One More Step (by Cathe Laurie)

“The Lord said to Joshua: ‘See! I have given Jericho into your hand, its king, and the mighty men of valor’” (Joshua 6:2 NKJV).

Following Your Calling

You’ve got a calling on your heart. God’s set a promise in your spirit. He’s told you that it’s coming, that it’s on the horizon, that you have to follow through with what He’s telling you to do.

How exciting! That leap of faith into the unknown doesn’t faze you one bit. After all, you have all the faith in the world that God will do it, and He will do it soon!

. . . And then you wait.

. . . And you wait some more.

And as time passes and you continue to follow what you felt Him calling you to do, you begin to wonder if you heard Him correctly.

After all, shouldn’t that prayer be answered by now? Shouldn’t the breakthrough have happened? Shouldn’t He have delivered you from the grip of the unknown?

Each step begins to feel a little more labored. As the rush of faith adrenaline begins to wear off, you start to feel the aches, pain, and intensity of each movement as you keep putting one foot in front of the other, waiting for the breakthrough and trying to remember that faith that got you started.

I think about the Israelites walking around Jericho. God told them to march around the city for seven days, shout, and then the walls would fall. And when He called them to it, He started with the promise: “See! I have given Jericho into your hand” (Joshua 6:2 NKJV). In His words, it was already done. Should be a sure-fire guarantee!

But I imagine that as the Israelites walked, they may have gotten tired. They may have begun to doubt. Now, imagine if they had given in to those doubts and feelings and given up on day six! Their lack of faith would have stopped them from living in God’s full blessing. They would have been literally steps away from seeing the Lord’s power move.

Moving Through Weariness and Doubt

So what do we do when we’re tired and doubting? You may not like the answer: You keep moving. You keep stepping. You keep putting one foot in front of the other, and you keep your eyes solely locked on Jesus. Even if you can’t see the end result yet (or even a glimpse of hope sometimes), even if it feels like you’re walking in circles . . . you keep going.

You walk past the rejection, the doubt, the questions, and you look only at the Lord who has already laid the path before you. He didn’t call you there by accident. He didn’t give you this task by mistake. He spoke with authority, saying that it’s already done. He has a purpose and a plan for you, and you must see it through!

Remember, we don’t know all that He’s doing behind the scenes. But He gives us enough instruction to know where and how we are meant to move. And if we follow where He leads, He’ll never lead us astray.

Have faith, my friend, and don’t give up! Your breakthrough might be one more step away!

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Cathe Laurie is the founder and director of the Virtue women’s ministry. She is also a featured speaker on The Virtue Podcast, at Harvest events, and the author of As I See It. You can find her weekly articles here on harvest.org.