I can still see it so clearly—a vision from the Lord. While deep in prayer, I saw a woman scuba-diving beneath the surface of the ocean. She was light and strong. She had everything she needed for the dive and nothing more. The Holy Spirit stirred something in my heart as I saw this scene—sometimes, deeper means less—deeper means taking only what you need.
I began to pray, “Father, strip it all away, anything of excess in my heart, mind, soul, and life. Take it. Trim it. Cut it off. I can’t go to the depths where you’re calling with this excess…”
In that moment, I didn’t know what the excess was, but I thought about that vision. The woman swam with strength and purpose. She had just what she needed for her journey into the depths of the sea. Anything extra would have weighed her down, disabling her. If her tank or gear were too heavy, she wouldn’t be able to move forward – she would sink—she would become frustrated and stuck. Swimming would be impossible if her hands were holding things. Too much weight on her back would limit how far and where she could go.
I want to experience the depths of God and His glory. I want to walk and lead in the authority He has given me, completely surrendered to His will and His ways.
As I’ve continued to think about what God was trying to tell through the vision, He revealed this to me: If I want to go deeper, I must take what He has given me and nothing more. If I take too much, it will weigh me down – I will become stuck and overwhelmed and unable to complete what He’s calling me to do. What could be weighing me down? Unforgiveness, fear, offense, anxiety, doubt, comparison, addiction, and my own feelings are some of the things I’ve personally known to be unhealthy “excess” in my life. The above in varying seasons have kept me from going deeper with God. Why? Because they kept me from walking in obedience with Him. These things stole my peace. They weighed me down. They distracted me.
Reflect for a moment: what are you carrying that could be considered “excess” in your life? Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal the parts of your heart that are hindering you from walking in complete obedience. We’re not meant to walk around burdened and heavy—yes, life will bring about trials (James 1:2-4), but because of Jesus and the victory we have in Him, we have been equipped by the Lord and the Holy Spirit to guide us through anything and everything we may face in our earthly life. This requires us to release complete control to God.
My great friend, Meg, and I were talking about this blog post the other day, and she reminded me of something as we were discussing what I was writing. She said, “When you go underwater and you open your eyes, you can only see just enough—it’s blurry, but not too blurry, so you can still swim and go.”
Going deeper with God means we won’t know everything that’s ahead of us, but we don’t need to know, we just need to go!
Deuteronomy 29:29 says, “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law.”
Romans 11:33 says, "Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!”
Let’s go even deeper as I conclude. The Lord knows what He’s doing—He’s got it. He’s got everything. He’s even got the whole world in His hands. He’ll reveal to us what He wants to, and what He doesn’t, we’ll trust and humble ourselves before Him because He is and always will be our faithful, loving, powerful Father. What I need to do is make sure I’m walking in obedience, even when things are blurry and I can’t see clearly, or far ahead, or at all. Knowing Him more and going deeper in His Presence is worth every blurred-vision, submerged swim. The Holy Spirit paves the way for this, so will you let go of the excess and put on what He’s already provided?
It’s time to jump in and go deeper.
Be blessed, Amy