba’s royal influence over our lives is knowing that even though we don’t know where we are going, we know that we are in the palm of His hand. It’s entrusting our life with His royal fatherhood. It’s knowing that He only gives us the best and what brings out the best for us as His sons.
As we pursue the extent of Abba’s royal influence over our lives, we see trust come alive. We see beloved identity come alive. As we face opposition, it doesn’t mean that He’s become more distant, it makes His nearness more evident. This is the beauty of union with God. He’s always there.
Regardless of where the opposition is coming from, we need to learn to walk from a place of trust. And being in union with God does indeed require trust because being in said union with Him doesn’t allow striving or riding solo through life’s swings.
