One backlash

I am currently reading the book 'Experiencing God' by Henry Blackaby and I must admit that I am greatly refreshed by what Henry Blackaby is teaching in this book. He makes a very good point that we need to allow ourselves to be led by the Holy Spirit instead of planning things and allowing our human factor to limit what we can do for God. And I am greatly surprised that God has been speaking to me regarding some of the points in the book recently, although this is the first time I picked up the book.

A sister in church once told me about what Blackaby wrote in this book. This was during one of the sowing seasons. She mentioned that we should pray and see who God is leading us to instead of just planning and focusing on the group of people whom we are supposed to focus on. While I agree with this, I soon realise that what Henry Blackaby says in his book has a secret backlash. That is, believers can use 'waiting on the Spirit' and 'seeking God's will' as an excuse to 'siam' serving God in church. While praying and seeking the LORD is the critical aspect in our endeavour to want to expand the Kingdom of God, we need to realise that God speaks to us in different ways too and sometimes, we are too ready to use the former as an excuse to mask our disinterest in people's lives.

This is very real. Yet, while it marks a dilemma between seeking what God really wants to do and serving as what the church is doing, it can also be a dilemma between 'self-centeredness' and 'God-centeredness'. Yes, we can say that we need to pray, but we need to get down and pray. There is a fundamental difference between saying that we need to pray and praying. There is also the fundamental question whether you follow thru on what God tells you after you pray and God speaks to you.

Aware of these dangers and backlashes, I still cannot readily dismiss what Blackaby is saying. Because he makes biblical sense and I am still trying to understand how all these biblical principles that he talks about apply to my life.