What do you have in your hand?

For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience; joyously giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light.
Colossians 1: 9-12

What do you have in your hand?

I first learned this lesson from the Lord when I was stranded in Bolivia in 1985. My plane tickets said I had to return to the United States in 2 days with my adopted daughter, but the courts would not give me the necessary documents for us to leave. When I called the airlines to see about rescheduling the tickets, they informed me I would be required to pay an additional $1800 to $2000 to reticket the itinerary for the both of us. When I called my church to ask about a loan till I could get back stateside, they refused. My extended stay was going to significantly add to my expenses, not to mention the new airfare charges and I was all out of money. I was in a panic.

In prayer, I asked the Lord for His help, and all He told my wife and I was, 'What do you have in your hand?' All I had in my hand were the return plane tickets scheduled for the fast approaching weekend.

When our backs are against the wall, when we find ourselves between the proverbial rock and a hard place, our choices narrow. Do we take the easy way, or do we walk in a manner worthy of the Lord? Little did I realize at the time that the Lord was about to use this situation to show me something about Himself I would have to live by many many many more times as we adopted more children. The essence of the lesson: Paul's prayer for the Colossians was not to ask for what they didn't have, but pray that they would be filled with everything that they did have: God Himself and the inheritance He gives us. I knew I had the calling and direction from the Lord to do what I was there to do. I knew the Lord wanted me to walk forward asking Him for whatever I needed. And I knew I had two plane tickets I could not use. Yet!

This is not a lesson solely about the Lord's provision. To be sure many people do not embrace the Lord's direction and work because they feel they do not have in hand what they think they will need. In Luke 10, Jesus sends the seventy out to prepare the way for Him instructing them not to take any provision for the journey. And they return rejoicing at the wondrous things that happened and the authority He had given them to act in His name.

But in my situation, things didn't get better. More than a week after I was supposed to have returned home we were still battling with the child protective agency and the courts to gain their approvals. They were continuing to ignore me or give me the necessary documents. Finally in near complete exasperation I returned to my room one afternoon and shouted at God in anger. Why had you [God] sent me on this mission of futility? Why had you [God] lead me to adopt this child and then now not give us the needed help in our time of trouble? Why Lord?!!? As I cried in anger and desperation in my room that afternoon, the Lord came to me and He comforted me. And He told me that it wasn't my work, but His work. He would take care of all that concerned me in His time.

True Christian growth comes by living in the reality of what I do have! I had become intent on finishing this adoption successfully so I could return home triumphantly. But I had completely forgotten that it WAS the Lord's work. And I was the Lords! It didn't matter that my plans were frustrated. It only mattered that I walk in Him, pleasing to Him, joyously giving thanks to Him. That afternoon changed everything. For the first time in my life, I knew I was HIS - though I had been a Christian for more than 2 decades at that point. I left my room that afternoon knowing that God loved me!

What did I have in my hand? Christ had given me an inheritance that filled me with 'spiritual wisdom and understanding' so that I could walk in a manner worthy of my Lord.

And my situation changed as well. That very afternoon when I returned to the courts, they gave me instructions to come back the next day (after ignoring me for over 2 weeks) and they would give me the necessary documents. A week later, after seeing many more miracles and obtaining all other agency documents, my daughter and I arrived at the airport. The check-in agent commented that our tickets were for two weeks prior, so she called her supervisor over who gave her the approval for us to use the tickets that day.

What do we have in our hands? If we are the Lords, we have Him! He is our portion! He is our inheritance! And lest we ever forget, He loves you and me and shows us that in our darkest hour.

When we "walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects," we walk in true freedom to give all that we have because in Christ Jesus we already have everything we need!