What Has God Said About You? (4)

If your vision is to be a great parent, that doesn’t mean you don’t have great faith. It just means you understand your calling. All Moses’ mother did was give birth—but what a baby! God protected her son when she couldn’t do a thing to help him. Then He arranged to have him raised in Pharaoh’s royal courts. And when you discover God’s purpose for your life, He will provide for you, too! Some days your vision won’t look like it’s coming together. As a child, Joseph dreamed of being a great leader, but before he could get to the palace, he had to go through the prison. Pastor James Petro says, ‘You can’t build a foundation in a storm, so God will prepare you in advance.’ Sometimes your vision will seem to die before it springs to life. That happened to Abraham. ‘Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations…he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what He had promised’ (vv. 18-21 NIV). Paul wrote, ‘We are fools for Christ…’ (1Corinthians 4:10 NIV). God uses radical people who don’t care how they look: people who’ve survived difficult pasts, defied the odds, held onto their vision, and declared, ‘My God is able!’ And you can be one of those people!

What Has God Said About You? (3)

When God tells you to give of your finances in order to fulfil someone else’s vision, you must realise: 1) He’s testing your faith and your willingness to obey in difficult circumstances. When Elijah the prophet asked a widow to share her last meal with him, the timing seemed strange. There was a famine in the land and people were dying. Who would have blamed her for saying no? But by putting God’s interests before her own, she connected herself to a divine, unending source of supply. The Bible says: ‘Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly and whoever sows generously will also reap generously …God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work’ (vv. 6-8 NIV). 2) He’s giving you an opportunity to sow into another’s life and reap in your own. We love to quote, ‘My God will meet all your needs…’ (Philippians 4:19 NIV), but do you remember who this promise was made to? It was written to those who supported Paul’s ministry. ‘When I set out from Macedonia, not one church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving, except you only; for even when I was in Thessalonica, you sent me aid again and again, when I was in need’ (vv. 15-16 NIV). Then Paul added these words: ‘My God will meet all your needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus.’ When you give, you invest in an account you can draw on when you have a need yourself.

What Has God Said About You? (2)

Don’t waste your life trying to do things that God has neither called nor equipped you to do. Your parents may think you’d make a wonderful doctor or lawyer, but what does God think? What has He said about you? God told Jeremiah, ‘…I am watching to see that My word is fulfilled.’ If God said it—He will back it up. If He didn’t—you’re on your own! Too many people waste their lives trying to do things that God never called and equipped them to do. Identify the source of your vision! Look deep within yourself; who are you trying to impress? Are you trying to prove to your ex-husband or wife that you can make it successfully without them? Or show your parents that you’re as talented as your brother or sister? Or demonstrate to the world how you overcame your roots and pulled yourself up by your bootstraps? Your vision cannot be born out of unresolved issues; that just breeds a need for control and recognition and dooms you to failure. What’s more, if your vision is from God, you can’t afford to be impatient like Abraham and try to accomplish it in your own strength and ingenuity. God’s promises can never be fulfilled through fleshly effort. If only Abraham had waited, he could have avoided a lot of heartache with Hagar and Ishmael. The Bible says, ‘The blessing of the Lord…maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow’ (Proverbs 10:22 KJV). No matter how long it takes, seek God’s will, wait on His timing, prepare yourself thoroughly and move only when He says go!

What Has God Said About You? (1)

If your vision is to be a great parent, that doesn’t mean you don’t have great faith. It just means you understand your calling. All Moses’ mother did was give birth—but what a baby! God protected her son when she couldn’t do a thing to help him. Then He arranged to have him raised in Pharaoh’s royal courts. And when you discover God’s purpose for your life, He will provide for you, too! Some days your vision won’t look like it’s coming together. As a child, Joseph dreamed of being a great leader, but before he could get to the palace, he had to go through the prison. Pastor James Petro says, ‘You can’t build a foundation in a storm, so God will prepare you in advance.’ Sometimes your vision will seem to die before it springs to life. That happened to Abraham. ‘Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations…he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what He had promised’ (vv. 18-21 NIV). Paul wrote, ‘We are fools for Christ…’ (1Corinthians 4:10 NIV). God uses radical people who don’t care how they look: people who’ve survived difficult pasts, defied the odds, held onto their vision, and declared, ‘My God is able!’ And you can be one of those people!