02.01.2010
  
Michael Fox CPCC,
founder of magine!,
is a professional
coach and trainer,
author and creative artist, whose work has been featured throughout
the world.

Michael is a
Certified Practitioner
of the
Myers-Briggs
Type Indicator.

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Be careful
what you long for...   
What's your most pressing, unfulfilled longing? The one that stands between you and a sense of completion or contentment? The one longing for something or someone either to be embraced or to be eschewed? The one longing that occasionally becomes a demand of God? If you could satisfy that one longing, what would be your expectation? How might you imagine either your circumstances or your disposition would improve? No kidding, name it. What's your most pressing, unfulfilled longing? 

It's quite natural for us to believe that happiness is just one something or someone presently beyond our reach: financial prosperity, health, a new house, a spouse, a new spouse, a child, a different job, or perhaps freedom from a responsibility that holds us in the grip of fear. Much to my disappointment, when I've clung to this belief, I've found that happiness remains just one something or someone presently beyond my reach.

More importantly, however, God finds discontent--to the surprise of many--among the most egregious of our dispositions. But why? Does it seem rather small of a big God to be disappointed by his creation's ingratitude? In fact, when a believer struggles with contentment, he is resisting the wisdom and goodness of God's sovereignty. The prophet Isaiah, biblical master of satire, wrote:

What sorrow awaits those who argue with their Creator. Does a clay pot argue with its maker? Does the clay dispute with the one who shapes it, saying, 'Stop, you're doing it wrong!' Does the pot exclaim, 'How clumsy can you be?' How terrible it would be if a newborn baby said to its father, 'Why was I born?' or if it said to its mother, 'Why did you make me this way?' This is what the Lord says--the Holy One of Israel and your Creator: 'Do you question what I do for my children? Do you give me orders about the work of my hands? I am the one who made the earth and created people to live on it (Isaiah 45:9-12).

And now for the aha!...

Throughout scripture, God's response to the discontented was not punishment, per se; rather, he simply and passively acceded to their desires. Three times in Romans 1, for example, Paul reported that the Greeks, "although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him" (Romans 1:21). As a result, God simply "surrendered them," or "gave them over," to their own desires (Romans 1: 24, 26, 28).

Examples from the Old Testament are many: God surrendered Moses to his desire for Aaron to act as his spokesperson; God surrendered Israel to her fear not to confront the terrors of the land of promise; God surrendered Israel to her desire to have a king like her neighboring nations; and there are others. And in each case, their expectations were disappointed and the wisdom and goodness of God's sovereignty were vindicated.

So, crazy as it may seem, be careful what you long for!


How would you describe your initial "bite" into this learning? What kind of taste did it first leave in your mouth? Did you find it more palatable as you savored its truth?

Can you imagine that your most pressing, unfulfilled longing might be the result of the wisdom and goodness of God? You gotta love him!

Mightn't it be possible to hold on to--but to loosen your grip around--your longing? What might that look like?

How might it affect your spirit if you could escape the bonds of unfulfilled longing and, instead, powerfully choose your current circumstances? Contemplate Paul's testimony in Philippians 4:11-13.

For something fun, Google an article about Aladdin the Greyhound and the Jacksonville Dogtrack in Jacksonville, Florida. (In some reports, the language may cause you to blush!) How might Aladdin's story inform your own?
Michael Fox
m�agine!

530/613.2774
407 Myrtle Drive
Farmerville, LA, USA 71241  
In addition to personal and professional coaching,
m�agine! specializes in spiritual transformation coaching,
employing its proprietary models
--Values, Vision, Voice
and Heart, Soul, Mind & Strength--

as well as
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator� curriculum
published by CPP, the People Development People.

Michael's books include
 
Complete in Christ,
Complete in Christ Spiritual Transformation Workbook,
and Biblio�files.

Coaching fees are based upon a sliding scale. Contact us for details.
For additional information, visit our website at maginethepossibilities.net.

Limited scholarships are available for spiritual transformation coaching.
On the flip side, if you are able, please inquire about opportunities
to fund scholarships for those who cannot afford coaching fees.

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