Regarding a Contract
A friend recently said to me: “Casey, you need to make a contract with God.” There was more he said and this statement had a context, but these are the words that I remembered. I do believe his message to me was His message to me… read on. I have thought of what he said, and learned an awesome thing in the process. But something interesting happened just prior to that; I went for a walk on the track, (an abandoned railway line through the country) with the intent of finding a „quiet place‟. As I walked I remember that suddenly a tremendous calm came over me; I put my hand on my heart and remember thinking: “That is the presence of God in my spirit”. I walked on and started meditating on a contract. “Lord I need to make a contract with You. Hmmm, what is a contract?” A contract, I then realized is between 2 parties, each exchanging what they have, which will benefit the other. Simply put: I have something that will benefit God, and He has something that will benefit me. It wasn‟t hard to come up with that which He has that would benefit me… there are so many things that I didn‟t even spend much time on it, but do I have something that would benefit Him? A thought interrupted all. “Casey, what do you want from Him, never mind what will benefit you”… (It is the world‟s way of negotiating… what is the most I can get out of this deal?) I stopped the thought and rebuked myself, reminding myself that it wasn‟t about what I wanted, but what would benefit me. The Spirit, however wouldn‟t leave it at that. He asked me this time, and by so doing, clearly revealed an idol, a priority, a pursuit, a prison or chain, an unrest: “Casey, what do you want from this contract?” My answer was quick, astonishing and seemingly irrelevant. “Financial freedom . . . not riches, just freedom from the uncertainty if there will be enough in the bank to cover costs.” Whoa! I know of a resting place. Many situations, ideas, events, people have been placed there, but here the Spirit made it clear that with all the praying (but doubting) in regards to it (financial freedom) I never let my Lord carry that burden. It has always seemed as if that was one of my own. From here God will lead and teach me, but to continue the thought on the contract . . . Lord what do you want from this contract? The answer was as quick as mine but His was so much gentler, so filled with love and tenderness and sincerity: “ Your heart Casey, just your heart . . . My son, give me thine heart” Proverbs 23:26 In the quiet that followed I asked, Father what do I have, that will benefit You? “I have no hands but yours” “I have no feet but yours” “I have no voice but yours, etc.” “And if I have your heart, I have all that, and My people will we blessed by them”
© Casey Overbeek 2003