Make Room For More Of God - Episode 129

You can’t put 2 quarts of figs in a one quart jar.

You can’t make much progress or expect much to happen when there are rocks in the way. God can’t occupy places that are filled by other things. It’s not about Him pouring out more but wanting to heal what’s in the way of you receiving. He’s not mad at you. He wants to heal you. Allow the Lord to move the rocks and fill the spaces they leave behind.

As I thought about what he shared, the Lord spoke to my heart, too.

1. You don’t always know the rocks are there until you hit them.
2. Don’t go looking for all the rocks.
3. Follow Holy Spirit’s lead in removing the rocks God has shown you.

I'd love to connect with you!

• Find community in Healing Generations
•  Learn how God communicates with you in Transformational Quiet Times

Transcript

Figs, Jars, And A Full Life

SPEAKER_00 0:01

You can't put two quarts of figs in a one quart jar. You can't put something in a container that's already full. In church this Sunday, a gentleman shared how while he was digging a trench through his yard, that saying from his upbringing in Texas, you can't put two quarts of figs in a one-quart jar came to mind. Because he was getting frustrated with running into rocks. Like it makes digging harder and sometimes makes you have to make your ditch way wider than you wanted to. But the Lord used it to speak to his heart as he said, you know, you can't put two quarts of figs in a one-quart jar. You can't put more in a container that's already full. And our lives can be like that. If Heri's, you know, trying to dig a trench and he needs to get the rocks out of the way to be able to put the pipe or the wires or whatever he needs to put in the trench. But the rocks have to move. And just spoke to his heart of how our lives can be that way, of where saying, Lord, I want more of you. And the Lord is saying, Well, there's some rocks in the way. There's some things that like I can't fill that space because you've already filled that space with something else. You may have intentionally filled the space, or you may be unintentionally filling the space. It could be filling space with distractions, with busyness, with responsibilities he hasn't asked you to take on. But there also could be rocks that are, you know, bitterness or childish

Rocks In The Trench

SPEAKER_00 1:56

ways of thinking, thoughts or behaviors that are there from hard things that have happened in the past, lies you've believed. And when the Lord shows you those rocks, it's not a condemnation. There's no shame. It's an invitation to healing and to grow to look more like Jesus. God is a good father, so he's not showing you things to condemn you or discourage you. He's showing you, hey, there's some stuff here getting in the way of what you're asking for. Let's deal with it. Let's get it out of the way. God's invitation is for him to do the work and us to allow him to do it. Ours is the surrender and the letting go, and his is the transformation. While we want to look more like Jesus, and we need to get the rocks out of the way to look more like Jesus. God isn't asking you to remove the rock. And he's not asking you to go looking for the rocks. I think David in the Psalms is, you know, create a clean heart in me, search my heart and know me. Like we're giving God permission to bring up the rocks that he wants to bring up. You know, when this man's putting a ditch through his yard, he's not trying to find every rock in his yard. He just needs to deal with the rocks that are in the way of the current project. And God is gracious and deals with us in the same way. We don't need to deal with everything that exists that can be in the way of making us look like Jesus. Just the ones that He's showing us right now. And another thing about rocks is that we don't know they're there until we run into them. They're beneath the surface. And in your life, that might look like

Hidden Rocks Show Up As Reactions

SPEAKER_00 4:08

hearing someone's name and feeling that bristling inside that shows you, like, oh, I just ran into a rock. I have some bitterness or some unforgiveness or something that I need to deal with with this person. It can look like overreacting to something going wrong, whether that's not being able to find your keys or your kid sassing you, or whatever it is, but it's a level three incident and you have a level seven reaction. That's a sign there's a rock there that's hitting on an old wound of disrespect when your kid sasses you, or it's hitting on an old wound of just not being competent and not being worth anything when you can't find your keys. Those overreactions are a good indication that the Lord is like, hey, here's something that doesn't look like Jesus. We could work on this. Can you give it to me? Can you let it go and let me put myself, my spirit, my truth in that place where this other thing has been. And in this process of like, we're asking the Lord to show us where the rocks are. And then we also want to be asking Holy Spirit how to deal with each particular rock. And I don't want that to sound like saying, well, just follow Holy Spirit, like it's some spiritual planitude of like, oh, you just do this. I am well aware and understand that that is like not just another podcast, it's a whole series. It's a lifelong journey of learning to follow Holy Spirit, learning how does he uniquely speak to you? What does his still small voice sound like in your spirit? What other things does he use to speak to you? How do you use scripture to verify

Let Holy Spirit Lead The Process

SPEAKER_00 6:10

and validate whether you are hearing Holy Spirit? First, you learn to listen in the quiet. And as you practice more and more, you learn to listen in the midst of the noise and the chaos. And that all takes time and practice and experience. So I'm not saying, well, just do this like it's nothing. Talking about following the Holy Spirit is something I talk about a lot in practicing and learning those ways that He speaks to you. And how even your emotions are a part of discernment and seeing, are you feeling God's peace even in the midst of a chaotic situation? Or are you feeling intimidation and condemnation? That's a big part of discernment and knowing if you're hearing Holy Spirit, and even being able to distinguish between soul and spirit, because your soul and your spirit don't have the same thoughts and the same emotions. So I understand that that's a whole big thing that I can say in just a few short words. The reason I encourage you to follow Holy Spirit in which rocks need to be removed and how God is saying to help you surrender and be able to give up those rocks is because that's the most peaceful and productive way to go about change and trying to look more like Jesus. I know I am often guilty of seeing, oh, this is something God wants me to do. Now I'm going to go do it. And while God needs my surrender and my cooperation, it's his strength, his holy spirit that enables me to be able to do anything. I have a part, and yet on my own I can do nothing. So God, being the good father and the gentleman that he is, will not force us to do anything, but he invites us to surrender and to do things his way, to let him carry the load. And I want to encourage you that in following Holy Spirit does not mean that you don't get

Surrender Is Your Part

SPEAKER_00 8:50

help from people. You might get help from people that are already a part of your life. You might have wise mentors, say friends that you can share things with that can pray and that can help you practice your discernment, that can support you. And that is amazing. I want that for everybody. That's how the body of Christ should be. And I also know that there are times when you need to hire someone. There are times I've needed to hire someone because all the tools that I have, all of the experience, there are times that you need to hire someone, either because you don't have someone in your circle that has the tools and the experience that you need for your particular situation, or the people in your life that might have those don't have the capacity in the time and mental area to focus on you right now. There is no shame or condemnation in needing help. God made us to need people. Wounds that were created by people often need people involved in the healing process as well. The reason that I do what I do is because I know the value of having someone who is focused on my situation

Getting Help Without Shame

SPEAKER_00 10:24

with an outside perspective. They're not in the middle of my situation, they're not emotionally attached in any way. But because of what the Lord has led them to do and me paying them to do that for me, they're creating a space where they are focused and intentionally praying for me. They are making space for my story and my situation. And they have the tools and the perspective to be able to point me back to the Lord in a way that's not just the spiritual platitude of, well, just give it to God or pray about it, or you know, the things that we say that it's a simple little phrase, but it's really a whole skill set and a whole lifelong study of like, how do I actually do that? So you know that you're doing what God is asking of you to move forward and to look more like Jesus, to receive that healing that the Lord is offering. You can always schedule a complimentary call at the link in the description. Or you can have a conversation to see if we are a good fit to e for each other, to see if I have space for one-on-one clients. At the time of recording, I do, but of course, that's always subject to change. But God wants you healed. He wants you to feel free and confident and peaceful no matter what is going on around you, no matter what the world is doing. That's available to you. And sometimes it's available to you through working with someone like me. Because God doesn't want you to walk it alone, and he doesn't expect you to be able to see everything from your inside perspective. He knows he made us for relationship. And sometimes just the

Healing, Next Steps, And Closing

SPEAKER_00 12:40

reaching out and paying someone to focus on you is part of your healing. I've experienced that myself multiple times. So I just want to encourage you if Holy Spirit is showing you there's any rocks in the way, that you then spend the time listening to him and watching for his direction of what you need to do to be able to surrender and let him take those rocks out of the way. If you feel Holy Spirit nudging, and at the same time you're like, I don't actually understand what you're talking about, that's okay. You can schedule a call for that too. The link is in the description. Your healing heals generations. I'll see you next time.