No More Blindfolds

Proverbs 3 : 5 Trust, cling to and rely on the LORD with all that is within you; and do not rely on your own inner discernment. (GBMV)

“Ouch! What was that?” A sharp pain went through my body from head to toe. I removed the blindfold from my eyes and with blurred vision I saw a big tree in front of me. Tears ran down my face. I felt hurt. My head was spinning and sore. But what had hurt me even more was to look at their faces and hearing them laughing at me. I was disappointed in them for letting me walk into the tree. They did it on purpose and misused my trust.

I threw away the blindfold and ran away from the laughing group. With the wind in my hair and the warm teardrops running down my cheeks, I run away from the scene. Not looking back, not wanting to hear their laughter. I just wanted to be alone. From that day on I hated this game with a passion.

I am sure you and I could share many experiences where people in the past have let you down. Some of them are hard to remember or seem long forgotten in your memory, until…yes, until you find yourself in a similar situation as back there. Immediately your gut feeling kicks in, and your emotions take over.

Being with God in business you are sometimes faced with this exact situation.

There are times where it seems you are the blindfolded one and God is leading you along giving you directions. Well, I know this is quite an obvious case if you are following God you very much have to trust Him and His leading. But I am sure you get the point and know what I mean.

Sometimes you cannot really see where He is leading you. There are times where it might even feel like He is leading you down a different path, that doesn’t make any sense to you. I have experienced times, where I knew this was the way He wanted me to go, but then all of a sudden the journey took on a whole new direction and I felt lost and sometimes even confused about the sudden change. I felt as though I was back there again, in my childhood, having to trust Him blindfolded.

You might say

“Hey, it is easy to trust the Lord. He will not hurt you, or let you walk into any obstacles. I don’t have a problem trusting Him at all.”

Do you really? Even though I agree with you, stop here and think about it again. Do you really trust Him like that? Do you allow Him to lead you wherever He wants you to be led?

What if God wants you to try something new that you have never done before? A way of doing business that is different to what other businesses are doing out there? Perhaps a different approach in the way you market your products? Or a special service that you offer to your new customers?

What if He tells you,

“Go, give your business to someone else and let him or her take over from you. Then go and start something new!” Do you trust Him that He knows what He is doing?

Imagine anything that feels uncomfortable for you right now. Perhaps you are even in such a situation right now and you do not have to look far for an example. If you are human, and also honest with yourself here, you might agree that your tendency is to argue with the Lord first before you’ll follow Him blindly.

I know, I know…I wish it wasn’t the truth, but I am honest with you; there are times where I argue with the Lord. And that does not mean I am just stubborn.

You quickly tell Him why it won’t work or why you can’t do it this way. Perhaps you are challenged by it and think

“Not again. You know how hard it was to get going in the first place, and now you want me to just hand over and start all over again?”

Your emotions are going wild and you feel like on a rollercoaster.

You want to trust the Lord with all your heart, but there is this question popping up inside of you “why me Lord, can’t someone else do that?”

All the pictures of the past come back. All the memories, the hurts and the feeling of guilt and shame. What if it doesn’t work out and everyone else thinks that’s the most ridiculous idea? What if you fail again?

Your own gut feeling is telling you something different than what the Lord told you. You would like to trust Him but you find it hard and are overwhelmed by your feelings inside.

Solomon challenges us with this Scripture to move beyond our gut feelings and to take a step in faith. He does not say, after considering and liking the new idea you shall trust.

It’s more like a command. Like if God says “Jump” you jump the very next second, no “yes, but’s…” or “what if’s”. Just jump.

But you see you are afraid to jump, in case something goes wrong. You do not like to take risks. Some of us do, and we jump ahead before we got the command and fall flat on our faces, but this is not what I am talking about here.

We all have some templates and habits that we build up over the years. A certain way, in which we react to our circumstances. Many of those have been formed through the experiences that we faced in life. Some of them are good, and many of them are bad. Many of those things stand in your way and control you. It controls your feelings and controls the way you think.

And when you face a certain situation, your memory gets triggered off and you find yourself overwhelmed by these emotions and feelings in your gut. So instead of saying “Yes Lord, I trust you and I will jump” you are tempted to call the idea off and to hide in a secret place.

If you feel this way, don’t worry because you are not alone. Everyone has some of those experiences and formed some negative templates along the road.

There is Good News
The good news is though that you can overcome it. It might not always be easy, but it can be done.

I want you to know that the Lord wants to bless you with the best that He has to offer, and bring you and your business to a higher place. So if He challenges you with something new, know that this is like a promotion of Him.

It is not to make you fail, but to give you an opportunity to rise up higher and to reach a new level.

He does not want you to fail. He has no joy in seeing you walking into obstacles and He does not get a kick out of it by leading you astray. He doesn’t do that. It is not His nature and this is not like Him at all. However, the enemy will try to lie to you and to hold you back from all the blessing that the Lord has in store for you.

Satan will try to put doubts in your mind, and to speak lies into your mind. Especially if there was a negative experience that you faced along the way. He will try to remind you about your failing and put a guilt trip on you to keep you in bondage.

So mixed with the emotions in our gut and the attacks of the enemy it might seem almost impossible for us to trust the Lord and to move in faith. But He made a way for us out of that.

Change the Pictures in Your Mind
It is a fact that you cannot change the way you feel by making a choice against your feelings. If you are afraid of trying again and you fear you will fail again, then there might be a deeper issue that needs to be addressed.

However, you need to see yourself in a new picture. You need to see the situation in a new light. You need to speak the truth into those hidden places and hidden memories.

The truth is that you are more than a conqueror. And that with God you can jump over a wall. You need to build faith, and change the pictures in your mind with the pictures that God has of you.

In His eyes you are no failure. In His eyes you are destined to win! You can do all things through Christ Jesus. ALL THINGS, not just some things, but ALL things.

Do not listen to the feeling in your gut, it can deceive you and hold you back. Ask the Lord to reveal to you the way He sees you. Let Him show you His pictures. Take God’s Word and confess those scriptures and picture them as you. See yourself getting these new ideas and succeeding with them.

See yourself handing over the business and starting a new one that will be even more successful than the old one.

Whatever it is, let go of pictures of the past and replace them with new pictures. If you feel like you can’t break though a situation of the past, invite Jesus into that memory and ask Him to show you that you weren’t alone.

See Him there with you, and listen to what He is saying to you. He will say that you haven’t failed. If you have failed, He will say that He forgives you and that He does not condemn you. He will tell you that He trusts you to try again. He knows that you can do it, He believes in you that you can rise up and run with it.

His thoughts towards you are good ones, thoughts of peace and of a bright future. As you look at the truth and the right pictures, faith will rise up in you again.

Put behind you those memories of the past. Let Him heal you from all those failures and fears of the past. Do not rely on your own understanding and your own discernment. But know that He knows what is best for you and that His ways are always good ways and ways that lead to much blessing.

Cling unto Him and trust Him with your whole heart. And then when He asks you to jump, jump whole heartedly, knowing that you and your business are going to expand in great measure.

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