WHAT WILL YOU DO WHEN GOD CHALLENGES YOUR BELIEFS?

What do you do when God challenges your beliefs? When God asks you to step into the unfamiliar and embrace the new, what will you do? Will you listen to Him or opt to stay in the familiar and safe? God always has greater for you. Every time you step in obedience, He will take you on an uncomfortable but rewarding path in the end. Has God been nudging you to embrace the new? Maybe He has been nudging you to do something that you feel unqualified and unskilled for. Or maybe He is sending you into a sphere that most people would run away from. How do you respond? To clarify, God will never contradict His character and His word. So whatever He asks you to do will not be evil or sinful.

Let us look at someone in the Bible who God challenged their beliefs.

In the book of Acts 10, Peter had a vision while he was praying and waiting for food, as he was hungry. In the vision, he saw a sheet coming down carrying animals considered unclean. Then a voice spoke and told him to kill and eat the animals. Peter spoke and said that he would not do so as he could not let an unclean animal touch his mouth. The same voice spoke again and told him not to call anything unclean that God had made clean. Peter, a Jew, knew that God in the book Leviticus had commanded them not to eat any unclean animals.

So obviously Peter was perplexed. Obviously, God was not talking about food in this vision but was talking about the Gentiles. God wanted Peter to know that it was okay for him to enter a Gentiles home. Prior to that, they could not enter a gentile home. Jesus had given the disciples the mandate to preach the Good News to the ends of the world. And thus God had to let the Jews know it was okay for them to interact with the Gentiles. How else would the message get to them?

Peter’s Vision

⁹ About noon the following day as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray. ¹⁰ He became hungry and wanted something to eat, and while the meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance. ¹¹ He saw heaven opened and something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners. ¹² It contained all kinds of four-footed animals, as well as reptiles and birds. ¹³ Then a voice told him, “Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.”

¹⁴ “Surely not, Lord!” Peter replied. “I have never eaten anything impure or unclean.” ¹⁵ The voice spoke to him a second time, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.” ¹⁶ This happened three times, and immediately the sheet was taken back to heaven. ¹⁷ While Peter was wondering about the meaning of the vision, the men sent by Cornelius found out where Simon’s house was and stopped at the gate. ¹⁸ They called out, asking if Simon who was known as Peter was staying there.

¹⁹ While Peter was still thinking about the vision, the Spirit said to him, “Simon, three^[a] men are looking for you. ²⁰ So get up and go downstairs. Do not hesitate to go with them, for I have sent them.” ²¹ Peter went down and said to the men, “I’m the one you’re looking for. Why have you come? ²² The men replied, “We have come from Cornelius the centurion. He is a righteous and God-fearing man, who is respected by all the Jewish people. A holy angel told him to ask you to come to his house so that he could hear what you have to say.” ²³ Then Peter invited the men into the house to be his guests

What do you do when God challenges your beliefs?

Peter was experiencing a shift in His knowledge of Jesus. He realized that there were depths to Christianity. And he had to be flexible if he wanted God to use him at all. So let me ask you this, are you flexible? Can God trust you to move at a moment’s notice? Are you able to make room for the new? So how do you do that?

When God challenges your beliefs, Make room for the new

Let go of the old. Just like we experience different weather seasons, we have different seasons in our lives too. There are ways we carry ourselves in the wilderness that we cannot in the promised land but we have to know our seasons for us to move in the way God wants us to. When God challenges your beliefs it is vital to renew and rewire your mind. Your current mindset cannot take you to the next level. There are territories that God wants you to take over. In order for you to be effective and have victory, your mindset and thinking have to align with where God wants to take you. No wonder He says in His Word, it is wrong to pour new wine into an old wineskin. The effect is that the old wineskin will not handle the new wine.

There are instructions that God can give us when we are going through a wilderness season that will not apply when we are in our promised land. Are you able to discern that? When you are in the wilderness the focus is on surviving but in the promised land the focus should be advancing and thriving. What old systems do you need to get rid of? If you want God to elevate you and take you to the next level, you will have to shift your mindset and elevate your thinking.

• What are some beliefs hindering you from moving forward?
• Maybe God is calling you to start a business in an area you have no knowledge of,
• or maybe He is calling you to move to a new city or country entirely, will you follow his lead?
• Is He asking you to let go of an attitude you have had that can’t be applied where you are going?
• A new level requires a new you and if you want to step into all that God has for you, it is time to get rid of all that He wants you to. Make room for the new by getting rid of the stuff that is no longer serving you. There are some people, places, and opportunities that we have to let go of if we want to move to the next one that God has for us.

Discern the season you are in.

The best way to discern our season is by asking God, He tells us that when we ask He will answer so you can start by asking. Another way to identify the season you are in is by recognizing the shifts around you. There is a way you need to posture yourself when God is shifting you.

• Do you feel like it is time for a change?
• Are you uncomfortable where you are?
• Are you dissatisfied?

All these could be a sign that there is a shift in your life. Sometimes it could be that the things that worked before don’t now. If suddenly the ease you had of doing things is not there, maybe God is telling you it is time for a shift. Whenever you are experiencing a shift, it is God’s way of telling you to move to the new. Sometimes God will shake your comfort zone to get you to move if He perceives you do not want to move. God shakes the ground to embrace the new. Having discernment is key as it will help you know what God is doing in your life and where He is taking you.

The Holy Spirit can give you the gift of discernment if you ask Him. He will equip you with the knowledge to know what God is doing. After all, the Bible tells us that God will do nothing until He first reveals to His prophets. There is no need for you to try to figure it out on your own. Ask the Holy Spirit and He will reveal to you. The importance of discerning the season you are in is that you will be in tune with what God is doing. This means you will not miss Him when He is doing a new thing. And it will be easier for you to embrace change.

Be flexible

God might call you to do something that no one in your family has ever done. He could call you to do something you’ve never done before or even take you through an unorthodox way. But just because no one has done it before does not mean it cannot be done. God is the God of the impossible and He makes ways where there is no way. Not only that, He will equip you if He has called you. Obviously, you have to know His voice because the truth is that He will never contradict His word or His Character! So do not be quick to discredit something because you lack the exposure. Allow God to lead you in the direction He wants to and be flexible as He leads you.

Flexibility requires trust, and the only way you can do that is by actually knowing who God is. Know God for yourself. The good news is that because of the finished works of the cross, we now live in a new covenant where because we have the Holy Spirit we can know God for ourselves. The Holy Spirit is our teacher, and He teaches us everything we need to know when we need to. So you do not have to go and ask your leader to let you know what God is saying. You can simply ask Him and He will give you an answer.

Having a relationship with God boils down to spending time with Him. And prayer, worship, reading the Bible, silence and stillness are all ways you can spend time with Him. Being receptive and open to hear from Him is the ultimate key.

Read also: How to Change your story as a Christian millennial.

Cultivate a relationship with the Holy Spirit

For you to recognize your season, you need to have a relationship with the Holy Spirit as He will be the one to reveal to you when it is time to shift. Because Peter had a relationship with God, He was able to follow God’s leading when God told him to go. Do you have a relationship with the Holy Spirit? Can you discern His voice? The truth is that He is always speaking to you, but it is so easy to miss Him because we do not know when He is speaking. For you to know His voice, you need to spend time with Him. Peter was praying, as that was his norm when God gave him that vision and so he was sensitive to the voice of the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit can speak to you anytime. All you need is to be open to hear Him speak. Today I encourage you to make room for the Holy Spirit. And if you want to learn more about the Holy Spirit check out my blog post on the role of the Holy Spirit in your life. It will bless you.

• 5 Practical Keys When Setting A Vision For The Year 2023.
• 3 UNIQUE KEYS FOR WHEN GOD IS SHIFTING YOU!
• HOW TO DISCERN THE SEASON YOU ARE IN.
• When God’s Promises Over Your Life Get Tested
• These 5 Unique Signs Prove Your Dream is From God.

Conclusion

Jesus always has greater for you and me and it is up to us to follow His leading and say yes. Just because you lack exposure to something, does not give you room to discredit it. Stop limiting God in your life and allow Him to make ways and create opportunities for you that you do not know. He wants to show you the mysteries and solutions you can establish here on earth, but will you say yes? We often pray the Lord’s prayer and ask God to let His kingdom come here on earth as in heaven. But for Him to do so, He needs us to partner with Him. So again, will you give Him your yes? He is always waiting! Do not be afraid when God challenges your beliefs. He wants to take you to greater heights, and that is why He is challenging them.

He does not want to elevate you when you are holding on to unnecessary baggage. God wants you to experience the freedom that Jesus so freely gave you. Be open to the ways He is leading you. And remember God will never contradict His character or His word. But at the same time, He is always doing a new thing. Don’t stay stuck in the old thing because you have never seen it done before. Partner with God today.