See
then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming
the time, because the days are evil. Wherefore be
ye not unwise,
but understanding what the will of the Lord is.
Ephesians 5:15-17
No matter where you are in your walk, lets focus
on remaining or beginning to be encouraged in God to run this race as a good soldier.
Remember David, after returning home from a battle, King
David and his soldiers encountered a horrific scene; their campsite had been
burned and all the women (including their wives) and children had been
taken. King David could have easily
become discouraged but instead he encouraged himself in God.
And David was
greatly distressed; for the people spake of stoning him, because the soul of
all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters: but
David encouraged himself in the Lord his God. 1 Samuel 30:6
I’d like to encourage everyone today, no matter
where you are in you walk with God to keep your mind focused on God, in perfect
peace; allowing Him to quiet the storms in our lives and refresh our spirits as
we continue to consecrate and draw nearer to Him and to do the things of God;
even as we continue to focus on our purpose in God.
Apostle Paul encouraged the body of Christ in Philippi to:
Apostle Paul encouraged the body of Christ in Philippi to:
v know Jesus and to experience the power of his resurrection and to share in his sufferings and become like him in his death,
v forget what is behind and do your best to reach what is ahead.
That I may know him, and the
power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made
conformable unto his death; If by any
means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. Not as though I had already attained, either
were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for
which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.
Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I
do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those
things which are before, I press
toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Philippians
3:10-14
Lets focus on verse 13; forget those things which are behind
you and focus on those things ahead of You.
With this mindset, we come to know
that there is peace for our soul that comes directly from above and the world
can’t take it away! That peace is Jesus,
let Jesus be the lover of your soul.
And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding,
shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Philippians
4:7
In Him we can find a place where our soul can be at rest and
the peace of God will flood our soul and keep us at ease and blessed.
We don't have to live a dejected, depressed, oppressed or
overcomed life, Jesus said this:
The thief cometh not, but for to steal , and to kill ,
and to destroy : I am come that they might have life, and that they might have
it more abundantly. John
10:10
In Romans, Apostle Paul lets us know that all things work
together for the good of them that love the Lord and are called according to
His purpose. Note that all things work
together for THE good; not necessarily what we might call our good but for the
good thing that God has purposed in our life according to HIS will. This lets me know that sometimes God will
allow things in our life that will bring us to the purpose that He has designed
for our life. Consider Joseph who was
enslaved in Egypt! It seemed like a bad
thing, a horrible thing. But look how that
worked out. Joseph was able to save not
only his family but the all the children (his family) of Israel. And on top of that He was blessed of God
beyond his wildest imagination. That’s a
perfect example of how God will work things out for the good so that the glory
goes to Him, but we’re blessed in the process.
So, it may not always feel good, it may not always look good, it may be
painful in the process and you may think you will never see the light of day
again, but what we don't see while we are going through difficult times is God
working behind the scene orchestrating things on our behalf.
We already know that in the will
of God we’re victorious. God is
omnipotent and if He has purposed it, it will come to past. Consider what God told Isaiah:
For as the
heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my
thoughts than your thoughts. As the rain
and the snow come down from heaven and do not return to it without watering the
earth and making it bud and flourish so that it yields seed for the sower and
bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: it will not return to me empty but will
accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. Isaiah
55:9-11
That’s powerful because God gave Isaiah a glimpse of who He
is and how powerful He is! If God said
it, you can count on it!
Sometimes we have
good ideas or we may feel led by God to do a certain thing and yet it
is not panning out for us the way we thought it would go. Could it be that we forget that it is God who
is in complete control and if we want to be successful in Him, we not only
submit our plans to God, but we commit the works of our plans to Him.
Commit thy works unto the Lord, and thy thoughts shall be
established. Proverbs 16:3
Whatever we do, we do
it as service to God who will guarantee our success. Have we set God as the center of our
life? That’s a concept that we often
fail to grasp and hold onto. Many of us,
including myself, are controlling when it comes to our life and won’t
relinquish that hold to anyone. Being
21+, I understand that, but God is not anybody – He is the sovereign one that
is always moving and working – oftentimes – behind the scenes; the landscapes
of our life. And because we don’t
realize that, we think we’re fighting the enemy when in reality we are striving
against God operating in our lives – orchestrating things according to His
will.
It takes faith to
believe that when we put God in charge of not only our life, but our work, then
what we’ve planned will take place according to His will, not ours. The other piece to this is that even when
control issues are not the problem, we come up against the feeling of
unworthiness because of things we may have said, done or thought in the
past. But let me assure you God lets us
know through His word:
It's because of the Lord's mercies
that we’re not consumed, that his
compassions fail not. They’re new every morning: great is His
faithfulness towards us. Lamentations
3:22-23
As long as we’re
breathing, don’t ever think that you’ve done so bad or waited too late to live
out your spiritual desires or act on the plan that God has given you. Sometimes we need a ‘God’
moment or an ‘aha’ moment or a ‘come to Jesus’
moment; whatever moment it may be, we should do our due diligence, like the
prodigal son and repent of any wrongdoing – for not trusting God; for striving
against Him – and confess and ask God for forgiveness and return back
or toward our rightful place in God; that place where we got off the path in
our actions or our thoughts so we can get back on the right tract. Just think about it; if you don’t know where
you went left, how can you get right?
If we know where we went left and don’t go back and correct it, we’re
still not right. As long as we’re
breathing and receiving of the new mercy that God gives every morning, we have
the opportunity to get on the right tract.
You may be thinking
‘but I haven’t done anything wrong’ and yet things are not coming to
fruition. I still say hold on and wait
on God; commit your thoughts to Him and it will come to pass according to His
will; if it is to be. Remember, it’s our
work that we commit to God but we do it according to His will. No time is ever lost in waiting for God to
reveal or execute His plan for us when we’re sincere in our efforts, faithful
and loyal to God. By patiently waiting, by the mercy of
God and the truth of His word, iniquity is purged: and in this meantime, we
move further and further from ungodliness [Proverbs 16:6] and position
ourselves to move forward in God.
All along the way,
as we traverse this journey, leaning on God each step of the way, we
stumble, we faint, sometimes we fall, we repent, we get back up, sometimes we
fall again and we get back up again, but we’re transforming ever more into the
image of God; that time was not wasted as God matures us in Him; as we’re being
converted. We can look at men in the
bible who despite what they went through; what they experienced, how they
waited on God to show up, lead and guide them in the way that they should
go.
Men like Joseph who
waited in prison for two years, but then emerged to save a nation. He was being transformed from the spoiled son
of a rich daddy to a man of integrity; so that when he was set in a place of
power and authority and God’s chosen was in need of help, he was able and
willing to provide the necessary aid without deceit, malice or anger.
We can always look at Moses, a man who was swathed in luxury from infancy to manhood; how he fled his home and waited in the wilderness of Midian for 40 years, but emerged to lead a nation in a great spiritual exodus from slavery to freedom.
We can always look at Moses, a man who was swathed in luxury from infancy to manhood; how he fled his home and waited in the wilderness of Midian for 40 years, but emerged to lead a nation in a great spiritual exodus from slavery to freedom.
These 2 men walked carefully
before God. They developed a
relationship with God just as we should.
The bible tells us that we should
. . . be
careful how we live; to be mindful of our steps. We shouldn’t run around
foolishly like the world does. Instead, we’re to walk as the wise; as those
that reverence God. We should make the
most of every living, breathing moment we have because these are evil times we
live in. We need to understand and be confident in God’s will so that we don’t
live thoughtlessly. [Ephesians 5:15-17]
We can’t and
shouldn’t wait until we feel like we’re perfect in our own eyes, we should
begin right now, today,
Ø
BEGIN RIGHT WHERE
YOU ARE:
√ Obey God daily in the little things of
everyday life
This is what Samuel had to tell King Saul about his disobedience:
. . . Hath the Lord as great
delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord?
It’s hard to obey God when we’re not
clear on what He is saying but we still have no excuse because He also says
Behold, to obey
is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. (1
Samuel 15:22)
Hearken means to listen
carefully, to give due attention, to give strict mindfulness to.
For
thou desires not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delight not in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a
broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. Psalm 51:16-17
and not only that, our
bodies surrendered to His service for obedience:
I
beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your
bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable
service. Romans
12:1
If we’re not faithful
over the little things God gives us to do right where we are, He’ll not entrust
a greater call or ministry to us. That’s
bible, read Matthew 25:14-30 regarding the management of the talents.
We can take that
parable and apply it to our everyday life.
All we have to do is simply look around our city with
"spiritual" eyes and think what God has commissioned us to do. Ask
God to show us those in need of the Gospel. This is something we, as believers, should
always be doing; increasing the talents.
Be willing to go and be used anywhere by God. A good bible study for this type of diligence
is the book of Nehemiah who had a determination and a willingness to do what
God had purposed for him. He was
unwilling to let anything stop him – no matter what the obstacles were; and
there were many. He didn’t stop, he
continued on.
For us, this might
mean leaving our own area and going to another area to spread the Gospel. It
might mean just walking down the street to share the Gospel with someone in
need. We do all this while we’re waiting
on God to show up in our work. Next,
√ We should start or continue to study the word of God and seek Him concerning what He would have us to do.
√ Spend daily time in prayer.
Ask God to stir up
the giftings inside you. If you know
your spiritual gifting, exercise it or them as God prompts you. For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. Romans 11:29
Seek further training
to prepare yourself. Whatever area of
your calling you feel you are lacking in, seek to improve in it.
Ø
RECOGNIZE THE CORPORATE CALL OF
GOD:
Ask yourself
these questions:
* Does what we desire to do agree with God's universal plan as set forth in His Word? Is it Scriptural and does it contribute towards the goal of reaching the world with the Gospel?
Ø
KNOW THAT GOD HAS ORDAINED YOU
* Does what we desire to do agree with God's universal plan as set forth in His Word? Is it Scriptural and does it contribute towards the goal of reaching the world with the Gospel?
Jesus has chosen us
to be part of His plan for reaching the world with the good news. He has
ordained that we bring forth spiritual fruit from the harvest fields. As we see things from a godly perspective, we
can understand what Jesus meant when he said:
. . . I have chosen you, and ordained
you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should
remain: . . . John 15:16
Let me conclude by
saying this: Everything that we do is
for the glory of God, the promotion of the Kingdom of God and the winning of lost
souls to the Kingdom.
Say not ye,
There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you,
Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to
harvest. John 4:35
Everything that we
desire to do for God should be based on this premise and most assuredly,
everything God has for us to do is based on this premise. He has promised to supply anything we need to
enable us to complete the task:
Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that YE
should go forth and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that
whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, He may give it we. John
15:16
Commit your ways,
your plans, your very life to God and wait on Him to show up!
Sermonette
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