Welcome to Buoy, a Life in Deeper Water podcast.

Episode 108. Name a Goal God has Given You (originally published Jan 25 2023)

Hello human.

Here’s where I left it in episode 16:  How do I, as Paul puts it in 2 Cor 10:4, use weapons of warfare with divine power to demolish strongholds?  How do I live in the knowledge of God? Sometimes I wish I didn’t ask such big questions. My understanding comes in fragments.

What I am clear on right now is that I have identified my primary stronghold as this:   When I use the gifts and skills God has given me, on my own, motivated by my own reasoning, pride and “pretention that sets itself up against the knowledge of God.”

“The knowledge of God” – which includes everything, and, everything about me. He made me, he knows me infinitely, eternally, he crafted my purpose, and stands behind me like mother grizzly when her cub bravely stands up to stare down the face of a mountain lion.

My stronghold is about self-proclamation. A fortress built with the gifts God gave me to use for His purpose.

It is possible to use something amazing God has given us, for our own purpose. To adapt it, according to human nature seeking power, influence, earthly treasures, rather than illuminating the glory of God through strengthening our spiritual character. Because we are created in His image. As if the illumination of His glory is not enough, because we don’t want to lose ourselves in the process.

We are not by human nature, selfless. There are far more people using God-given gifts for self-proclamation than will acknowledge it. I am not alone in this.

Paul says… the stronghold of our own rebellious making must fall so that we can bring every thought and action into obedience to Christ.

I believe it starts with our own personal conviction, that whatever we have through Him, can only be fully, and divinely used by Him.

From him. Through him. To him. Glory.

Romans 11:36

36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.

To give me gifts (from him), to empower those gifts (through him), and to divinely receive our prayers, worship, praise and adoration (to him).

This has everything to do with his agency in my life. His movement. Paul ends with “Amen,” which is a way of saying ‘rest in this’.

But why do I have to go to war to take every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ?

Paul is telling the Corinthians that what we fight for, and how we fight, matters. We are ultimately fighting for our spiritual nature to be triumphant over our human nature—our inherited selfishness.

And we fight our battles with the knowledge of God. Not with the pretention of it. Pull down every mental or emotional stronghold in your life with the supernatural weapons of warfare God has given you!

Prayer. And His Word. I’ll come back to this.

A Merciful God Goal for Me

In my local connect group we are reading “Renewing the Mind” by Neil T. Anderson.

Anderson makes the distinction, that “a godly goal is any specific orientation that reflects God’s purpose for our lives and that is not dependent on people or circumstances beyond our right or ability to control…. Nobody and nothing can keep us from being the person God wants us to be.” (pg 70)

We were created in His image. God wants us to rely 100% on Him and collect on 100% oof His promises.

When we do that, we are returning a sanctified life back to Him. There is nothing in this world to stop us from doing this.

First, my witness affirmation:

I can accomplish the Great Commission, as instructed by Jesus.

He gives me everything I need to do it. No promise unturned. No deficit of character to bear my witness. He supplies all. I do not save souls. God does, through His son, Jesus Christ.

I meet others at the well. And love them.

God’s merciful goal for me:

• Use my gifts to share my witness, to spiritually grow and sanctify my witness through Him.

• Thus, 99 BUOY episodes. I can do this. He is the only One I need to make this happen.

• And, share my witness with people in my life, past and present: with each episode I reach out to the next group of people I have been connected with in some way in my life. That’s a journey all unto itself.

God puts a goal in your life, a purpose, that he will bring to fruition through his nature, power and love for you. All completely within reach because of the promises he has made to you. Why? Because every promise God has made is true. How he wants to use you is 100% attainable through him.

Prayer and God’s Word Defend His Honor

As you think about a stronghold that you may need to dismantle, I wanted to share some thoughts on my weapons of spiritual warfare – that prepare and guard my heart as I witness. That keep me focused on God’s goal for me.

First, Prayer.

• I pray for the BUOY downloaders, not the number of downloads. I do not need to know who they all are, God does. Pray for Christ’s revelation in the lives of downloaders and followers.

• I pray for who I do personal outreach with. Share how God’s divine persuasion as brought fruit into my life and their role in it—express gratitude, offer support. Pray for Christ’s revelation in their lives.

• I pray for conviction when I jump on a BUOY to share with you. This is, for a lack of a better word, tricky, because I may be struggling with something in my life, in my recent past, and able to explore it with great fervor, make it interesting and entertaining, but if it is not God’s intent, I have not “taken every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.” I am also an overplanner, with an ambitious spirit, and God is often slowing me down. I know this from experience. I am sure of it.

• So how do I know when I have not rested on the conviction of my heart? My words don’t settle. In fact, I go in a thousand directions, detours. I struggle, I hurry. It feels stupid. Really. Like re-arranging night pillows for the tenth time, with no hope of comfort. But I have come to honor how important it is to keep going, and pray—a kind of mental treading water in the peace of knowing that He is taking me to a new place of understanding. I am a first-hand witness of this.

What I am saying to you is, recognize when you are restless, pray, wait and keep seeking guidance.

God has a plan for who BUOY should reach, and which window into my witness is the right one. My part is to listen to Him and speak from what I hear. My part is to grow in my knowledge and love of Him.

When I release an episode, what I am uploading is His love and intent in my life. And to you who listen, His intent for you. I do not know what that is for you, but I do know that God has infused his love for you into the message.

Second, God’s Word.

1 Chronicles 16:11

11 Look to the LORD and his strength; seek his face always.

I am often reminded of how work days ended for part of my career in NYC:  meeting my husband at Grand Central to ride Metro North home at the end of the day. On most days I would be waiting at the gate entrance, scanning the hundreds of people flooding toward me, looking for someone familiar. Not just anyone. Someone I knew. And loved. When I saw him, I knew to turn and high-tail-it to our agreed upon train car, because he was usually cutting it close at a walk-run pace. And he was fast.

There is something so beautiful about seeking the face of someone you know and resting upon it. So I am to look through the crowd rushing at me in this world, and find my Savior’s face. Know him, love him. Seek him.

A Divine Stronghold

Ephesians 6:10

10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.

Be strong in the Lord. He is my stronghold.

And I want to keep this simple in the midst of my overabundance of words. Sharing my journey comes with a lot of consonants, vowels and commas, but right now I want clarity for you and me, so we remember.

Stay focused on:

what is from God

what I am called to do through God

what I give back to God

I think we should memorize the verse I have shared with you in Romans:

Romans 11:36

36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.

I rebel against trust, against waiting, against not knowing what’s next, against spontaneous action, against looking weak, against being imprisoned by a sneak attack from the world’s strongholds.

I rebel against that which I do not yet fully know. The knowledge of God.

But I embrace as best I can that whatever I have through Him, can only be fully, and divinely used by Him.

So I am making God my stronghold, my fortress, within which I can defend the purpose he has designated for my life. All the rebelling of this world does not have the stamina to traverse the steep and righteous terrain to His divine stronghold. It takes prayer and His word to make the climb.

God’s very nature is the only stronghold to defend our reason for being here I am not defending on my behalf, but on behalf of the One.

I am a witness.