In Our Comfort Zone

In Your Comfort Zone

“The most dangerous place for a Christian to be is in your own comfort zone. We need to trust God enough to allow Him to lead us out of it.” - Peter Barnes

Perhaps one of the cleverest manoeuvres by Satan has been to get the church, and most of her members, into a place of great comfort. Leaders are comfortable with their own performance. People are comfortable with their life style and values. Everyone is comfortable with the status quo and has no wish to change it. Everyone is comfortable with their present faith and worship levels because it no longer requires too much effort.

We are all in our comfort zone, but I don’t think God is very comfortable with any of this.

We say we are desperate for revival, yet we are comfortable where we are. We say we will repent and follow the Lord, yet it only lasts a short while before we lapse back into our old ways. Why is this I wonder? Possibly because, when we try to follow and obey His leading, we tend to step outside our comfort zone. Doing this makes us feel very insecure. This is when our trust in our Father God is put to the test.

When trust fails, we step back to where we are most comfortable. When this happens the enemy attacks again and takes more ground from us. This is why it is dangerous to be and stay in our comfort zone. Comfort breeds relaxation, breeds a lowered guard, breeds an open door for the enemy. We must maintain our vigilance or we must step out of our comfort zone more – preferably both.

The act of removing yourself from any place of comfort is always undertaken with a certain amount of caution. So we pray about whether or not to do it at all. Then we pray about when and how to do it. Then we pray for God’s protection . . . . . and so on. Do you get my drift? Any stepping into something new is always, or should always, be covered by prayer, prayer and more prayer. It may even be advisable to get pastoral approval beforehand – in which case you will have even more prayer covering you.

Thus, it will be very difficult for the enemy to find a hole in your armour and so it will be equally difficult for him to throw blockages or distractions across your path. This is when it becomes so very dangerous to be and to remain in our comfort zone.

I know that staying in your comfort zone is, well, comfortable, but God will never take you so far out of that zone that you cannot handle it. He expects you to call on Him for help and He readily gives you all the help you need. Actually, living life outside the comfort zone can be exciting, stimulating, fulfilling, and ultimately very fruitful for God’s Kingdom.

Staying in the zone is none of these – that again is why it is such a dangerous place to be.