which chair are you?

i want to share something that God is teaching me...last night i went to something called Family Fellowship and it is this great group of people just seeking God and sharing what He is teaching and doing and just some prayer time and its a really beautiful picture of the body of Christ. anyways...Gods timing is so crazy. this week He has been putting in my head what the difference is between living a life LED by Him and living a life FOR Him. and just figuring that out and that is exactly what we ended up talking about last night. and someone talked about this "three chair analogy". and basically its like chair 3 is living a life where you "dont need God". and chair 2 is living a life where you are trying to live for God. you do things and ask for God's help with it. you try to do things because you think it will bring you closer to Him. God is co-pilot, not the driver. and chair 1 is living a life where everything you do is from God. its God working through you. its realizing that all we can do for God is to hold onto nothing so that He has control over everything.
cool, huh? which chair are you? do you stay in one? or do you switch around?
i LOVE that picture. it really helped me get a clearer idea of what it means to let God take over. and one of the girls there talked about the Israelites and how they didnt necessarily make a decision to be radical and live chair 1 and let God use them in huge ways...but God called them out of captivity, He saved them, He sent a pillar of fire, He parted the Red Sea for them, He provided manna for them to eat in the desert...We look at that and were like WOW...what provision from God??? thats amazing! but they didnt think that, they complained. they said "bread, God?, really? we're supposed to have milk and honey!" and we dont understand that reaction but think about it...and this is the revelation God gave me last night...why wouldnt they react that way? from the world's perspective - manna is not that great. i mean, in our minds God should be providing the richest food available...i mean He's God, and these are His people. He took them out of captivity to live in the desert? so they were disappointed. they felt abandoned. because they were looking for God to do what THEY wanted. they were looking to do something and God help them...chair 2. they LIVED chair 1, but when the time came, their mindset was chair 2.
now here is the question...WHAT IF instead of doing things and expecting God to show up in the way we ask Him to...we wake up in the morning and ask HIM what He wants? what if we lived every day asking and paying attention to what HE is saying and doing? and then - ACT accordingly to that? what if the israelites had stopped to be amazed at all God had done? and stopped to be amazed that there was BREAD in the DESERT falling from the SKY??? and then ask God to lead them, to teach them, and do with them what He had in mind instead of taking the promise of the promised land and just expecting God to get them there on their terms. what if? in deut 8 - God says that they were in the desert for so long to humble them, to allow them to be tested...so in all reality - even if they had looked to Him, they would have still been in the desert for 40 years...but maybe they could have been strengthened, and learned, and seen their faithful God reveal Himself, instead of just complaining.
so chair 1 is not the absence of hardship - but the difference between wandering the desert looking for a way out, and asking God why you are in the desert and what He wants to teach you and use you for while your there, all the while trusting that He will lead you out when the time is right.
how would OUR lives look if we were in a place where we constantly asked God to lead us and reveal Himself...and then sat back and watched Him work and fulfill His promises? instead of doing things for Him, and just assuming that its exactly what He wants? dont get me wrong...doing good things for God is not bad. its not. but we were meant to live in sync with His Spirit at all times. that is how He teaches us. that is how we know what His heart is. and i cant even explain the feeling when our spirit FINALLY clicks with His. its like our spirit freaks out and is like - there, thats it! thats what i needed...NOW we can live. we were never meant to do all the work and ask him for help now and then. We are solely tools. He will lead...He will do...we dont have to make Him look good, He can do that. its not OUR job to do His work. Our job is to submit, let Him take over, hold onto nothing...and then listen for what HE wants to do...and here's the tough part...then LET HIM DO IT through us.
but its so good. while chair 1 sounds like the scariest, craziest place...its actually the SAFEST place for us because its where we were created for. we were created to be 100% in sync with the Holy Spirit...its where He is in control.
so just pray that He will show you how to live in chair 1. be prepared...while its the safest place that doesnt mean it will be easy. you might be in for some CRAZY hard and unexpected things...the Israelites went through some crazy things...but its where God is in control. He doesnt mess up. He doesnt lose track or forget. He just is. always.
so these revelations just overwhelmed me last night and i just pray that you will let God speak these words to you.