PUT UP OR SHUT UP

Kinda feel like the words to that song, "Nothing Even Matters".....nothing that's been said to me, spoken over me, dreamed, prophesied, none of it matters....except to see God DO IT. As humans we tell each other at some point, (usually the point of being tired of hearing them talking but not seeing them doing what they say), "Talk is cheap". God's words aren't cheap or useless. They created and framed the worlds. But in your life situations, at some point, you simply need to see His words manifested. There comes a time when it simply HAS TO HAPPEN. At some point, He simply has to DO IT.

Before you criticize what I'm saying, even  in your own head, think about the times when you said to yourself, if to nobody else, "I don't want to hear another prophecy, I don't want another 'word' from the Lord, I don't want to see another vision or dream, nobody else 'call me out' and minister to me about nothing. I've heard it all before and it still hasn't happened. Either God's gonna do it or He's not." In essence, you're simply saying to God, "Put up or shut up". 

I honestly don't think God has much of  a problem with that attitude. He loves a good challenge. Does He not challenge us, to challenge Him?  Does He not ask us to prove Him, to put Him to the test, to try Him?  What if it actually excites Him for us to get to this point? What if the real insult to Him is when we pretend to not be afraid or pretend that we are fully trusting without any second guessing of ourselves or Him?  What if we are in the current predicament because HE placed us here on purpose...for this very purpose? To put us in the perfect position, give us front row seating, to SHOW US something. What if the Lover of your Soul and the Love of Your Life is waiting for you to look Him square in the eyes and challenge Him to follow through on a promise, because for all you know and believe, and have known and believed, you're simply at the end of your rope, your strength, your faith, your self. After all, He's the one who has backed you into a corner with no way to get yourself out.  Who, if not Him, will rescue you?  (Don't worry, I'll wait..for the answer to that last question)

So take it either way you want. I know what it feels like to want to say to God, "Put up or shut up".  But as I consider my distant cousin, King David I'm reminded of how even though he cried and complained to God in the Psalms, he always ended with a "YET".  Yet would he trust. Yet would he wait. He believed or reminded himself to believe that God never had and never would allow his enemies to triumph over him. Even when he cried out that his enemies were mocking him and laughing at him, he always ended on the note that God would get the last laugh. Even when I consider my other distant cousin Job, I think I'll just shut up, and put up with whatever God is trying to do in my life, my soul, my spirit and watch Him do whatever it is he's trying to do, and prepare me for whatever He has coming my way. He came for Job's secret fear and it is obvious that He has come for mine.  I remember my tears. I remember what I said to Him in agony. I told Him I wanted to be made over.  I told Him I didn't like myself the way I was.  I told Him I wanted to be everything that I felt deep inside that I was. He told me He could fix me and I said, "Please". He gave me a glimpse of my future without informing me of the pain I'd have to endure to get there.I was in so much pain at the time I couldn't imagine more pain...this pain. I was so excited about my future that I said, "Whatever it takes, it will be worth it". So as my mama said on the day I went into labor, "We in da high cotton now".  No turning back.  I said "Yes" to God and there's no take-backs. 

Yeah I feel kinda like saying to Him, "Talk is cheap. Put up or shut up".  hmph. But guess what?  After all the praising and shouting and singing and weeping, and prophesying, and teaching, and radio hosting, and worship leading, and encouraging I've been doing, He's probably looking at me, while I'm running out of strength and thinking about all I've prayed and cried out and said to Him and maybe, just maybe He's saying to me. "You said you trusted me. You said I was the BOSS. You said I have the last word over your life. You said that I was in total control. You said that I was faithful. And now you're weary?  Now you're scared? Now you want to challenge me? How about YOU PUT UP OR SHUT UP".